Damage After Tornado Hits Town

• News
• Published: 24 Nov 2009 in Household and Home Insurance

Residents of a Derbyshire town may have no choice but to claim on their home insurance and car insurance after a freak tornado ripped tiles from roofs and damaged houses.

Firefighters said the freak weather hit Littleover around 1.30pm, affecting up to 25 properties. No one was injured in the incident, but 50 tiles were torn off roofs and a garage wall collapsed.

Eyewitness Richard Bryan, who was driving in Littleover at the time, told the BBC it felt like driving into a "washing machine".

He said: "A wall of water and wind just hit the car with terrific force and almost stopped it.

"I got the wipers on full pelt and, when the window cleared, all I could see were three dustbins...and the wind picked them up and they actually flew into the air."

A spokesman for MeteoGroup UK said: "They are not especially uncommon in this country. The storm system moved through into the North Sea this afternoon so there certainly won't be another one today."