London Life Q-Z

Were you caught up in the tornado in north west London? Has your house or car been damaged? Have you been caught in the strong winds sweeping London?

wendy
this is terrible awful arrrrrrrrrgh poor houses and people

josie
it was very terrifing

margaret (convent of jesus and mary high school)
the wind was very bad windows were breaking and the fire alarm went off kids ere screaming and running everywhere we were all scared!!!

Lee (Basildon)
Miles away it may be, but what i saw that day was amazing. i have a passion for hurricanes and tornados alike, they are fasinating forces of nature. We got hail the size of 2pence pieces here, and strong gusts of wind also with heavy rain that seemed to bounce off the ground.

josie
i was in my school (maria fidelis) playground when it happened the sky went dark and we heard thunder, then lightning struck, and then another thunder but this time i actually felt it in my heart. after that it started to rain then it started to pelt down hailstones. i was amazed at how quikly the weather changed, little did i know that a tornado hit a couple of streeets from where i was.

charan
it was really scary

brian
omg!!!!! i was vrey scared when i was outside plaing footie whih my mate i ran in side!!

lauren
i was laying on my bed and i heard a bang and i saw a tornado i ran round in circle's screaming .

Sam A - SJC
I was round the corner when i heard a loud bang. When i when round the wall there were louds of trees on the road

Caprice
i was in collage at the time and it was just unbeliveable. the wind was so strong

joshua(plumstead)
I was in Plumcroft Primary in se18 when the tornado struck.The sky was blanketed by huge grey clouds while thunder and lightning sent everyone running and screaming especially the ks1 children.This was followed by heavy rain and a vast amount of hail.Everybody had to go to the shed but I was already inside.I attempted to get outside with my hood on but my hands were pelted with ice.I then decided to put my hands in my pockets with my head down(as to not get it in my eyes or on my face)and run.It worked with no pain at all so i decided to have a little playabout.

gerry long
i was in a supermarket car park in Bexleyheath the sky went dark and there was hail stones flying about and that was the same time the tornado touched down now if i turn the clock back 60 years i would have been sitting in the class room of that school it was then called chamlayne wood road school it seemed strange seeing it again on TV

Michael
Hi we live at the end of Whitmore gds all of our neighbours have lost everything! We are lucky with just broken windows! I saw everything from the landing of my house! Indescribable! Terrifying!

Michellea
it was frightning and scary i didn't no what to do so i just ran and went to collect my daughter from school her name is diamond she was crying her eyes because she said there was a tremendous sound .

Carole (Neasden)
I had just parked at Keslake Road off Chamberlain Rd when everything went dark and then there was a loud bang hailstones rained down and I thought I would just sit in my car and wait for the weather to calm down. I didn't even realise that it was a tornado until I heard the news

Ruby
Even from Stepney Green the storm at 11 was terrific! Hails, gales, lightning - the whole shebang! Then soon after it became sunny... Maybe we should take better precautions to Global Warming.

cas
my family live in sw london and they must of had the tail end of it and it must have been so scary for the people it has affected because even tho i live in east sussex it has been scary for me not knowing if any1 got hurt and not knowing if another one is gonna come. Good luck to the people it has affected.

Samantha
i dont live in london but heard about the whole thing when i came back from school i am so sorry to hear that those peoples homes have been ruined would just like 2 give u good luck and to wish you all the best

tony mccarthy
when the tornado hit london i was going on a trip with my mates from college as i was hit in a thunder and havery rain and it was very bad and i thought it was like a tornado but as it was it was hit in north west london so we were very lucky not hit us where we was at that time.

mairead (wimbledon)
when i was lining up for my mock ict exam today we heard all the year sevens screaming at thunder. a few minutes later the sky went dark and there was torrential rain and some hail. even though i live in wimbledon we had some effects of the tornado.

