Tornado damages northwest London neighborhood

A storm described by residents as a tornado ripped off part of a wall on a house in northwest London, damaged several nearby homes and injured at least six people Thursday, authorities said.

Photo: Tornado damages northwest London neighborhood

One man who suffered a head injury was taken to a hospital, and five other adults were treated at the scene for minor injuries and shock, the service said.

The storm ripped whole sections of roof off some homes, tore tiles from other roofs and left the street strewn with debris.

One car was buried under a pile of fallen bricks, video footage from Sky News showed.

"It was like some sort of cyclone," said Tim Klotz, a resident of the Kensal Rise neighborhood in northwest London.

"I was actually in an attic room working at my desk on the computer and there was heavy rain and sleet and then the wind just really changed.

"I looked up through a skylight and debris was falling through the air. I heard what seemed like large, clay dominoes falling, which I think were roof tiles," Klotz said, reports AP.

"I could see a huge cloud rolling up the street, making this tremendous sound," local resident Daniel Bidgood told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"I went to try to take a picture of it but a shower of debris smashed all the windows of my house."

An average of 33 tornadoes are reported annually in Britain, according to the Tornado and Storm Research Organization.

One of the worst to hit Britain destroyed the church of St. Mary le Bow and 600 homes in central London in 1091.