Strong winds bring down trees and damage homes in West Bridgford
Residents report 'tornado-like' conditions
Strong winds have uprooted trees and damaged buildings in parts of the East Midlands.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue has urged motorists to stay safe on the roads, with gusts expected to last through the day.
One of the worst effected areas has been West Bridgford where there were reports earlier of 'tornado-like' conditions.
One resident, Alex, described waking up to the damage: "I was lying in bed and heard the rain and the wind. The rain was quite deafening like a jet engine-type noise.
"Then there was an almighty crash, which I now discover was one of my two chimneys blowing over. When I went outside, I realised the other chimney had also blown over."
Councils have been out removing falling trees after some routes became blocked.
Other parts of the UK also reported similar conditions including parts of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire.
The Met Office said it was not possible to verify if the strong gusts were a tornado, adding that the winds forecast this morning "had some potential" to create them.
Stephen Dixon, Met Office spokesperson, said: "Tornadoes do happen in the UK and they're generally short-lived in nature, but around 30 a year are reported on average.
"Today there have been some reports of some particularly impactful winds.
"The fronts that were moving southwards this morning had some potential for some short-lived tornadoes within them, but we would need to assess the impact."
The Met Office website defines a tornado as a "rapidly rotating column of air that reaches the base of a storm cloud and the Earth's surface".
Bridges, parks and National Trust sites across the UK were forced to close earlier due to the windy conditions.
The Met Office issued a yellow warning for wind at 6.25am on Monday which covers the whole of Northern Ireland, Wales and England as far north as Cumbria until 10pm the same day.
Gusts of up to 45mph are expected inland and exposed coastal areas could see winds of up to 55mph with heavy rain showers.