Tanya
Well, it was pretty scary i must say. Our school St. Augitine's lost part of its roof and therefore we were sent home early and will only have to return to school on Mon. I must say seeing the roof flying through the air and nearly landing on 2 year 7. Luckly no one was hurt. The whole scene filled me with fear. And whats worst when i got home i had to watch The Day After Tomorrow

Eamon
Well I live in wembley and it woke me up! First bright flash of lightening and then a loud bang of thunder, never thought much of it until i drove pass later on this afternoon

David Fletcher
I live in Wembley, and seeing this devistating news on the television, shocked me, as it could have happened anywhere.

Madison
Good luck with the recovery :(

Christopher Sullivan
From the 25th floor in Canary Wharf it looked like a wall of water that hit - from sunny to green/black clouds in seconds!

Scott Hughes
Being from Toronto, it sure was weird seeing that in North London

Ethal hetinbom
i was in my bath when the tornado struck and i heard terror screams when the wall of my house was riped off i was scared stiff les i thought i was going to die. i would just like to say good luck to everyone i hope you have home insurance.

Barry (Basildon)
WOW! That looks really really scary!! I didn't notice it at all!!

Craig (Islington)
Strange, got into work, bad rain out in Hornchurch, Islington kinda got soaked for a while. The next thing I know, two guys who work for my company, one calls in to say about the TORNADO. I call the 2nd, and he tells me that he watched the beast travel towards his house, the glass conservatory on the ground floor looked like it would be hit. He was lucky, not like many others. It stopped and dissapeared right infront of his eyes. (Hey - all of you who have been affected, my thoughts at least are with you... good luck).

billy
The effects of the tornado could be felt in Barnet. The sky went black,I heard a loud bang and then hailstones so fierce that they nearly broke my windscreen. It was pretty frightening.

john
i live in hillingdon but still a flash of lightning and a bang of thunder struck and a gast of wind appeared

Emmanuelle
In Victoria as well the skies had darkened and it looked like a storm was brewing. For half an hour it rained and there was the occasional burst of thunder. In true British weather style however, this was followed by clear sunny skies!

Jessica
The sky changed from blue to black freak weather had hit it was like in a film. Rain wind and thunder lightening a hail stones so big they nearly smashed the windscreen

Candace Wilson
My house is on Whitmore Gardens. The corner house whose wall is completely ripped is only a couple of doors down. It's very surreal watching my area on the news especially as i'm away at university. My mum was in the house when it happened and was shaken up, but she's fine now. I think I was more upset and distressed than her, and i wasn't even there!! All i can say is Thank God no one died from this.

Paul James
Yes my relatives car was damaged today and was a total writeoff and the house is still standing but only a few tiles were off

Sam
I live in North London and it was very calm here and then all at once hail, rain and wind came. The sky went black and there was a small amount of light. It only lasted about 15 minutes and then it cleared up. Weird!!

Hannah
a part of the roof in my school 9st.augustines CE high school in kilburn) fell off at break time so we were allowed to go home and there is also no school tomorrow. Before it happened i heard a really long thunder sound and when we went outside the rain was so hard it stang when it hit me. it seemed to calm down but then the wind suddenly went crazy. Noone was seriously hurt.

Nathan (Eltham)
I think we got the tail end down here in SE9 aswell.

Monica M Hicks
I walked through this scene of devastation at 11.07 this morning. The thunder, it seemed, was fading. Debris was littered across the main road where buses and all traffic was stationery. The roof of the Manor School swimming pool was badly damaged and windows shattered in adjoining houses, but the house at the corner of Chamberlayne Road and Whitmore Gardens suffered the worst in this immediate area. The outside wall of the upper storey had been torn off and dumped in the road. The pile of bricks from the house was an almost tidy pile. That was eerie. The yellow wallpaper was a stark colour contrast with the grey sky. As I walked down towards the Harrow Road, the emergency services, sirens blazing, were hurtling towards the scene. It was deeply upsetting as I thought of those who would have been terrified to have experienced it directly, and the damage to their houses and cars ... and I live just a few hundred yards away, so was very lucky.

David (Burnham)
We may have caught it earlier just west of Slough. A tremendous downpour, fierce winds with hail & lightening. It passed in less than 10 mins heading east.

