16:20

It's one drama after another here in Birmingham. About an hour ago, I was sitting here at home when I heard an ALMIGHTY bang outside. I thought it was thunder, but it wasn't raining, just grey and damp outside, which made it very odd, and a little bit scary. I wondered if it was a bomb. Birmingham's Central Mosque, which is all over the news today because of the outspoken comments of its chairman, is just down the road. I peeked outside - no sign of rain. Then it very quickly went dark, almost like when we had the eclipse. I looked out of the window and there was rubbish flying high up in the air, covering as much of the sky as I could see. Loads of plastic bags, but also sheets of plastic the size of lilos, all flying up in the air. I wondered again if there had been an explosion. I grabbed my camera, but most of the debris just flew away too quickly. You can see some if it at the top of these photos, taken in my back garden, but the clue to the real cause is at the bottom of the pictures, where you can hardly see the roofs of the houses across the road. I've been scouring Ceefax and the BBC website, and in the last few minutes this has appeared - it was a tornado. Wow!

It seems to have caused much damage up the road in Moseley (and I think those shops in the BBC picture are in King's Heath; the next area South after Balsall Heath and Moseley). There were police helicopters circling overhead a few minutes ago, although that's not particularly unusual these days. The sky has now brightened up and all is quiet again. Terrorists, tornadoes, what next?

Comments from locals here - some of them rather amusing. I've added mine.

Dramatic pictures here.

This is now the lead news story on the BBC News England website, replacing the IRA's historic announcement.

17:53

EYEWITNESS REPORTS:

Two of the little kids in my street are VERY excited. Apparently the trees in our local park have fallen over. I'll go and check this out soon
Man in corner shop confirms that the big trees have fallen over. He witnessed the tornado sky from his attic window and said it was dramatic. People have been coming into the shop, showing him cameraphone pictures of the local damage.


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