BIRMINGHAM was dubbed Britain’s equivalent of “Tornado Alley” yesterday as experts claimed that conditions in the West Midlands leave the area vulnerable to the sort of twisters that regularly ravage the American plains.

On average more than sixty tornados are reported each year in Britain. In the past two years two people have been killed. Birmingham’s inland geography leaves it especially prone to the big summer thunderstorms that spawn tornados, researchers say.

As thundery weather tends to sweep up from the Bristol Channel or South Wales, the hills to the southwest of the city can boost the storms and set them rotating, studies by the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) have shown.

The research came as it emerged that some families are still homeless after the fierce tornado that hit the city last July, badly damaging more than 1,000 buildings and felling more than 1,000 trees. Repairs were put at £39 million. That tornado’s 135mph winds created a “supercell”, a ferocious type of thunderstorm common in Tornado Alley, which encompasses several central US states.

Supercell storms last much longer than an ordinary storm, being driven on by high-level winds, especially the jet stream with its band of winds racing several miles high. Torro said yesterday that the meteorological conditions around the city had created bigger twisters in the past — and it could easily be hit again.

It added that, over 25 years, the West Midlands had reported the third-highest number of tornados of anywhere in the UK. In 1931 a tornado with winds estimated at more than 160mph tore through a similar area of Birmingham, almost completely demolishing some buildings.

Three months after the tornado last July, another struck on October 12, within a mile of the disaster zone, although it caused far less damage.

Some families hit by the July tornado are still living in temporary accommodation. Ten people were injured, three seriously, and more than 1,000 buildings in King’s Heath, Moseley and Sparkbrook were badly damaged. There was serious roof damage to 122 properties, with 80 of them left in a dangerous condition. Nearly every roof in Birchwood and Alder roads was torn off.

Moseley and District Housing Association said that all the properties would be fit for occupation by next month.

A £260 million regeneration plan has been put forward.

Esther Boyd, who set up the Tornado Affected Neighbourhood Group, said: “When it happened, people didn’t know what help was available to them.”

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