Satellite pictureA householder has spoken of his horror when the roof was blown off his house in a tornado which struck Leeds and Harrogate during a freak storm.

Ranjit Dhanjan said he walked towards his home in the Harehills area of Leeds to find his roof lying in the road. Firefighters were inundated with a record number of calls during the storm and one man was taken to hospital after he was hit by a falling tree. There was chaos at Leeds station caused by a signal failure and floods.

The storm damaged buildings, uprooted trees and caused flash flooding across the region. Leeds City Council said three schools would close on Friday due to flooding or damage caused by the storm. Guiseley High School, Hunslet Moor Primary School and South Leeds High School were affected.

West Yorkshire Fire Service said it received 90 calls in 30 minutes when the storm broke on Thursday afternoon. A brigade spokeswoman said BT engineers told them it was the largest number of calls ever received by a fire service over a 30 minute period in 20 years.

West Yorkshire Ambulance Service said a man in his 30s was taken to hospital following an incident in Compton Road, Harehills. David Crothers saids of Leeds: “At Leeds Grammar school there was torrential rain and a mini tornado that took tiles off the junior school roof and wet the inside of the sports hall.

“Many people said that the front of a car was picked up by it and a child was thrown into a bin.” Phil Hardaker who was driving on the M1 in Leeds, midway through the storm said: “The traction control light on my car kept coming on because my wheels were not in contact with the road due to the amount of water on it, and the continued deluge.

Via: rsoe.hu - RSOE HAVARIA - Disaster and Emergency Information Service

Picture Credit: NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)