A DUDLEY man caught up in the killer storm in Greece has told how he survived the devastating winds.

Rik Freeman was in the resort of Halkidiki visiting friends when the devastating weather hit at around 10pm last night) July 10.

Six tourists died as gale force winds, hailstorms and torrential rain lashed the region.

Mr Freeman said: "Around 10pm the wind picked up a bit and then within seconds all hell broke loose.

"The wind was like a tornado, everything that was not held down was ripped up and thrown through the air.

" I saw a fridge full of drink literally picked up off the floor and thrown onto it's back."

The 54-year-old truck driver joined others in holding down a canopy to prevent it blowing into a group of people who were taking shelter.

He was then ordered to take cover himself in a cafe as the storm worsened.

He said: "I was not scared but shocked at how fast and at the ferocity of the storm.

"While it was going there was a non stop display of lightning across the whole skyline and yet not one clap of thunder.

"Then the rain hit for around 10 minutes we had the lot hard rain, crazy winds and an amazing light show. After 10 minutes it stopped as fast as it has started.

"The town was hit hard but then I went to the beach and that had been decimated.

"Parasol poles cemented into the sand bent like twigs and a lifeguard tower reduced to matchwood."

The storm has already claimed the lives of a Czech couple whose caravan was destroyed, a Russian man and his son who were killed by a falling tree and a Romanian woman and her child who died when a roof was ripped off a cafe.

Speaking to the News from Greece on the morning after the storm, Mr Freeman added: "Needless to say there has been a loss of some lives with many injured and even now the army are scouting the coast in helicopters for more people reported missing."