It was the ‘hurricane’ that made one
It was the ‘hurricane’ that made one weatherman a household name, claimed 18 lives in Britain and caused damage costing £1.5billlion.
The Great Storm of October 1987 was brushed off by forecaster Michael Fish hours before it arrived, as he told viewers worried that a hurricane was on the way: ‘…don’t worry if you’re watching, there isn’t’.
In the hours that followed, winds peaked at more than 120mph, damaging buildings, destroying entire forests as 15million trees were felled in the south-east of England and ultimately leading to tragedy as lives were lost.
Millions of homes were left without power, some for days, and a Channel ferry was driven ashore in what turned out to be the worst storm for nearly 300 years.
At some treasured visitor hotpots, including Emmetts Garden in Kent and Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill, thousands of trees were lost.At the former, only five per cent of woodland survived.
Elsewhere, entire forests – such as Sandlings Forest in East Anglia – lost nearly all their trees.
Highlighting the unprecedented nature of the storm, the Met Office said that even the oldest at the time in the worst affected areas ‘couldn’t recall winds so strong, or destruction on so great a scale’.
MailOnline readers today recalled their memories of the storm, with one, then aged 14, describing her fear as ‘all the lights went out and it was pitch black in the house and outside’.
Another said: ‘I was living in a tower block on an estate in Battersea on the 14th floor and it was terrifying watching other blocks swaying and the water in the toilet bowl splashing around.’
The phenomenon that made the weather event so fierce was a small area of highly intense wind known as a ‘sting jet’.
It had been expected to form during today’s Storm Eunice, before the Met Office later that the phenomenon will not develop after all.
The Met Office last night issued a rare ‘red warning’ for 100mph winds over southern England and urged millions of Britons to stay at home.
The Great Storm of October 1987 made one BBC weatherman a household name, claimed 18 lives in Britain and caused damage costing £1.5billlion. Above: A man in south-west London leaves a phone box knocked over by a falling tree after the famous storm
Winds peaked at more than 120mph, damaging buildings and felling 15million trees in the south-east of England.Millions of homes were left without power, some for days, and a Channel ferry was driven ashore in what turned out to be the worst storm for nearly 300 years
The 1987 storm took place over two nights, October 15 and 16.Signs that danger was developing in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain emerged at midday on October 15.
When it started to move towards Britain, the job of explaining what might happen fell to Mr Fish on BBC One.
He told viewers shortly after 1pm: ‘Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.
‘But having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France.’
As people went to bed that night, there was no warning of what was about to happen.
Shortly before midnight, weatherman Bill Giles said in the BBC’s final weather forecast for the day: ‘It looks like most of the strong winds will stay away, although it’s still going to be very breezy up through the Channel and on the eastern side of the country.’
In the hours that followed, the storm swept across Britain, causing severe damage everywhere it went.
It was the Channel Islands that first felt the storm’s full force, with trees falling and blocking roads.
The worst of the damage occurred in south-east England, with gusts of 70 knots or more recorded continually for three or four hours straight.
