Storm Gerrit: Stalybridge tornado 'was a whirlwind of madness'

A tornado which tore roofs off houses and destroyed walls during Storm Gerrit has been described by one woman as a "whirlwind of madness".

Greater Manchester Police declared a major incident in Tameside on Wednesday night as about 100 homes were damaged.

Stalybridge resident Kerry Hogan said it was "bedlam" with trees toppling "like dominoes" while another woman said a tree fell into her bathroom.

Thousands of homes in Wales and Scotland had no power after the storm.

The National Grid said 36,000 properties were left without electricity in Ceredigion after part of its network suffered a lightning strike and almost 14,000 homes in Scotland were left without power overnight after Storm Gerrit.

There were no reports of injuries in the tornado in Stalybridge, believed to have been caused by a "supercell" thunderstorm.

The Met Office said one of these thunderstorms crossed Greater Manchester on Wednesday evening and had a "strong rotating updraft", which suggests "a tornado at the surface was likely".

Ms Hogan told BBC Radio 5 Live the tornado "lasted a minute, 90 seconds, literally a whirlwind of madness" and it "sounded horrendous".

"We couldn't open the front door as the wind was that bad," she added.

"Lamp-posts were swaying, we watched trees topple like dominoes.

"All the neighbours were out, it was bedlam.

"People have had cars crushed.

"It was horrific and how nobody has been hurt is unbelievable."

Hayley McCaffer, 40, who lives in nearby Carrbrook, said some of her neighbours' houses were "an absolute disaster" with missing roofs and "squished" cars.

She and her partner are not sure when they can get back into their home.

Patricia Watkinson, another Carrbrook resident who was away in Norfolk when the tornado swept through the village, has been told by a neighbour that apart from a "dangling" aerial, her home appears undamaged.

But the 83-year-old said her neighbour's shed was "gone".

Millbrook resident Maisie Pilkington said a tree came through her roof as she slept.

"I opened the door and thought 'oh my God'," she said.

"The tree's hit the roof and gone through my bathroom.

"The whole ceiling of my bathroom is down, the tree's in the bathroom and the whole tree is being held up by one branch.

"If it snaps, it's going to go through the whole house."

Melissa Collier, who also lives in Millbrook with her partner and their baby, said it was a "terrifying" experience.

"I just about drifted off then all of a sudden the whole house shook.

"I thought it was an earthquake or a bomb going off.

"It lasted about a minute."

She continued: "We went outside and it was chaos everywhere."

They were met with a wire hanging across their door and roof slates and bins littering the street as well as "all the cars smashed up".

They were evacuated from their home at 23:30 GMT on Wednesday and stayed overnight with a friend's mother.

She said they were allowed return to their home earlier but said many of their neighbours had been made homeless as their houses have been deemed uninhabitable.

Elsewhere in the UK, Storm Gerrit has brought flooding and disrupted travel including:

The Met Office said the storm had now passed but further unsettled weather was likely later in the week, with strong winds, rain and some upland snow.

It added the thunderstorm was moving east across Morecambe Bay and may bring hail, frequent lightning and gusty winds to parts of Lancashire.

BBC weather presenter Matt Taylor said there had been a "big clutch of thunderstorms" across Greater Manchester and the Met Office said that "it is likely that it was a tornado which brought the damage to Stalybridge".

"It was just a small, short-lived tornado and that's why the damage was limited to quite a small area," he said.

Fire and ambulance crews joined officials from Electricity North West and the council at multiple sites across Tameside. A rest centre was set up at Dukinfield Town Hall.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said crews were called "to multiple reports of damage to various sites and properties in Stalybridge at about 23:00 and worked to make homes and residents safe until 07:00".

The executive leader of Tameside Council, Ged Cooney, said the major incident at Stalybridge had been stood down and thanked emergency services for their efforts.

He said: "Thankfully there are no casualties from the incident but there are of course local residents who are devastated by the damage caused to their homes.

"Our officers have been out all night and continue to be out today clearing debris, fallen trees and making roads, footpaths and other areas safe as soon as possible."

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