Barking residents have shared some worrying footage of the extreme weather event on social media on Friday evening. One picture shows a residential street being cordoned off by two police cars, with some properties suffering structural damage.

       Barking and Dagenham Police has confirmed it was called shortly after 7pm to reports of damage caused to roofs, electrical equipment, street furniture and vehicles in Hulse Avenue and surrounding areas.

       The force added the destruction was caused by adverse weather conditions, including lightning.

       In one terrifying video posted on Twitter, swirling winds can be seen rampaging through a back garden with debris flying over high fences.

       It was accompanied by the caption: “Tornado in Barking, East London. WOW.”

       In another clip, a number of collapsed trees are seen being dragged in the middle of a residential street by the strong gusts.

       Wheelies bins are also decimated along with the pavements with rubbish being propelled against properties and parked cars.

       A resident also captures the shocking moment the winds trigger the front wall of a property to collapse, with broken bricks spread across the footpath.

       He can be heard shouting: “The wall broke… the whole wall broke. Oh my god!”.

       Sky News’ Kiran Bhangal tweeted: “Just experienced a tornado in Barking east London. Dozens of cars and homes damaged.

       “Police and fire crews on the scene. Very scary indeed.”

       One local resident told Express.co.uk the storm had travelled three miles across the capital and heavy rains triggered localised flooding.

       They said: “The storm has just got here and it’s coming down. A mate three miles away who got it before us said there was a river running down his road.

       “The rain is really hammering down on our roof, it’s almost as loud as our voices.”

       Barking and Dagenham Police said in a statement: "Police were called at around 1920hrs to reports of damage caused to roofs, electrical equipment, street furniture and vehicles in Hulse Avenue and some surrounding roads in the Barking area.

       "This is a weather related incident, during which there was a lightning strike..."

       It comes just a day after a tornado struck near the Czech Republic's border with Austria causing widespread damage and a trail of devastation.

       Footage from the Breclav region shortly after the twister struck shows roofs torn off buildings and cars wrecked by the violent torrent.

       Austrian Red Cross sent ambulances to help survivors amid reports of five fatalities and 150 people left injured.

       Red Cross spokesman Andreas Zenker said: "We have sent twelve ambulances and an emergency doctor vehicle to the area.

       "Other units from the Weinviertel have already been alerted."

       The Czech Army was also deployed to the region.

       The UK gets an average of 30 to 50 tornados a year according to scientists at the University of Manchester,

       The most extreme can last around 10 minutes with wind speeds of around 145mph.

       Berkshire is said to be Britain's tornado hotspot, facing one of the weather phenomenons every 17 years on average.

       The biggest most recent tornado in the UK hit Birmingham in 2005 and saw 1,000 trees uprooted and injured 19 people.

       The tornado left damage costing around ￡40million.

       This is a developing news story, more to follow.