The Great Storm of 87 . 25 years ago

[john_gale]

What do you remember of the great storm of 87 ? The thing I remember most was the noise. The wind sounded like a train. Was a scarey old night .Then waking up to total devastation. Trees down everywhere. Way before mobiles and all the phone lines were down. I wouldn't like to go through that again.

[Anonymous1]

Here's a pic I took at the time:


storm 1987 by Laser II, on Flickr


Markwick Terrace_ _ __ _ _The Triumph Spitfire was someones restoration project, I don't think those dents will come out.


[img[/img]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2487/4037247448_d41e779669_z.jpg?zz=1[/img[/img][/url[/img]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/34727332@N04/4037247448/[/img]storm 1987[/url[/img] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/34727332@N04/[/img]Laser II[/url[/img], on Flickr


Markwick Terrace_ _ __ _ _The Triumph Spitfire was someones restoration project, I don't think those dents will come out.

[Allen]

My wife and I slept right through it and I had no idea what had happened. I was supposed to be driving from Bexhill to a business meeting in Brighton and I wondered why there were so many bits of tree around. I got about as far as the former Northeye prison before I cottoned on and turned back.

Oh, and our cat flap blew down to the end of the garden.

A good post by John GALE!

[Insomniac]

Don't remember it as I wasn't even born then! Just saying like

I remember adults telling me about it when I was younger, like one who was at William Parker at the time, climbing over trees to get to school, only to find out schools closed.

My aunt is married to one of Jimmy Read's sons, so was aware of that story from a young age too.

Glad I missed it by a couple of years, scarey stuff!

[Richard]

The wind sounded like a horrid sort of diesel train tearing past repeatedly in the middle of our sleep.
I remember many trees were said to have been blown down because they had not yet shed their leaves and offered more wind resistance.
Mountainous waves broke up Shanklin pier on the Isle of Wight which was never rebuilt.

[Anonymous1]

We lived in St Marys road at the time. I remember feeling the bedroom floor shake up and down during the gusts, needless to say it woke me up. The old joists were flexing on the Victorian (and no doubt soft) wall plates. I looked out of the window to see a garden shed blowing down the middle of the road. My ears were popping as the air pressure in the house altered during the gusts and lulls_ _ _.The gusts, as they whistled over the roof, lifted and rattled the tiles.

The following morning I was due to drive up to my Grand Fathers funeral in Oxfordshire_ _ __ _ _.no chance. It took me over an hour to drive to St Leonards, nearly every road blocked by fallen trees, masonry or bits of roof. I had to pick my way there, constantly driving around obstacles in the road. Many houses suffered structural damage with roofs missing, chimneys blown off, entire walls/gable ends blown out or trees fallen on them. It was shocking. No damage to our house though.

Views that had existed for years were dramatically changed overnight. For weeks after while driving around Hastings my hindbrain kept subliminally nagging me "this view doesn't look right"_ _ __ _ _weird feeling.