THOUSANDS of pounds of damage were caused after a “mini tornado” ripped through parts of Clacton.

Roofs were torn from buildings as winds hit 50mph this afternoon.

One resident said: “You could sense something was going to happen because everything went black.

“Then I heard lots of crashing and smashing - it sounded like a tornado.”

Firefighters were called to Carnarvon Road where the roof of a three-storey building had become unsafe opposite the railway station.

A brigade spokesman said: “The felting was coming off so we got it down and sorted the rest.

“The road was closed because we didn’t know what else might come down.”