Several homes may have to be demolished after a tornado ripped through the streets of north-west London leaving a trail of destruction.

Roof slate was pulled off, windows and cars were smashed and hundreds of residents are temporarily homeless following the freak twister.

Six people were injured by flying rubble as the sky went black and lightening and thunder shook the area.

More than 25 fire engines, a helicopter, ambulances and police raced to the scene around Whitmore Gardens in Kensal Rise as roof tiles rained down.

One resident ran out of her house as the side wall was ripped away, with bricks falling on parked cars and covering the road.

Eyewitnesses were left in a state of shock likening the sounds to a bomb and the scenes to the Wizard of Oz.

Many displaced residents are being looked after at a nearby church.

A Fire Brigade spokesman said that around 100 properties had been damaged.

A Brent Council spokesman said tonight: "A number of properties will not be habitable this evening.

"Some may have to be shored up or demolished."

Maintenance contractors, however, will not be sent in until the authorities are sure bad weather is not going to return. Some may be allowed into their damaged homes with supervised police access.

Fire crews are doing house-by-house damage assessments and will use special equipment to work through the night.

Paul Simons, Times Weatherman, said that the tornado was formed after winds in the atmosphere started blowing in different directions. "They set the air spinning inside a cumulonimbus cloud, rather like whirling a child’s spinning top.

"As a vortex created within the cloud grew increasingly narrow, it spun faster – rather like an ice skater spinning faster as they flatten their arms against their body - until eventually a funnel-shaped cloud grew from the bottom of the thundercloud and touched the ground with violently rotating winds, a tornado."

Maya Sendall, an actress, said she was on the phone to a friend when the tornado ripped up the street.

She said: "I carried on with my phone call but as it came past I was absolutely shrieking with shock. It sounded like a train going by and it shook the house.

"I saw the rubbish bin going by and my hedge flattened by about two or three feet. I did not hear too much of the crashing because the sound of the wind was astonishing."

Sarah Doyle, a barmaid at Maggies bar in Chamberlayne Road, said: "It was lashing down with rain, then there were flashes of lightning and thunder as well. It went dark and then we could hear fire engines, police cars and ambulances."

Miko Adam, 33, a travel agent, said: "I went to get under the bed but by the time I got there it had stopped. I went outside and cars had smashed into each other in the road, trees and walls had been pulled down and roofs taken off. It was bedlam. It was very frightening and I am still shaking."

Daniel Bidgood, a local resident, told BBC London Radio: "I was in my living room and I heard a big crack of lightning and thunder, then as I went to the window I heard a sound which was like standing behind a jetliner."

James Miles told Sky News said: "There was a flash of lightning and a huge bang and lots of little rain drops. Two minutes later this tornado shot across and slates were flying everywhere - into houses and on to cars."

Julia Haughton, 22, a student, said: "There was a thunder clap and it felt like the house was falling in on us. It was really frightening. My boyfriend came running in saying it was a tornado. He ran out just as it had gone through our back yard and pulled down our neighbour’s tree. When I came out all the windows were smashed."

An unnamed eyewitness said: "It lasted about 30 seconds a high pitch screeching noise and everything just flying everywhere. And then it suddenly stopped and there's devastation everywhere."

Anderson Lima, a resident, said: "We were sleeping and we heard thunder for about five seconds which we thought was strong and then we saw everything breaking. Trees just being ripped off from our garden, our fence was broken and all of our roof has been ripped off."

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said it was too early to estimate the cost of damage caused by the tornado. However, a spokesman said damage caused by the Birmingham tornado in 2005 ran into "tens of millions of pounds".

He said damage caused to homes and businesses today would be covered by buildings insurance.

Most household policies would cover the cost of alternative accommodation, up to the policy’s limit, if residents needed to move out while repairs were carried out.

Damage to vehicles would be covered under comprehensive motor insurance, the ABI said.

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