Powerful Tornado Hits the UK

Posted on July 29, 2005

A tornado with winds of at least 130mph has hit the city of Birmingham in the UK damaging homes and tossing cars. The BBC reports that an area south of the city center was badly damaged by the storm.

"Cars were forced to the other side of the road, bins went through car windows. Leaves, tiles and glass were all across the road," Hockley resident Estelle Skidmore said.
"I got home to find one tree crashed onto the front of my house, another crashed from my garden into my neighbour's garden, and chimneys smashed to smithereens after falling off my neighbour's house," said Liz Munro from Moseley.

The strength of the tornado was very unusual for the UK. 130mph would classify the tornado as an F2 on the Fujita scale used in the United States. However, the UK uses a different measurement system. The UK's Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) rated the storm as a three or four on their system called the TORRO Tornado Intensity Scale.

WEATHER
TORNADOES