- This topic has 5 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated August 2, 2005 at 2:39 pm by Anonymous.
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July 29, 2005 at 11:55 am #1036649
Are these becoming more common? I know met office log about 30+ incidents every year, but I’ve been a news junkie for 20+ years and its not as if there have been regular tornadoes in the Midlands previously, but they have definitely increased over the last 3-5 years.
Tornado homes could be bulldozed
Houses hit by a tornado in Birmingham might have to be knocked down because they are so badly damaged. Twenty people were injured – three seriously – after winds of 130mph were recorded in Birmingham on Thursday.The sudden storm damaged buildings and cars, uprooted trees, and took entire roofs off some homes in an area south of the city centre.
Hundreds of people were forced to stay in two centres overnight. Some may not return home until next week.
Paul Tilsley, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council, told BBC News that while some people would be able to return home on Friday structural engineers would be checking badly damaged properties.
There has not been one of this strength in many years
Met Office“We don’t know the extent of the damage and it will only become apparent during the day when we have structural engineers out to look at properties and decided what action has to be taken,” he said.
“We also have got trees to clear and there is a lot of debris still on minor roads which has to be cleared.
“Hopefully people will be able to return to those less affected properties today but it may be as early as next week for some people.”
Emergency services worked alongside engineers overnight to clear tons of rubble and search properties.
Workers used dogs and specialist equipment to see if anyone had been trapped in damaged buildings.
Insurance cover
“Hundreds” of properties in the Kings Heath area were damaged, council officials said.
West Midlands Fire Service said the areas affected by the tornado, which hit the area at 1445 BST, also included Moseley, Quinton, Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook.
Local residents have described their experiences to the BBC News website.
“Cars were forced to the other side of the road, bins went through car windows. Leaves, tiles and glass were all across the road,” Hockley resident Estelle Skidmore said.
“I got home to find one tree crashed onto the front of my house, another crashed from my garden into my neighbour’s garden, and chimneys smashed to smithereens after falling off my neighbour’s house,” said Liz Munro from Moseley.
Birmingham City Council set up shelters at Birmingham Sports Centre at Balsall Heath Road and Kings Heath Community Centre on Heathfield Road for people left temporarily homeless.
The Ambulance Service said patients had been taken to Heartlands Hospital, Selly Oak Hospital, and Dudley.
Insurers said household policies would cover most of the repairs. Car owners with fully comprehensive policies should also be able to make claims for damage.
“We have an average of 33 reports of tornadoes in the UK each year but these are especially rare in built-up areas and there has not been one of this strength in many years,” said a Met Office spokesperson.
“City centres are not the natural habitat of a tornado; the tall buildings would normally stop their formation.”
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4726643.stmPublished: 2005/07/29 09:25:05 GMT
© BBC MMV
July 29, 2005 at 12:33 pm #1066569Anonymous
well, i woukld say “global warming”, but then there was that massive storm in 88(?) and according to wikipedia, tornados are well hard to predict why they happen, and also that the UK is the most tornado-prone country relative to its land mass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornados who would have thunk it, eh?
July 29, 2005 at 12:42 pm #1066567USE wrote:well, i woukld say “global warming”, but then there was that massive storm in 88(?) and according to wikipedia, tornados are well hard to predict why they happen, and also that the UK is the most tornado-prone country relative to its land mass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornados who would have thunk it, eh?perhaps the UK was originally right in the middle of all the earthquakes etc when the land masses split thousands of years ago, which is why it ended up as a small odd-shaped island?
I’d always thought for some reason it (and some of its people) would be the one area that survived much of any apocalypse… dunno why though…
July 29, 2005 at 12:55 pm #1066570nah, your think ing of volcanoes and eathquakes, they are created by plate tectonics, we are well shot of any fault lines, tornadoes are cool air and hot air meeting and spiraling round each other buiding up momentum.
as for being safe from apocalypse, think again, (a) if the icecaps melt (even a bit more), say goodbye to a third of our land mass (b) if temperatures rise any more, that could disrupt the gulf stream, bang, there goes our temperate climate and hello ice skating on the thames- for a bit, until the cold gets bad enough to refreeze the ice caps, in the manner if an icecube melting and being re-frozen ie- massive.
we are in a shit place to be for global warming. ive been trying to work out the best place to move to, and im not sure, but mongolia is prolly a good one- lots of land, lots of space, and it will be as warm as here when we are frozen. unfortunately im sure a lot of other people will have the same idea- imagine rush hour, but on an international level. savage.
July 29, 2005 at 1:06 pm #1066568USE wrote:as for being safe from apocalypse, think again, (a) if the icecaps melt (even a bit more), say goodbye to a third of our land mass (b) if temperatures rise any more, that could disrupt the gulf stream, bang, there goes our temperate climate and hello ice skating on the thames- for a bit, until the cold gets bad enough to refreeze the ice caps, in the manner if an icecube melting and being re-frozen ie- massive.there’d certainly be a massive loss of life, but I would expect much of the higher lying ground in the UK to survive. At the present time, I’m fairly sure a third of our land mass (if not more) is actually occupied by sheep!
The thames fairly regularly bursts its banks at many points around Reading and Oxfordshire, but there are also some very high points in the same area.
Much of the loss of life/property will happen because people built on places which should never have been used for housing! There are many estates round here built on the Thames flood plains.
Incidentally I’ve got quite a few good survival books and bits of info from the UK, which aren’t gung-ho “create your own mini-dictatorship” manuals like in the USA but very pragmatic information on how to grow your own crops etc.
Many of them were published around the time when a nuclear winter was the potential threat….
Quote:we are in a shit place to be for global warming. ive been trying to work out the best place to move to, and im not sure, but mongolia is prolly a good one- lots of land, lots of space, and it will be as warm as here when we are frozen. unfortunately im sure a lot of other people will have the same idea- imagine rush hour, but on an international level. savage.mongolia will be pretty much annexed by the Chinese the moment that happens (if it does not already belong to them at least in economic terms).
August 2, 2005 at 2:39 pm #1066571Sorry guys but it’s not as scientific as you think. Truth is I consumed a lethal Tandori the previous night and let one ripp the next morning. You think Birmingham’s bad you should see my jeans.
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