Lightning & Thunder - Birmingham Tornado 2005
At approximately 2.30pm on the afternoon of the 28th July 2005 I was in my car about to turn into Alcester Road, Kings Heath - suddenly there were thunder claps, lightning and torrential rain, then very quickly it went dark... very dark.

The areas of Kings Heath, Moseley, Balsall Heath, Small Heath, Quinton, Hall Green and Sparkbrook were hit by the force of a tornado rated at T3 - T4, that meant wind speeds of between 93 - 130mph... it only lasted a few minutes.

Terrified residents saw roofs flying through the air, cars lifted and thrown through windows, 1000 trees were uprooted by the ferocious winds, crushing everything in their path.

There was extensive damage to buildings, vehicles and the local community. In the aftermath, hundreds of people were trapped in their homes and isolated from their families. The total cost of the damage was estimated at £40 million.

Emergency services cordoned off many roads and prevented access to damaged property.

30 people were injured, luckily there were no fatalities.

In the midst of the chaos, with the aid of my Canon Sureshot camera, I made a record of the unfolding events and took approximately 291 black and white photographs, At 6am the following morning I went out onto the streets, filmed the devastation and interviewed terrified local residents.

The 40 large scale photographs in the exhibition 'Lightning & Thunder' documents the aftermath of a violent tornado and the staggering footprint of destruction it left on a shocked community.