Geoff Major
I felt really sorry for the pigeons myself. being thrown through the air at about 100mph! Seriously though, pretty scary stuff! South London (like Alison in Thamesmead said) was hit bad too, dark skies, thunder, hail VERY high winds.. and there's me thinking I shouldn't had that curry the night before!!

Sarah
I don't understand how people could of felt this in SE28. I'm two streets away on Keslake at Chamberlayne, and I slept through the whole event.

Steve Thomson, SE London
From my house in SE23, I watched the sky get darker and darker over north London. I've never seen it go so black so quickly. I watched as the strom came towards us from the north. Then the tail end of it hit us and I watched as my garden furniture was picked up and blown down the garden. The hail was battering against the window and I honestly thought the window was going to blow in on me!

Michelle
I was at Canary Wharf and I've never seen the water in the docks so fierce. The hailstones were coming down at such an angle and so rapidly, and with the strong wind it was so difficult to walk along people laughed at each other's attempts!

south-east london crew
I love thunder, lightning, and hail stones but tornados is a whole new cuppa tea. i hope they stay well clear

Wasim
I think it's devastating. I live in South West London and I could still feel the strength of the wind. It was very unusual and quite cold. Condolences goes towards all families affected.

Liz
I am worried about my daughter getting home. Which Kensal Rise streets were affected?

Hardik (Tooting)
Very windy outside. It is developing strongly around Tooting after some heavy shower and sleet for a while. Women with babies and buggies are facing extreme difficulties on high street.

Heidi (harrow)
The sky went ominously black and then suddenly the rain came lashing down. My husband had just phoned to say about hailstones and thunder and lightning in Canary Wharf. The we heard about this. But all of a sudden was bright sunshine again.

Pollyanna Poulter
I live in Kentish Town, in a structurally unsound house as it is, and have only just found out about this tornado. I am at work in central london. Is there any way i can find out if my house has been affected (telephone helpline etc)?

Jenny (The Strand)
Here near waterloo bridge the sky went really dark and there were some very impressive claps of thunder and lightning... then the hail stones came down. The sky was so dark and the thunder was so loud that I text my boyfriend in New Barnet to see if he heard it too. He did! Definately a strange storm because of how quicky it passed over and how dark the sky got so quickly. Strange!

Christian Diaz (Waterloo)
I knew that a tornado was about to happen when I saw the sky become dark grey and thunder along with hail started to fall. The worst storm I have ever seen here in central London. Some broken tress and smashed glass were all over the road after the storm.

Laura and Soga
In Harley Street, the sky went dark, there was onr strike of lightening and a clap of thunder, before hailstones rained down and shook our building!

Bindi Senghani
The thunder was loud but the noise of the tornado was immence, the doors in my house slammed, the house shook and dust is everywhere! straight after the darkness the sun shined, typical!

Anon
Everything around our house is damaged and my dad slept throught it!!

oliver james mate
i was swept off my feet hurting my back,luckily my kids had run back inside the house when they saw it

Amy (Docklands)
I think we too got the tail end of the storm down here, it went very dark, with rain, hail and thunder and lightning. Not too sure i like being in a tall building in all this crazy weather!

Giles swayne
I was working in my study, which looks over the railway line & therefore has an extensive view, when there came a huge bang & an extremely focused flash of lightning directly opposite my house, in the direction of Chamberlayne Road. At the same time the trees all bent to horizontal, and had I not swiftly closed the (casement) window it would have been completely torn off. The high wind lasted only a short time - about 4 minutes, at a guess. Shortly after, there came the sound of helicopters and emergency sirens - which, being busy, I didn't connect with the freak weather. Then a friend rang me to ask whether I had been hit by the tornado.

Zo
Our office is a short walk from Chamberlayne Road and we heard it pass over - lightning, hailstones and a massive clap of thunder followed by a howling wind which we thought was a bit odd. It was quite apocalyptic as our ceiling in the office is a window and the sky went from light to dark in a matter of seconds.