RESIDENTS have been evacuated from their homes after the roof was blown off a block of flats in Hampshire.

The material flew through the air from the top of the four-storey block and smashed some 40-feet onto the car park below - narrowly missing a dad and his toddler son.

The debris wrecked two cars and damaged several others in Golden Grove, St Mary's. Miraculously no-one was hurt.

Daily Echo:

At least six families have been evacuated from the top floor of the block and put up by the city council at a hotel in Southampton.

Anna Meler was one of those evacuated. She returned to get clothes and told the Daily Echo: “I was in the kitchen. My husband was coming back from Tesco with my son. It just missed them. Half of the roof was hanging down.

“My son was screaming and crying. I was happy nothing happened but I started to cry as well.”

One of the severely damaged vehicles was a 56-reg Citroen Xsara. The other was so completely covered by the roofing it was impossible to say what it was.

Today, Golden Grove residents were examining the damage outside their homes.

There was anger about how the city council has responded as the building, without its roof, lay open to the elements since the incident on Saturday at around 5pm.

Tonight Cllr Warwick Payne, cabinet member for housing, said: “Roof repair is technical work and you have to get the right people to carry out the work and that is what we will do. We don't want any serious damage a minute longer than necessary, especially if people have been moved out.

“I will be knocking heads together at the civic centre on Monday morning.”