The Great Storm That Wreaked Havoc 30 Years Ago Across The County

Published on: 16 Oct, 2017
Updated on: 17 Oct, 2017

By David Rose

Thirty years ago (October 16, 1987) southern England witnessed a storm that is still remembered to this day.

A tree uprooted in Stoke Park, Guildford. Picture by Stanley Newman, from his book The Changing Face of Guildford.

Trees were uprooted and power lines were brought down. Its effects were certainly felt in and around Guildford.

During the week of the night of the storm I was on leave from my job as advertisement rep with the Surrey Advertiser. With my now wife Helen, we had a few days out and just happened to visit places that would soon feel the effects of the wind and the rain.

We visited Kew Gardens before it lost so many trees. We had a trip to the Isle of Wight and visited Shanklin, when a part of the pier would later be washed away.

Following a couple of days in Somerset we drove home to Guildford on the afternoon before the storm hit. It was a murky afternoon and felt a bit strange.

We didn’t see BBC weatherman Michael Fish’s now infamous forecast when he said that a woman had called to say a hurricane was on the way and he then assured viewers that it wasn’t to be.

I remembering going to bed and thinking the air was strangely rather warm and humid. I slept soundly that night and didn’t hear the wind and the rain lashing down.

The next morning, a Friday, all was evident as reports of the storm were all over the TV news.

The front page of the Surrey Advertiser published on the following Friday.

A local journalist from Kent, Bob Ogley, reported the devastation there and later started a new career writing books about the Great Storm that sold like hot cakes.

In his book, In The Wake Of The Hurricane, National Edition, he wrote: “October 16, 1987 is a date we shall all remember. It will be talked about by future generations as the time when nature’s fury hurled itself at southern England and in many areas completely changed the face of the landscape.

Picture round-up of the Great Storm published in the Surrey Advertiser.

“As dawn came to the town and the countryside on that fateful morning it was difficult to believe that many familiar scenes on which dusk had fallen before had vanished forever.

“In those few short hours 15 million trees were blown down and giants which had stood for 200, 300 or even 400 years lay prostrate on the ground, their vast rain-sodden roots towering in the air. Telephone posts were upended, water and gas supplies cut; ships were tossed onto the shore and a hundred thousand miles of road were blocked by fallen trees. There was no electricity in millions of homes. It was the worst power failure since the Second World War.”

If you have memories of The Great Storm of October 16, 1987, and would like to share them, please leave a reply in the box below.