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Roofs were torn off houses, trees blew down and walls collapsed as a small "tornado" tore through Greater Manchester during Storm Gerrit, BBC News reported.

Police declared a major incident in Tameside at about 23:45 GMT on Wednesday "due to the severity of the damage caused and potential risk to public safety".

Around a hundred homes have been damaged and people are being asked to avoid the area.

There have been no reported injuries.

The Millbrook and Carrbrook areas in Stalybridge were worst affected.

Carrbrook resident John Spence told BBC Radio Manchester: "I thought the windows were going to come in."

He said he had never experienced anything like it.

"I was scared of going out," he said. "It snapped my flagpole like a twig and took a tree down in my back garden that fell on the conservatory."

Elsewhere in the UK Storm Gerrit has brought flooding and disrupted travel, with Scotland being the worst affected area.

The north-west of England, the southern coast, Wales, and Northern Ireland were also covered by Met Office yellow weather warnings on Wednesday, with heavy rain and wind battering those areas.

Fire and Ambulance crews and officials from Electricity North West and the council were also called to multiple sites across Tameside and a rest centre has been set up at Dukinfield Town Hall.