3:05pm Thursday 7th December 2006
By Ruth Holmes, Peter Law and Martina Smit
A FREAK tornado ripped through a residential area of the capital, tearing apart buildings and injuring six people.
The fleeting storm ripped tiles off roofs, pulled down fences and shattered windows as it hit Kensal Rise, in north-west London, at 11am this morning.
Were you in Kensal Rise when the tornado struck? Send your photos to 07834 487010 or email them to newsdesk@london.newsquest.co.uk
The tornado was thought to have lasted less than a minute but the gusts in excess of 110 miles per hour left a trail of devastation along Chamberlayne Road.
Fifteen-year-old Gavin Driscoll was thrown against a shop window with so much force that it shattered, while local resident Ed Solomons thought "it was the end of the world, right here in Kensal Rise".
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"I came out of AP Food & Wine, and I saw this thing coming," said Gavin, who lives in nearby Bathurst Gardens. "It picked me up and threw me right against the store window.
"I broke the window, man," he told Local London. "Look at my ear, it is still swollen."
One man, believed to be in his 50s, suffered a serious head injury and was taken to Central Middlesex Hospital.
Five people were treated at the scene for minor injuries and shock.
'I thought it was Armageddon'
Pat Cassidy was at home in Chamberlayne Road when disaster struck a few houses away. "First we heard thunder. There was lighting and I could hear the rain.
"Then I heard this very, very loud noise, like a truck passing close to the window. But then I could feel that maybe it wasn't a truck, it was something else.
"So when I came out about two or tree minutes later, I saw the whole street was stopped and there were lots of debris on the road. And everyone was out of there houses standing around."
His friend, Mr Solomons, was caught up in the tornado on the sidewalk just across the road.
"He said he saw this funnel of destruction, this black funnel of destruction rolling towards them," Mr Cassidy said.
"He got knocked on to the street. He was shocked. He thought it was Armageddon. He thought it was the end of the world, right here in Kensal Rise."
"We were lucky, we were unscathed."
The winds caused structural damage to buildings, cars and street furniture, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.
London Fire and Rescue confirmed that about 100 homes were damaged.
Eleven fire engines, about 50 firefighters, four ambulances and an emergency helicopter rushed to the scene.
Brent Council said the roof of a swimming pool at Manor School in Kensal Rise was ripped off but children were inside at the time and none were injured.
'Strongest in 50 years'
A Met Office spokesman said the tornado was one of the strongest ever seen in the UK.
Unlike the US, which uses the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, the Met ranks tornadoes on the Tornado Intensity Scale from T0 to T10.
Today's tornado was ranked as a T4 on the T-Scale, which the spokesman said was considered "strong" and "at the upper end of the scale".
The ranking is determined by wind speed and the amount of damage caused.
It is not known when a tornado last struck the capital, but the Met said Central and Southern England were the most susceptible to tornadoes.
The tornado was created when an intense shower squall moved east over London.
The storm is now passing over the North Sea, but the Met said a second squall would hit the capital this afternoon.
The spokesman said the UK did not have a tornado warning system because the twisters were so hard to predict.
The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) said there was still a risk of isolated tornadoes across central and southern England this afternoon.
TORRO deputy director Terence Meaden said it was the strongest tornado to hit London in more than half a century.
A tornado with winds of up to 200 miles an hour ripped through Gunnersbury in west London in 1954.
For its land area, the U.K. has more tornadoes annually - about 33 - than any other place in the world, Mr Meaden said.
'Stay away'
Meanwhile Brent Council warned people to stay away from the area "due to possible flying debris for the foreseeable future".
Tree and building experts were assessing the damage while contractors removed fallen trees and debris, the council added.
College Road, Hardinge Road, Leighton Gardens, Liddell Gardens, Whitmore Gardens, Leigh Gardens, Clifford Gardens, Chamberlayne Road between Leighton/Clifford Gardens, Okehampton Road, Crediton Road, Dundonald Road, Wrentham Road and Tiverton Road remain closed off.
Residents have taken shelter at the Church of the Transfiguration in Chamberlayne Road and at Legion Hall on Albert Road.
Anyone who has been left homeless is being instructed to report there.
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