A storm had been threatening all day and when it hit there was a massive thunderclap, like the sky had been torn apart. A few minutes later chum Matt phoned to ask if I’d just had a tornado tear through Bournville. Nah, I laughed back, just a thunderstorm. Stop exagerating! Um, they had in Moseley. He was walking through the streets as he talked, trees had been uprooted, houses smashed up, debris everywhere and, oh, Jez’s house had been hit. Broken windows. Not secure. And they’re on holiday.
I left a message for Jez and Nat, jumped on the bike (remembering to take my camera of course) and sped over there with a sense of chidlish glee. This was going to be cool. As I entered Moseley there was no sign of damage. Turning down Forest Road there was a bit of a traffic jam and then at the top of Church Road a makeshift police barrier blocking traffic. Uh oh. I passed through this and was suddenly confronted by the kind of eerie calm that happens after mild devastation. Trees in the street, leaves and tiles everywhere and people milling around looking dazed. Though not too dazed to take photos. Although that might just been a coping mechanism. When confronted by something really odd, take photos of it. I know that’s what I did.
After a bit I knocked on Matt’s door. He’d been at home when it happened and said everything went dark and he saw stuff flying around that he thought were leaves but which turned out to be tiles. Being American he has an instinct for dealing with this kind of thing so he shut all the doors and stood in the hallway while the tornado hit. I, of course, would have opened the windows for a better view so it’s probably a good thing I wasn’t there. He’d only had one window broken by a flying tile. He was very lucky. In fact Jez was very lucky. A house two doors down (which I inexplicably didn’t photograph) had its whole roof torn off.
I finally got through to Nat and got hold of their keys from a neighbour. They had 17 broken windows, about six of them completely obliterated. The entire ground floor was covered in glass including all the kitchen work surfaces. It seems the tiles had been shot through the windows like cannonballs. While it’s obviously not nice to be away when your house is attacked by nature it’s a good job they weren’t at home. I have this image of the kids playing in the living room as the tiles and glass hit them at 100mph and it’s not a nice picture.
Since Matt and I just had to keep and eye on the place we figured out a rota and I set to work clearing up the glass because what else can you do? The clearing thing seemed to be a common reaction as everyone in the street automatically started sweeping up the debris. From kids to pensioners, everyone was picking up stuff and creating large tidy piles of branches, wood and tiles.
Police response was very rapid, but then there is a station about 100 yards away. Fire engines were also there pretty sharpish as were the council tree surgeons with their tree-shredding machines. In fact most of the debris and blockages were cleared by the time I went home at eight.
As news spread via the word-of-mouth vine it emerged that the tornado had run from Kings Heath down to Small Heath so this was only a fraction. I texted ex-housemate Sam, who works in Small Heath, and she replied thus: “We were driving in it! Nightmare, bins and trees flying, buildings down, cars with trees in!” And there was I in Bournville getting all excited about the guttering overflowing…
In all a very odd afternoon. I thought it was going to be cool but it’s was just wrong and rather confusing. Of course it wasn’t a really bad tornado and I’m sure those from other countries will be scoffing at our over-reaction to a little bit of severe weather, but this kind of shit isn’t supposed to happen here. Birmingham weather is notoriously mediocre and boring – it’s either raining or it’s not raining. A fucking tornado is just utterly discombobulating.
Updates: Matt’s posted his tornado report.
This is the house two doors down from Jez that lost its roof
I spotted your pics when I was on Flickr earlier, and immediately came here to see your post, which you hadn’t written yet, and then it crossed my mind that Flickr and other photo-sharing sites are the new blogs, aren’t they? Used to be you’d check peoples’ personal sites to read what they’re going through during a major event, and now they’re too busy posting their photos to write about it as it’s happening…
Interesting development.
Oh no! Poor Jez!
Very bad luck for Jez there, though I’m sure his insurance will cover it.
Good photo of the tree. One less leylandii in the world, yay!
Anna: It’s just way easier to slap photos on Flickr, plus I wanted to get them into the Birmingham pool ASAP, reportage-style. With this post it took me a couple of hours (with a break for pizza) to get everything straight in my head and write it down, but then I do tend to spend more time on this blog than I used to.
