Kings Heath, ten minutes ago.
A tornado did it. Oh yes.

It cut a swathe from Small Heath, hotbed of terrorist activity, in a straight line to Kings Heath, where it totalled the Iceland store, a Greggs bakers and a cheapo Greetings Card store.

My humble abode is barely three or four miles from Kings Heath. We saw a huge black raincloud, heard some thunder and had a tiny bit of rain. My mum, another couple of miles away got a deluge, with the rain flooding the road and garages and almost flooding her house.

And all the news can concentrate on is the IRA announcing their disbanding. Humph.

Here's some selected comments from the BBC's talkback page:

"This is amazing. Just how many millions worth of improvements to Birmingham did that tornado cause?"

"I was really scared. I thought we were under attack but then realised it was a Twister and just stuck it out out as best I could in the circumstances."

"Me and my fiance Dan were there when the tornado hit looking to buy a wedding dress. The sky went dark, there was a loud crash and one of the windows smashed. I was very frightened and have never had an experience like it."

"We all sat around the window watching it pass by our office, drinking a nice cup of tea. We were drinking the tea, not the tornado."

Bru Miscum
Man, this was a bostin' storm! I was in Greggs havin' a double pasty then b4 I knew it, my missus almost had her earrings blown out - there was sausage rolls flyin down the street and pies hittin the window and everythin. BOSTIN!

Shail Chohan
I'd just cashed my giro and was sitting in the Wetherspoons in Moseley spending it. All of a sudden I saw a woman fly past the window - someone said it was a tornado. I couldn't belive my eyes.

Wilf Skinner
I was having an afternoon nap, when i was awoken by a loud crash. When I looked outside the garden fence had gone, and the willow tree was ripped from the ground. The neighbours chimney stack was completely destroyed. And the local schools roof has collapsed.

richard lucas
it were bad arr

Mr Jolly
It's what's called an 'Act of God'. It's in revenge for the terrorist evil-doers in our midst.

BENNY B
I WAS WERY WERY SCARED I WAS

Mr Hanjit Batweenie
We were looking out the window and big funnel went past, my wife almost wet herself! It went through our backgarden and took the goat!

Ben Waddington
Kings Norton 2pm. I popped over the road for some Quavers, noting the sky had turned purple black. Just managed to get home before heavy rain... no idea Kings Heath was being destroyed down the road.

Jon Gould
My bus goes through all of the affected areas - kings heath, billesley, stratford road. I'm stranded now!

Steve
It was like being in a mad weather film. A tile whistled past my head and hit a dog. The dog thankfully is fine.

jamie
this is Kings Heath, and not small heath, when are you at the BBC going to ever get anything right?

John Sherwood
Locals have already named it 'Hurricane Firkin'

Jake
Since the storm we have a numerous amount of baguettes in our garden !!! Wish they were hot pasties though.

Tobes
Oh my God! I was sitting at my desk as normal and then everyone in the office was crowding at the windows... we could see the tornado moving towards us, people were panicking and then we saw a roof being ripped off of a building. It's like a scene from 'The Day After Tomorrow'. I still can't believe it!

William Thomas-Harman
It became very dark and there were brief violent showers when sudenly strong winds started to blow so i went into a camera shop (near gregs) where i saw a woman being knocked over by a sign and a teenage boy nearly being crushed by a tree by allsaints, the storm stopped abruptly and it became warm and humid again. over all it was a horrible experience

Jake
It's nice and sunny from where i am sitting in Birmingham Central. Am I missing something?

Dorothy
I was having a nap and all of a sudden the house was flying through the air, the wicked witch of the west took my dog toto and now I'm lost. I'm following a yellow brick road now but i don't know where it leads to.... wait there's a scarecrow here who's going to show me the way.

BEN LAMBOURNE
IT WAS REALLY WINDY, THEN I SAW A RAINBOW!

Richard Chavesty
I was walking down to greggs to get my daily steak bake when the wind started to pick up. I could tell something was wrong. The wind got so bad, I ran into an alley, I was so scared. I still haven't had my steak bake!

Steve Spoffman
I saw the clouds converging and the sky was rendered a kind of yellowish colour, rather like a large light bulb in the sky. I tried running towards it to see if I could catch it up and film it close up with my phone, but I suppose that I might have been hurt or maybe injured. Instead, I ran away from it and was too scared to film it in case it got angry, changed direction and came after me! That would have been funny!

Karl
I saw a cow, then another cow. It was the same one ...

steve
i got hit and it hurt like hell.i didnt know what was happening this is so bad. ihope i get a new roof for free though.

mr bruce
I just drove past st andrews - its gone!

john doom
it as awful...all i saw was burberry caps flying everywhere....all the chavs from Kings heath were lifted into the air and swallowed by the huge tornado of death

Majestic wine Hagley road
Flooded road,flooded store,and an old man stranded in road,wet staff,looks like time for a drink