A WIND turbine came crashing down as high winds and burst of torrential rain swept across Huddersfield.

The turbine was one of two that had been put up on fields off Halifax Road at Scapegoat Hill earlier this year.

It fell down on Tuesday when squalls are thought to have reached 80mph on the top of hills and moors.

The freak winds also hit Meltham, causing damage and leaving debris in its wake.

Eyewitness Steve Wood, of Howard Way, was driving his Peugeot estate along Huddersfield Road when the sky filled with torrential rain and he heard a crack as a branch hit the rear of his car.

He said: “I have never seen anything like it. Everything went dark grey and there was a sudden change in the atmosphere from ordinary rain to a vicious and ferocious wind with horizontal rain.”

Mike Kaye, of Wetlands Road, spent yesterday morning with his son David clearing up the damage caused by the wind, which he believes may have been a mini tornado.

The tempest tore slates and heavy ridge tiles from the roof of Meltham Parish Church hall and pulled guttering from the building.

The gusts caused damage to roofs of several houses in Meltham. Branches were strewn around and at least one large old tree was brought down on the Greenway behind Morrisons supermarket.