Gusts of up to 80mph have battered the borough of Barnet causing roofs to blow off, the evacuation of offices and the suspension of train lines.

A woman in her 70s was taken to Barnet Hospital with a minor head injury after being blown off her feet in High Road, North Finchley, but London Ambulance Service has reported no serious injuries in the borough.

There is likely to be evening rush hour congestion after the Northern line was earlier suspended between Finchley Central and High Barnet, and Golders Green and Edgware because of debris blown across the tracks. First Capital Connect (formerly Thameslink) services are also disrupted.

Finchley Fire Station, in Long Lane, Finchley, said it had received a 'huge amount of calls' and had switched to a special procedure known as 'batch mobilising' in an effort to prioritise life-threatening emergency calls ahead of less urgent ones. A spokesman for the fire station said: "Most of the calls have been dealing with tiling, aerials, roofing and scaffolding."

One of the larger incidents attended by fire crews was at the exclusive apartments at Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive, Friern Barnet, where celebrities such as Girls Aloud singers Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Tweedy and footballer Ashley Cole, used to live.

Stephanie Constantinou, membership manager of Esporta Health & Fitness Club, in Princess Park Manor, said: "A whole roof from the apartments came off and landed on top of our roof. Our roof lifted off but hasn't come off. There's quite a lot of damage."

In Station Road, Edgware, eyewitnesses said a building adjoining the Premier House office block had its wooden roof blown off in its entirety. It flew into a car park behind the tower block and damaged four cars.

Barnet Council staff on the upper floors of Barnet House, High Road, Whetstone, one of the tallest buildings in the borough, were moved to lower floors or council offices elsewhere after they complained the swaying of the building was making them feel unwell.

It was on the roads that the most damage was done with lighter trees coming down on cars. Woodhouse Road in North Finchley was blocked off at around 1pm after a tree fell across the road. Building contracts working at nearby Woodhouse College liaised with police and removed the tree with a forklift truck.

A resident in Lambert Road, which joins Woodhouse Road, said the roof of a house had been blown off, badly damaging a parked car. Dinsukh Patel said: "I'm going to go out and see what happened, but it's very scary here."

A tree also fell on top a car in Manor Hall Road, Hendon.

The Met Office said the winds are expected to ease gradually through the evening.