Tornado hits Birmingham

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07-28-2005, 19:03
ShadesWolf

Tornado hits Birmingham

19mm of rain hit Birmingham in an hour today. The Tornado got up to 110 mph and 19 people got injured, 3 seriously. According to the 7 oclock BBC midlands news.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...footage203.jpg

Quote:

Twelve people have been injured - three of them seriously - as a tornado ripped through the streets of Birmingham.
The sudden storm damaged buildings, uprooted trees and trapped people in their homes. The Met Office estimates the wind speed may have reached 130mph.

One sq km of damage was caused in Kings Heath, with "hundreds" of properties affected, council officials said.

Emergency services are using dogs and specialist equipment to see if anyone has been trapped in damaged buildings.

West Midlands Fire Service said the areas affected included Kings Heath, Moseley, Quinton, Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook.

The Met Office explained tornadoes were especially rare in built-up areas and that this was the worst seen for years.

Caroline Ward, from the Jon Carrie Nursery in Moseley, said the tornado ripped out fences and toys were whipped into the air.

"Luckily we got the children all inside but they were very frightened," she told BBC News.

Julia Banner, who works in a care home in Moseley, said: "All of a sudden it got dark, the front door blew open and all the notices blew off the notice board.

"The kitchen window was open and all the crockery smashed to the floor.

"It all happened in just a couple of minutes. There is a tree through a car and trees on houses - it looks like something from a film set."

A Met Office spokesperson said: "From the reports we have heard we would estimate that this is a tornado with a rating of T3-T4, that would mean it had wind speeds of between 93-114 mph for T3 and 114-130 for T4.

"A typical description would be that motorcars were lifted and destroyed, roofs removed from buildings and weak buildings destroyed.

"We have an average of 33 reports of tornadoes in the UK each year but these are especially rare in built-up areas and there has not been one of this strength in many years.

"City centres are not the natural habitat of a tornado; the tall buildings would normally stop their formation."

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...1_tornado1.jpg

Quote:

Coventry was hit by a tornado during storms on Friday.
The tornado, which lasted about two minutes, was spotted over the Walsgrave and Stoke areas of the city but there have been no reports of damage.

Images of it were filmed by BBC Midlands Today viewer Colin Paterson, who lives in Parkside.

The Birmingham Met Office said that when thunderstorms are severe enough there are sometimes mini tornadoes associated with them.

Forecaster Pete Chapman said: "Usually it begins as a funnel cloud, snaking across the sky and sometimes this funnel cloud reaches the ground, causing a mini tornado.

"They're very localised but can cause severe local damage.

"They happen in several places in the Midlands in most years so they're not that uncommon."
07-28-2005, 19:09
Big King Sanctaphrax

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

It's shame there aren't any trailer parks in Birmingham, you need them for the proper atmosphere.
07-28-2005, 19:56
Laridus Konivaich

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Now go read the beginning of Harry Potter 6... ~:eek:
07-29-2005, 01:53
JAG

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Pretty amazing, you would never expect a thing like that to happen in the UK.
07-29-2005, 07:39
ShadesWolf

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

Pretty amazing, you would never expect a thing like that to happen in the UK.

They say Jag we have 35 tornados a year

Quote:

According to studies by the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro), the UK has the most tornadoes for the size of the country in the world.

"There are around 35 reported tornados each year in the UK, but there could be more which aren't reported," said Laura Gilchrist, of the BBC Weather Centre.

Britain has been struck by at least a dozen tornados in recent years and one person has been killed.

However, the severe tornadoes such as those experienced across the central plains of the US are a rarity - although they are not unheard of.
07-29-2005, 09:04
JAG

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

WTF we have that many?! I never seen one or seen one reported - bar this one. *shrugs*

Still pretty amazing.
07-29-2005, 09:29
Al Khalifah

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Most are fairly minor and happen in the country. There was one in Cambridgeshire this summer as well, but it didn't do any damage.

Nothing to get overly concerned about really.
07-29-2005, 10:07
Ja'chyra

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

I saw one in Glasgow quite a few years back, didn't last long and no damage that I know of.
07-29-2005, 11:39
Idaho

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

The most common place in the world for tornados is the English Channel apparently.
07-29-2005, 12:08
JAG

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Well, you learn something new everyday, eh?
07-29-2005, 12:12
Mikeus Caesar

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

WTF we have that many?! I never seen one or seen one reported - bar this one. *shrugs*

Still pretty amazing.

Didn't you know? I've noticed that at least three tornadoes make it into the news each year, usually with a picture. None of them are ever that bad though. Usually our tornadoes just blow leaves about, but never destroy roofs and smash windows and injure a load of people.
07-29-2005, 12:14
The Blind King of Bohemia

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

All i noticed was the skies were a little darker and the wind was a little stronger. It wasn't that bad were i was, the worst was Kings Heath
07-29-2005, 12:39
Mikeus Caesar

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Blind King of Bohemia

All i noticed was the skies were a little darker and the wind was a little stronger. It wasn't that bad were i was, the worst was Kings Heath

I read through the reports on the Beeb website, apparently the tornado was very localised. Just a few streets away from it, ladders and scaffolding were still standing where they had been left, while were the tornado had hit, huge trees and buildings had been destroyed.
07-29-2005, 12:44
The Blind King of Bohemia

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

I think a few walls collapsed and trees were uprooted in Kings Heath so it must have been bad there.
07-29-2005, 13:01
Louis VI the Fat

Re : Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idaho

The most common place in the world for tornados is the English Channel apparently.

~:eek:
07-29-2005, 13:30
The Blind King of Bohemia

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

Millions of Pounds in Damage and thats just the cars damaged and after looking at the state of some of the houses the cost in will rise massively
07-29-2005, 14:48
ShadesWolf

Re: Tornado hits Birmingham

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl...1948/img/1.jpg

All I noticed also was it went a little dark, I couldnt believe the news when I saw it.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/200...05_450x310.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/img/galle...sR_350x230.jpg

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/gra...nado/torn9.jpg