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Original poster

What do you remember from 15th October 1987????? The night of the great storm in SE ENGLAND.

71 replies

RTKangaMummy · 15/10/2007 18:05

I was working in NW London as a nanny and the bins and stuff was thrown about outside

my parents in East Sussex lost fence panels and roof tiles

All the trees on the railway in East Sussex and Kent

What do you remember?

Where were you?

.

OP posts:
wheelybug · 15/10/2007 18:07

I was about a mile from the epicentre (in East Sussex). We got away with minor structural damage though.

Pennies · 15/10/2007 18:07

Asleep in my bed throughout the whole thing.

millie99 · 15/10/2007 18:08

Snap Pennies -We lived in central London and it was quite a shock when we opened the curtains

Weegle · 15/10/2007 18:08

I remember being told by my parents to cycle to my Gran's house because she was on holiday and the storm had blown the front door open and the alarm was going off. I was 9 and it was two miles of lifting my bike over a tree every 10 metres or so. We lost loads of trees (we backed on to a wood), the greenhouse and loads of roof tiles. We had no power for 15 days so had to have baths at my grandparents, so I remember lots of meals cooked on a camping stove! Was all an adventure to me.

multitasker · 15/10/2007 18:09

I was in N.Ireland, at home - being a young slip of a girl and worried all night about our dog who was in her kennel. Needless to say in the morning everywhere looked horrendous and the dog was definitely severly traumatised for a while...

TheMuppetMuggle · 15/10/2007 18:09

being very windy!!

MaryBleedinShelley · 15/10/2007 18:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chocolateteapot · 15/10/2007 18:11

I was in Bristol and had just started a temporary job working in a household insurance department.

Got into work the next morning about 8.30am and it took a good couple of hours before I managed to get my coat off as the phone was going non-stop. All sorts of tales along the lines of I now have 3 sheds in my garden when there was only one yesterday etc.

2shoescreepingthroughblood · 15/10/2007 18:11

in brighton. I remeber it took hours to get to work, and when I got there it was manic. all the emergency 999's were going off.

Pennies · 15/10/2007 18:12

I was in Hampshire and I remember being distinctly surprised that I could get Radio 1 on FM that morning (this was before I opened the curtains). Must have been somnething to do with weird atmospheric conditions. Also, I must have been using a battery operated radio too as we had no power for days afterwards (ooooh... sudden. long forgotten memories of my stressed mother going bonkers over demise of freezer contents).

Eddas · 15/10/2007 18:12

I was in Kent. Don't remember much as I was only 8 and apparently slept the entire way through it

I do remember that our extension was a bit of a worry for mum and dad as the tiles had just been stacked up ready to be put on in the next few days, suprisingly hardly any got broken!

covenhope · 15/10/2007 18:23

DH went in to DD in the night and she told him "noisy daddy" (she was 19 months).

Got up in the morning to see fence panels down, tiles off roof and general devastation. We'd slept through most of it, despite DS1 being only 1 month old.

hifi · 15/10/2007 18:23

i was in streatham, got on the bus to work, got a seat, fab, wondered what are all these trees doing in the road? got a seat on empty tube at brixton, fab, walked down regent seat, shop windows shattered, weird, got into work, only two of us out of about 20 there, didnt even realise what had happened.what was i on?

artichokes · 15/10/2007 18:25

I was eight and thought it was cool. I wanted to go out in the garden so that a tornado would lift me up and take me to Oz.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 15/10/2007 18:25

They are talking about it on BBC NEWS NOW

OP posts:
bossybritches · 15/10/2007 18:26

I lived in South London

I remember waking quite early (I'd slept through it too!) as I was working & there was a power cut. I fumbled my way into the lounge where the cat was cowering in the corner the wind had whipped open a window which was off it's hinges!

I realised there had been a storm but by the time I'd only got about 2 miles down the road, I kept having to double back,one hour & about 20 trees later I gave up trying to find a way into work & went home & watched the news! It was like Armagedon, very scary, dark & quiet as the traffic couldn't get going. Then the sound of chainsaws for WEEKS as the trees were sorted.

OrmIrian · 15/10/2007 18:27

It was very windy.

Any good

Actually I don't remember it specifically myself. Not so bad in the south-west. But I remember that the glass from my cousin's greenhouse came loose and ended up in huge shards embedded in a tree in his garden. In Croydon.

Pixel · 15/10/2007 18:36

I was woken up by the sound of the roof tiles hitting the flat bit of roof above my bedroom window and soon realised there was a power cut. We all sat in the bedroom listening to the radio until my dad had to go to work at about 5am. After about half an hour he was back because every single road out was blocked by a fallen tree! The next morning we'd got off quite lightly compared to some of the neighbours who'd lost whole sheds or the end walls from their houses. We'd just lost all the fencing but an egg from our pet ducks was still on the flat shed roof where my sister had left it the night before!
I didn't go to work that day because I had to walk up over the Downs to check our horses were ok. I was worried because they'd been outside in case the fences had gone down but in the end it was a good job they were because the roofs of the stables had collapsed inwards .

PhoenixSoaring · 15/10/2007 18:48

I remember being woken by the sound of the wind. I went to look out the window and saw all the brand new wheelie bins, that the council had just delivered, flying through the air. That is strongest memory I have!

yaddayah · 15/10/2007 18:53

That my mum made me walk to school, and when I got there there was only me, the caretaker and one other girl, and the caretaker walked us home as he said it wasn't safe (my mum was so embarrassed)

DumbledoresGirl · 15/10/2007 19:18

I was a student in Bath at that time, so not in the south east at the time - just my luck as I lived there before and afterwards and I would love to have been in the centre of that storm. Anyway, even though I wasn't at the centre of things, it was still pretty memorable in the south west. I lived in a Georgian house with tall windows and I was woken in the night to the sound of the window in my bedroom rattling. That was pretty significant as nothing usually wakes me from my sleep!

sibble · 15/10/2007 19:31

living in 7th floor flat in East London, thought ooh it's windy tonight but it was always windy so went back to sleep. very and the next morning - my birthday - no cards, no phone calls, no visitors until turned tele on to see the devastation. everybody watching tele too. no public transport so couldn't get home and had to cancel birthday night out.

LIZS · 15/10/2007 19:33

Student in Surrey . Had a corner room in a relatively new hall of residence on a hill top and the wind rattled around and shook the windows. Very scary. Trees fell on campus and caused chaos next day.

milward · 15/10/2007 19:36

was in south london that night - slept really well!! in the morning no electricity - just thought it was a power cut at first!!

Gobbledispook · 15/10/2007 19:39

Er, probably at home in Manchester so I don't remember anything about it!