A small tornado is said to have hit Chertsey and Shepperton in Surrey, UK
© @QPRSteve1982A small tornado is said to have hit Chertsey and Shepperton in Surrey causing damage to nearby homes and felling trees
A tornado has hit Surrey, causing damage to nearby homes and felling trees, it is reported.

The Met Office released radar images showing a heavy shower that could have caused the tornado, which hit Chertsey and Shepperton on Saturday morning.

Images on social media show debris littering the roads after tiles were stripped off rooftops.

People nearby were also reporting that cars have been damaged and vans have been blown over.


It comes as nearly 100 weather warnings are in place across the country with widespread flooding threatening to bring further disruption to motorists on the Christmas getaway.

Met Office spokesman Alex Burkill said that - from what forecasters have seen - it is "very likely" the freak storm in Surrey was a tornado.

He said the funnel of wind was formed by "down drafts of air" and "heavy downpours pushing across southern parts of the UK."

"Down drafts, which are winds that funnel down from higher up and come with heavy showers, can cause rotations in the air nearer the surface," Mr Burkhill said.

"These lead to the sudden circulation of strong winds, which would have caused the property damage."

Mr Burkill added that 30 tornadoes in the UK are not as uncommon as Brits may think.

"We get about 30 on average each year," he said. "However, they are a lot smaller and short lived than those elsewhere in the world like in America."


"We get quite a few but fewer people tend to see them," he said.

One social media image showed a rooftop that had been decimated by winds while another showed branches scattered across roads.

Residents shared pictures at the scene, writing: "Mini tornado just struck our estate. Caused so much damage to roofs. Several cars have been badly damaged."


Runnymede Police said in a statement that they have received "numerous reports" of fallen trees while roads have been closed.

"Please respect road closures to allow our partners to clear them; stay aware of possible further trees falling; drive carefully," they added.

Rain will continue over the weekend, with 30mm - which experts say is two weeks' worth of rainfall - expected to fall in some parts of the country.

The hardest hit areas will be the south east and south west, with the rest of the country expected to see scattered showers.

As of Saturday afternoon, some 99 flood warnings - where flooding is expected - and 235 flood alerts were in place across the country.

Adverse weather brought massive travel disruption to the UK on Friday, with trains cancelled and roads waterlogged as people travelled across the country for the festive break.

On Friday, the M23 was closed between junctions 10 and 11 in West Sussex for around eight hours after a nearby watercourse burst its banks.

Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services were affected after rail lines were flooded.