Tornado hits Derbyshire houses

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Residents hit by a tornado in a Derbyshire town will turning to their home insurance policies to repair damaged homes and garages.

Heavy winds ripped off roof tiles and scattered property in Littleover on Monday afternoon, and firefighters went to Maypole Lane at 1.30pm to remove dangerous remnants.

Richard Bryan, who witnessed the tornado while in his car, described it as driving into a "washing machine".

He told the BBC: "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."

No one was hurt but about 25 houses were damaged and a collapsed garage wall forced authorities to close a road, according to Derbyshire Fire and Rescue.

A spokeswoman said: "The incident - a mini tornado - affected numerous properties taking around 50 tiles off properties, and damaging houses and garages."

A MeteoGroup UK spokesman said tornadoes were not uncommon in Britain, adding: "The storm system moved through into the North Sea this afternoon so there certainly won't be another one today."

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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