The great storm.

I think last night was the 27th anniversary of the great storm of 1987.

I still remember it well, I woke at about 2am listening to the roof tiles sliding down the roof, and loud crashes as they fell on the roof of a leanto greenhouse we had at the time on the back of the house.
I also remember going outside once the rain had stopped, there was what I thought was lightning all around, it turned out to be power lines arcing where they had been brought down.
The roar of the wind was all around, never heard a noise like it since.

Come daylight there was trees down everywhere, and those still standing had very little in the way of leaves left.
Any leaves that did remain quickly died and fell off.
It was said it was salt from the sea that the winds had whipped up which had burned the remaining leaves, I'm 30 miles inland?

Any thoughts or remembrances of that night, or the after effects?

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I got woken up about 3 am by branches hitting my first floor window, bit of a worry as there were no trees near the window

In the morning it was total devastation, you couldn't see the tarmac on the roads for debris, trees down every where, lots thru peoples houses.

Remember a big truck making it thru with a punk mate of mine hanging out the passenger side yelling "Oi Zig, it's great, Anarchy's broken out"

We just set to with bow saws and helped cut up the trees on the roads, remember power lines arcing all over the place

 

Typical, Free logs and heating no doubt :-)

Jack McH

 

Unbelievably I slept right through it!!

 

I thought you was referring to the great storm that is heading our way over the next few days and according to reports on the telly.Batten down the hatches and greenhouses everyone

We never slept a wink all night when that great storm hit and trees blocked the roads so we had to divert to get to work.Went birdwatching down to Minsmere weeks later and always remember the vast swathes of woods and forests we passed with all their trees flattened in one direction

 

Cant see any exceptional weather forecast on the met site, wet and windy at times, but nothing unusual.

 

I was working in car transport then. I think all our transporters stayed in the depot, but can't remember too clearly. I think Kent got hit really hard didn't it?

 

I tend to think the Southeast corner caught the worst of the storm on that night.

 

We were incredibly lucky in Northants. The three big pine trees at the bottom of the garden swayed about a fair bit, but they held! We went down to my FIL's place in Surrey a week later and it was total devastation.....huge root boles exposed, massive trees uprooted like matchsticks.

 

I can remember it I was 8 years old
It blew our chimney down and landed on our old Austin allegro. Trees down everywhere. Also remember going with a friends dad to Skegness the day before the storm came to anchor his caravan down at Skegness.
We returned following weekend and It was carnage loads of caravan upside down and smashed to bits.

 

I remember lying in bed in the early hours of the morning, listening to the wind howling around our little terraced house in Ipswich, and hearing the sound of roof tiles from the house opposite crashing into the road.

The cycle ride to work that morning was an 'experience' to say the least. As I set off from home at about 7-30 in storm force winds, I had to watch out for flying dustbin lids, boards, tree branches and so on.
The one thing in my favour was the fact that for most of my 2 mile journey, I had a tail wind so I literally sailed along, propelled by the wind, hardly having to pedal at all for the whole journey. I don't think it was quite so easy for the cyclist I met coming in the other direction, head bowed as he struggled to make any progress in the teeth of the gale! "It's all right for you mate" was his passing comment as I hurtled by.

I worked at the time as a school groundsman around the Ipswich area. That day and the following days were spent clearing fallen trees and branches which littered the playgrounds and playing fields. This was all done using bow saws and axes, as we had no chain saws available.

At home, we were without electricity for about 5 or 6 days following the storm, but life carried on. People mucked in together, made sure neighbours and relatives were ok and just got on with it.

 

But was your friends dads caravan ok?

 

I was in the States for a month but I must admit that I was a bit of a winner out of it. I'd left my car in Bedford and the roof of the house next to my mates came off and landed slap bang on top of my Renault Fuego! I'd bought it for £500 from work (it was a trade in) because of the damaged bonnet but it "booked" at £1000 in good condition. So expecting a fight with the insurers I put its value down at £1500 in readiness for a bun fight. They were so overstretched with claims though that they just paid it! No offers or denial of liability, just a cheque!

 

Yep hadn't moved at all, the caravan around 4 space down was on its side