Pizzas galore!

In Nuneaton, some 35 homes suffered roof damage, the most severe being in the Kingfisher Way area of Camp Hill, according to Nuneaton and Bedfordshire Borough Council. Four fire crews and a hydraulic platform were at the scene, while nearby a road had to be sealed off as emergency workers attempted to secure the roofs of two houses.

Beryl Warburton, 79, a lollipop lady, who watched the tornado sweep through her street at around 6.15am, described the experience as “frightening.”

“Some of the houses have had their roofs taken off completely, some have lost parts of their roofs. One of them has got holes up there and water in their bedroom.

“One of my neighbours, their trampoline was blown over the garden fence and into the council garages opposite. I’ve got damage to my roof, but I don’t know how bad it is … All the rubble was in the road from the slates and things.”

Terrence Meaden, deputy head of tornado research group Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro), said Luton was hit at 6.45am. “I have spoken with a witness who saw the tornado funnel at ground level going through her garden,” he said.

Dr Meaden said separate reports of strong winds, which caused a “horrendous” noise, blowing down trees and lifting roof tiles in Nottingham at about 6.30am suggested that a tornado had indeed hit the town.

The weather system that caused the tornados passed over Exeter, Devon, at 4am and travelled eastwards over Nuneaton and Luton before moving out into the North Sea, he said.

Torro’s research team will spend the next few days investigating witness reports and assessing the range and intensity of the damage in order to construct a clear picture of what happened.

Dr Meaden said a series of tornados forming simultaneously across the country in this manner was “infrequent enough” but not unprecedented. The UK experiences about 10 to 12 confirmed tornados caused by the same weather system about once a year, he said.

England has the highest number of reported tornados per unit area in the world, leaving tornado hotspots such as Oklahoma – to which it is roughly equivalent in size - trailing in its wake.

Paul Knightley, a director at Torro, stressed however that Britain’s tornados were significantly less violent than those in other parts of the world. The “quirky” statistic might also result from the country’s dense population, meaning tornados were more likely to be witnessed, he suggested.

An average of 33 tornados are reported annually in the UK, though it is believed many go unreported. The figure can fluctuate dramatically from year to year – in November 1981, as many as 105 tornados hit Britain in under six hours.

Last December saw a tornado tear through Kensal Rise in north London, causing severe damage to houses, cars and trees but no serious injuries.

In 1954 12 people were injured when a tornado hit west and north London, during a violent storm which destroyed Gunnersbury Tube station and blew a car 15ft into the air at Acton.

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