'Tornado' brings down trees and blocks roads

A number of trees were uprooted by the high winds

High winds thought to have caused a tornado brought down more than 20 trees and forced a number of roads to be closed in part of Staffordshire.

The Met Office reported winds of more than 40mph (64kmph) on Thursday evening for Kidsgrove and the surrounding region.

It issued a yellow warning ahead of the approach of Storm Darragh until 03:00 GMT on Friday, covering the West Midlands among other areas, while Staffordshire County Council said it was expecting strong winds and heavy rain.

People on social media reported branches in Kidsgrove hitting buildings including a church and some described what they had seen as a "loud tornado".

Others said they had seen big trees blown down along with fences and roof tiles.

Staffordshire Police said it had reports of 25 trees having been blown down.

The Met Office said there were typically about 30 tornadoes a year reported in the UK.

They are usually small and short-lived "but can cause structural damage if they pass over built-up areas", a spokesperson said.

Boathorse Road was one of those roads closed

Paul Phillips, from Kidsgrove, said one of the trees in his garden was brought down during the storm.

He told the BBC: "I was sat in the back room mending a Christmas decoration and I thought, 'What the hell is that noise?'

"It was pretty loud and then someone knocked on the door and said you'd better come out the front."

He said he planted the tree 30 years ago and was glad it had not injured anyone when it came down.