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Tornado strikes London
• Evidence mounts of increasing tornados in UK
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By
Urban Cowgirl, Contributor
Wednesday,
27 December, 2006
The UK has the highest number of reported tornadoes for its land area of any country in the world, experts say.
At the end of November 2006 a mini tornado blasted through the village of Bowstreet in Ceredigion, west Wales where it caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and flattened trees and fences.
Dr Terence Meaden, deputy head of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro), said about 70 tornadoes were reported across the UK in 2004 and 2005, with 40 this year alone.
Dr T Theodore Fujita, an American meteorologist, first recognised the UK as the top site for tornadoes in 1973, and Torro had confirmed his findings since then. The UK is especially susceptible to tornadoes because of its position on the Atlantic seaboard where polar air from the North Pole met tropical air from the Equator. "This is a region where there is often mixing of air, giving rise to the very unstable conditions that cause a tornado," Dr Meaden said.
One of the most destructive tornadoes in the UK struck Birmingham on the afternoon of July 28 2006 and hundreds of buildings in the Sparkbrook district were damaged by 135mph winds. Also 19 people were injured and hundreds of trees uprooted by the storm, which struck at about 3pm.
Investigators from Torro measured a damage path which was more than seven miles (11km) long, and in places, 500 metres wide and clearly visible from the air.
Many of the residents were recent immigrants without insurance and suffered particular hardship as a result. A £260 million regeneration plan has been put forward to rebuild the community and create 2,000 jobs.
In January 1998, Selsey, in West Sussex, was hit. Frocious 100mph winds caused £10 million of damage to the town. The area was hit again by another tornado two years later.
In October 2002 more than 100 properties were damaged when a tornado ripped through parts of Portchester in Hampshire. And in early May 2006, a tornado hit Lancashire, damaging around 30 homes, ripping off garage roofs and causing chimneys to collapse.
In August 2006, five archaeologists in Lincolnshire were hurt when the temporary canteen they were using to shelter from a tornado was picked up and thrown almost 200 feet in the air - an event captured on camera.
In Kensal Rise in North West London, scene of the latest tornado, on 8th December 2006 the entire side was ripped off a house and over 100 people made homeless.
(This basis of this article first appeared in metro.co.uk)
The Naked Reader 2006
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