Wow! How horrible and yet how fascinating. Good on you for going round & helping out — what else are friends for, of course, but that’s the sort of thing that’s really important in the world of nowadays.
Terrorism and tornados — it starts to seem like the end times… (ok, not so much when compared to other parts of the world!)
There was a geniune community spirit thing going on in the streets – everyone helping everyone else, guiding the police and firemen to potential trouble spots, sharing information.
Makes you think – if you really want to engender a tight-knit community the best way is to just fuck everything up and let human nature kick in.
That was kind of the point I was trying to make: now that there are sites specifically for sharing images, that are well-designed and easy (and free) to use, they’re going to be where people are going to go first instead of blogging applications. Especially with the way everything is being integrated…
It looks pretty scary, though. I’m glad no one was hurt.
Interesting to see that if you type in ’small heath tornado’ into Google, it’s your page that’s top of the list!
I am sorry about it i am at a frinds house here
Um…The house in the pic with one house in it (rather than the one with the green door) is the house I grew up in which my mum sold a couple of years ago…this gets more and more strange…
I’ve just realised that that is indeed your friend Jez’s house – I met Jez during the sale of the house and he was very nice…I’m glad to hear that they’re all ok…
Different paul here. After years oif living in hurricane/tornado country (and having experienced Alicia full on in 1982) I was shocked to learn about the Brum tornado. At first I assumed it was exagerration but photos of a real tornado descending out of typical green sky convinced me of the freakness of a tornado in Middle England.
Events like this do indeed bring out the best in people, sometimes the worst (my neighbor wanted to charge me to supply an extension cord across the street 1982 as we were without power and he had no damage). If there is anything I can do to help Jez and family, let me know.
I am simply amazed that so few people suffered injuries, particularly as there is no culture of moving to an inside room when a freight train appears to be bearing down on your house. I’ve heard that sound in Houston and it was not nice at all even though the tornado touched down four blocks away.
Hello all. Thanks for everyone’s good wishes. We’ve been very lucky, and bin bags taped over windows aside are pretty much back to normal. The roof, while still attached, will need relaying, there’s a large tree fallen into the garden, the car’s probably written off, and as Pete mentioned, there are several windows broken. And that’s it. We’ve cleared up, and moved as much of the tree as we can. All around the tree gangs have had chippers going pretty much non-stop, and last night a council crew came through with a JCB and tipper lorry to scoop up the piles of debris in the road. Things look almost back to normal.
Up and down the road there are people who’ve lost roofs, chimneys, cars and more. Further down from us, toward Sparkbrook, I can see houses with their roofs completely ripped off, some with collapsed walls as well. On Queenswood Road, there are houses are being demolished. The local housing association has thirty families that need rehoming.
Everybody has their own tornado story. Mohammed, next door, is wheelchairbound: a slate smashed through his double-glazing and he was covered in glass, but was unhurt. The lady next along was asleep in her attic bedroom when the roof and part of the wall were ripped off – she tried to get out, but couldn’t get the door open. On the other side, a woman has pieces of slate embedded in the wood of her bed. On again, as Pete said, the whole roof has been ripped off, but directly opposite all Nick’s pot plants and hanging baskets are untouched and as immaculate as ever. It mindbogglingly unbelievable that so few people were hurt.
This event is a warning for those who think global warming’s only result will be being able to sunbathe in October…
fucking tornado
I am a TV Producer trying to get in touch with people whose homes were damaged as a result of the tornado. I am looking for anyone who was inside their home when it struck and can describe what it was like.
If this is you or you know someone who fits this description please get in touch.
Thanks very much.
michellefobler [at] fireflyproductions.tv
hello my name is zoe and i tjink it is really mean what mother nature can do
Hi
I saw the sky news preview of the tornado which occurred 5 months ago, if some one genuinely returns my email I may be able to donate some furniture to whoever needs it in good condition. I reside in Central London if transport can be organized for collection. We r currently looking @ a fridge 2x wardrobes 1x queen sized bed 1 single ortho bed 2x single bunk bed mattresses a micro wave(900 watts) a wooden table which can be used for dining 2xbedside drawers.
pls c above