Description:The afternoon of July 28th 2005 was a time like no other in the history of Balsall Heath.
No one will ever forget the strange moment when Balsall Heath was plunged into the dark violence of a tornado. The twister past as quickly as it had arrived, but left in its wake a bewildered community in disbelief and shock.
Traumatised by the havoc they had just witnessed people tried to make sense of the devastation before them. Homes, businesses and belongings had been sucked into the sky and set down again heaven only knows where.
With buildings demolished, windows smashed and cars crushed by trees, large areas of Balsall Heath were shut down and evacuated whilst a fleet of emergency vehicles rushed in to tend to the wounded - and no doubt to discover the dead.
Miraculously there were no fatalities. Photograph by Peter Cole