The Great Storm
This week was the twenty fifth anniversary of the biggest weather event I have ever witnessed, the great October storm. I well remember that night in October 1987. I was 15 years old and remember having a heavy cold. Probably enough to have the next day off school. On those days they were just colds, man flu didn't exist.
I'm not sure if I watched that infamous weather broadcast where Michael Fish stated that a woman had contacted the BBC to ask if a hurricane was coming. I remember seeing it at least in the aftermath of the event probably on a news rerun or the many special programmes that ran in the following months.
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/1987-hurricane.jpg
I was living about 5 miles from the south coast and I remember waking to a howling wind. It was as though the world was screaming. The large oak trees were swaying violently in the gales and the double glazing of my parents bedroom was visibly bowing inwards. I was actually convinced that the whole window was going to give way.
By the end of the night our house was left fairly undamaged but the damage in the surrounding area was quite a sight. The damage to the woods behind the house was total. The paths that I had walked, biked and played along simply did not exist anymore. Roof tiles were strewn across the roads, trees had fallen on cars, chimneys had collapsed and a few houses in the local area had been damaged by uprooted trees.
It was on the coast were the greatest damage could be seen. Some houses had their roofs completely blown off. Garages and outbuildings collapsed and in a few cases some of the houses facing the ocean had literally lost their front facades, leaving the entire contents open to the environment.
Of course that following day schools were closed and the clean up began. The town of Sevenoaks had lost most of the trees for which it was named. Some people had lost their lives and many more had amazing stories of luck and near misses.
Twenty five years on there is little to show that this happened. The trees and woods have recovered and any damage has long been repaired. 25 years seems a very long time ago.
I'm not sure if I watched that infamous weather broadcast where Michael Fish stated that a woman had contacted the BBC to ask if a hurricane was coming. I remember seeing it at least in the aftermath of the event probably on a news rerun or the many special programmes that ran in the following months.
I was living about 5 miles from the south coast and I remember waking to a howling wind. It was as though the world was screaming. The large oak trees were swaying violently in the gales and the double glazing of my parents bedroom was visibly bowing inwards. I was actually convinced that the whole window was going to give way.
By the end of the night our house was left fairly undamaged but the damage in the surrounding area was quite a sight. The damage to the woods behind the house was total. The paths that I had walked, biked and played along simply did not exist anymore. Roof tiles were strewn across the roads, trees had fallen on cars, chimneys had collapsed and a few houses in the local area had been damaged by uprooted trees.
It was on the coast were the greatest damage could be seen. Some houses had their roofs completely blown off. Garages and outbuildings collapsed and in a few cases some of the houses facing the ocean had literally lost their front facades, leaving the entire contents open to the environment.
Of course that following day schools were closed and the clean up began. The town of Sevenoaks had lost most of the trees for which it was named. Some people had lost their lives and many more had amazing stories of luck and near misses.
Twenty five years on there is little to show that this happened. The trees and woods have recovered and any damage has long been repaired. 25 years seems a very long time ago.
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