Tue, 13 Nov 2001 8:09 AEDT

Mini tornado rips through Melbourne suburb

A mini tornado has ripped roofs off several homes and buildings in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Aspendale early this morning.

Emergency workers are still at the scene repairing the damage and restoring power lines.

Student Haylee Lavelle says she was woken by the sounds of tin and tiles being lifted off roofs.

"There was a lot of debris, a lot of guttering in trees, the actual bats from our roof, heating stuff was in the trees across the school," she said.

"There were trees falling down and I actually couldn't believe it was a tornado."