'Mini-tornado' hits Coventry street as roof tiles, fences and concrete posts blown away

[dutchman]

The freak storm caused damage to homes and cars in Boswell Drive in the early hours of this morning



Residents of a Coventry suburban street were left shocked after what they believe was a 'mini-tornado' wreaked havoc and caused severe damage to their homes and cars.

People who live in Boswell Drive in Walsgrave say the freak storm hit in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday, October 5).

Sometime between 2am and 3am, it ripped tiles from roofs - with some causing damage to cars when they came crashing down on them.

Fence panels were blown away too and at one home a concrete fence post was snapped in two as several were uprooted.

Ian Whitehead was one of the people whose home bore the brunt of the storm - and he said his property was just one of many caught up in the chaos.

Ian said: “At least eight or nine houses have been affected and a similar number of cars.

“There’s a lot of damage in a small area.

He added: “Tiles have been ripped apart and are all over the ground - it’s a complete mess.

“Some landed on my conservatory - fortunately they didn’t smash it - but there are bits all over the place.

“Half of my neighbour’s fence was blown away, hit my bathroom wall and smashed it.

"It even ripped concrete posts.

“It wasn’t normal. I honestly think it was a mini-tornado - it was so loud and caused so much damage.”

Another Boswell Drive resident who agrees with the mini-tornado theory is Alan Harbin, who lives opposite Steve.

He said: “I think we had a mini-tornado last night. It was so loud it woke me up and I could hear things being blown away and hitting other things.

“It took four of my fence panels put and one of them ended up on Ian’s roof across the road.

“It also took out a concrete post and took our dustbins - which were shut in by the house - about 50 yards down the road.

“It’s not just a small area but probably for 200 yards or so people got tiles blown off the roof and damage to cars.

“You don’t hear of many tornadoes but it must have been one.”

Alan, who has lived in the road for 50 years, said he was shocked not to get much sympathy from his insurance company when he got in touch this morning to report the damage, which also included damage to the roof of his house due to tiles being blown off.

He added: “My insurance company are turning around and saying it can’t have been the wind.

“They say they can check the wind speed for the area and that it was only 30mph - to make a claim it has to be 41mph or more.

“I said, well what do you think it was?

“It wasn’t just a little bit of wind - it was a big wind whatever it was.”