1987 Hurricane/Great Storm in Rainham Kent

Along with much of the rest of the South East of England, Kent was affected by the severe winds from the Great Storm on the evening of 15/16 October 1987 resulting in hurricane force winds that destroyed many trees and damaged lots of buildings in the area. The event was made more famous by Michael Fish's comments on TV weather forecast that no hurricane was on its way a few hours before it struck.

This newspaper graphic shows how the storm progressed across the country in Oct 1987. Five people were killed across Kent by the winds and the damage they caused. A video of the news the day afterwards is here

 

I remember walking to school through all the debris - never managed to miss a day through the weather back then! - and finding the school closed with trees downed in the field.

We had lost electricity overnight but that came back during the day for us but many others were without power for several days where such damage had been made to the power lines from fallen trees.

 

Great storm tree blown over in Rainham Kent

This gallery shows a selection of images of the immediate aftermath and of trees uprooted taken some weeks later near Bredhurst and Queendown Warren. You can see the scale of the tree roots that have been ripped out of the ground compared to the person standing next to them which gives an idea of the ferocity of the hurricane force winds that hit Kent on 15/16 October 1987

This is a photo of tree downed in Marshall Road Rainham during the Great Storm of October 1987.

These are a few photos taken on the following day and the weeks afterwards showing some of the damage caused by the high winds.

Flag pole & washing line blown down by the winds in October 1987

 

 

Branch of cherry tree blown off by the hurricane force winds in 1987