Britain:Homes were destroyed but miraculously no lives were lost when a tornado hit the Kensal Rise area of northwest London yesterday, causing terror and destruction in a nightmare lasting just under one minute.
Incredibly, only one man suffered a serious head injury, while five other people were treated for minor injuries and shock after rooftops were ripped off, trees uprooted and cars damaged as debris was hurled across Chamerlayne Road and surrounding streets in the freak event which collapsed scaffolding and severely damaged a number of buildings.
One resident, Fiona Mulaisto, described the "surreal" experience of returning from work to find the side of her house collapsed. Along with at least 60 others she took refuge last night in a respite centre opened by Brent council in a nearby British Legion hall, not knowing whether it will be weeks or months before she can return.
Facing a bleak Christmas, their only comfort was that the situation could have been so much worse. Resident Colin Brewer said things went from "exciting to terrifying" in seconds. As suddenly black skies heralded hail and thunder storms across large tracts of London and the southeast at around 11am, another resident, Daniel Bidgood, heard a crack of lightning and thunder and then a sound he likened to a jetliner. "I could see a huge cloud rolling up the street, making this tremendous noise. I went to try and take a picture of it but a shower of debris smashed all the windows of my house."
Miko Adam described his ordeal after being helped from his home in Whitmore Gardens: "There was some lightning strikes, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, this cyclone whipped up. It was terrifying. I was in my attic and had to crawl under the bed because I thought the roof was going to come down. I could feel the foundations of the house move and it felt like we were being wrenched from the ground."
Kate Rew (37) was on a bus when the tornado struck, with gusts of wind estimated at more than 100mph: "The bus was rocking from side to side and I thought it could fall over at any moment. We were all holding on to our seats and we didn't know what was happening."
With an insurance bill certain to run into millions, police and the London Fire Brigade were last night maintaining an exclusion zone around the area.