The Great Storm - 25 Years Ago Tonight

[darren.c]

our club room got a free oak tree through it  destroyed all the layouts only a lighting box survived
daz

[Balloon_726]

Sorry to hear that  :'(

I for one dont remember it at all .... I was only 3 months old at the time so I think I can be let off this one.... Although have been told it got a bit blowy that night

[trainsdownunder]

Certainly do remember it.

I was a telecomms engineer back then and the storm meant loads of OT repairing damaged lines.

My most vivid memory though is of a stretch of the A34 not far south of Milton IE/Didcot turning which looked like a mass grave for HGVs. The was a gap is the hillside where the wind kept howling through and simply knocking the wagons over. It took ages weaving round the "dead" and their scattered cargos.

[SymonC]

Remember it well!   Lived in Gillingham at the time and worked in Maidstone. We had no power in the morning had been up most of the night watching out of our back window, saw two of our fence panels blown out of their concrete posts and land on our lawn (we were able to just slot them back in as they had remained in tact"

Our small apple tree eas practically uprooted and was leaning at a 45 degree angle.

In Rochester my dad's greenhouse was caught by the wind landed in a neighbours garden 3 houses away!

Managed to get to work in Maidstone. Jackie who gave me a lift in had slept through it and didn't have a clue what was going on.

We went to park as usual in Maidstone East station's car park but because of the power cut the barrier wasn't working, I managed to lift it manually high enough for Jackie to drive the car in where we parked with about 7 other cars!  (8.45am!)

We had no power in the bank where I worked in Maidstone and few windows so had gas lamps on the counter! I'm sure Health & Safety would have something to say about that today!

After a somewhat quiet day we returned to the car park to find that Jackie's car had been stolen! We managed to get a lift home from another work colleague and Jackie reported the theft to the police.

The following day the police phoned her to say her car had been found undamaged in Sevenoaks. It had been abandoned where a tree was blocking the road.

[jonclox]

Being self employed with 1 child and another on the way I struggled the 20 miles to where I was wokking but stopped at the 1st working telephone box I spotted and phoned the wife to ban her from going out in th car.
2 hours the 20 miles took me only to find out that I was the only one who had made it  :'( Boss arrived about 2.30 and early afternoon was spent in pub before staggering home about 4 PM.......I made the effort tho so I was paid for a full day 

[thebrighton]

Still lived at home with the patents then in Eastbourne on the Sussex coast. Slept through the whole thing and the house survived intact. I was therefore a bit surprised when I tried to drive to work in Hailsham about 5 miles away and it took me over an hour and about 20 miles! I must have been keen in those days, now I wouldn't bother trying to get into work.
I worked for LLoyds at the time and there was no power all day but our manager, who couldn't get in from Eastbourne, made all those who did stay all day! Trouble was no power meant the safe couldn't open so customers couldn't draw out any money and we didn't want to take any as there was nowhere to put it ( IIRC I volunteered to take it home with me but this fell on deaf ears). It's amazing how 'stressed' people can get when they can't draw out any money and one genuinely couldn't see why we wouldn't get someone in to knock the safe wall down as 'it could be days before the powers back!'.
Gareth

[jonclox]

Being self employed with 1 child and another on the way I struggled the 20 miles to where I was wokking but stopped at the 1st working telephone box I spotted and phoned the wife to ban her from going out in th car.
2 hours the 20 miles took me only to find out that I was the only one who had made it  :'( Boss arrived about 2.30 and early afternoon was spent in pub before staggering home about 4 PM.......I made the effort tho so I was paid for a full day 

but hinking back on what I wrote..........
My wife and I were very much into CB radio at that time and I could well have called the on the rig and told her the situation and that it wasn`t safe to go out because of storm damage

[MikeDunn]

Should we draw any conclusions based on the fact it's taken you 25 years to think of this ? 

[cookiescrumble]

My mum remembers this all too well. I was only a week old at the time and still in hospital. The storm damaged the roof of St Mary's hospital and woke every baby on the ward apart from me . I slept through the whole thing!  . My mum was at the hospital at the time and spent the night helping the nurses get the babies back to sleep whilst I just laid there asleep  .

[Mustermark]

I remember it too.  We lived in Canterbury at the time.  We lost half our roof and spend a sleepless night downstairs on the sofa listening to the wind ripping more and more of roof away.  At one point with the tiles coming off the roof I went to wake our neighbours to tell  them to move their car.  He had no idea what was going on and he looked at me like I was an idiot till three tiles smashed on the path behind me, about 2 feet from his car!  I think it was a bit stupid going out.  It was only when I was outside that I realized how hard it is to stay on your feet in 125mph winds.  But I didn't get tiled, and the neighbour's car was safe too.  It was a mess and most of Canterbury town centre was flooded with trees down everywhere.  I had a photo of the Sainsbuy's car park looking like a lake.  Our news was full of stories about stranded ferries and wrecked holiday caravan parks and all the casualties.

I thought that was bad till I experienced tornadoes over here.

[port perran]

I was attending a meeting at Swindon College.
That was interrupted when we all had to move our cars as bits of roof were flying off the top of the building.
My car was fine but many others were less lucky !
The drive home that late afternoon was interesting as I remember it !

[jonclox]

Should we draw any conclusions based on the fact it's taken you 25 years to think of this ? 

Um  ...dementure flash back?  :'(

[REGP]

Went to see "Les Mis" in Shaftesbury Ave, London that night, but can't remember name of theatre.

It was pouring of rain when we waited to go in around 7 in the evening but when we came out (probably) around 10 it was dead calm.  Got home to Barking just before midnight and it was disturbingly calm and quite.

Woken in early hours by tin cans (dustbins lids?) being blown down road, no power so scrambled for torch, found battery radio, used camping stove to make tea for wife & daughter (typically English response).

When dawn broke found parts of someones fence/shed in garden, never found out who's. Trees were  blown down on all exit roads from estate so couldn't drive out, eventually made it to local BR & LT station on foot but no trains into London so couldn't get into work then.  Tried later on I think the Liverpool Street line and got to work around 2pm so got paid.

Ray

[JonHarbour]

I lived in Harrow at the time. Only event of note was that the pilot light on my gas boiler went out and it wasa right PITA to get going again!