The Great Storm of 87

[Theatre of Trees]

The static park homes over on the Peacehaven/Newhaven border were smashed to bits and ripped apart by wind vortexes.

The one on the cliff top was utterly destroyed, another slightly inland and built into a dip survived with little damage. I know my parents in Telscombe Cliffs found a piece of caravan in their garden and often wondered where it had come from.

 

[Smithy]

I can remember driving over to the Peacehaven area (I wasn't the driver - I was only 6) to look at all the damage. That area was badly hit.

 

[Seagulls over Lewes]

Remember we played Preston on the Saturday at home and they were singing you've got no trees.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Yes the Albion drew 0-0 with Preston on the Saturday after if memory serves me correct.

 

[Seagulls over Lewes]

Yes the Albion drew 0-0 with Preston on the Saturday after if memory serves me correct.

Correct a boring 0-0 draw in all senses.

 

[vegster]

I remember waking up in the middle of the night due to the sound of the roaring winds. I came downstairs and remember seeing the glass in my large front window flexing in and out with the gusts and being rather scared. I went to bed but slept little as every few minutes another slate slid off our roof and crashed in to the back garden or the front path.

I made it in to work despite the destruction, we had maybe 40% of the staff in and about 10.30 the company made the decision to allow home anyone who's property had suffered damage.

Nigel Erskine left work under that pretence and went to the pub, he was living in an undamaged ground floor flat.

 

[Acker79]

I slept through it. When I woke up the lights wouldn't come on so I put 50p in the electric meter, still nothing. So I woke my mum (I was 7) and she explained there had been a hurricane. My dad had been called into work, so we spent the day in with candles for lights boiling pans of water for cups of tea/hot chocolate, etc. I thought it was a real adventure.

 

[pishhead]

Lived by Hollingbury Golf course, our road was blocked of for days. Remember going up the golf course the day after and the devastation was amazing.

 

[catfish]

I woke up when the chimney stack came through my roof.

 

[vegster]

I woke up when the chimney stack came through my roof.

Surely it would have been cheaper just to set your alarm ?

 

[cloud]

I was living just off the seafront. We got in the car to go to uni and only got as far as the Steine, where the first fallen trees were.

 

[jmsc]

I was staying at my then girlfriends flat in London that night, because of all the
trees down over the railway/A23, it took me 3 days to get home.

When I did, I had lost half of my roof and all local builders were fully booked. It
took 5 months to get the repairs done. /

 

[happypig]

Went on a mate's stag night at the brewery tap, had a few sherberts and slept through the whole thing. got up for work and it took me half an hour to drive from my flat near London road station to the telephone exchange at withdean, kept having to try different roads cos they were blocked by trees.
When I got to work, I was first in and it started to become clear that we'd suffered huge damage with telephone wires down everywhere.

 

[perth seagull]

Fortunately no damage to my house, and if I remember correctly my school was forced to close down for a week. I did quite well out of it.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Was 13, living in Hollingbury at the time, remember me and my sister being petrified by the noise and going into my parents bed for the night. In the morning we were still trying to be normal, got changed in school uniform, my Dad was sawing up the cherry tree that was lying on his car in an effort to get us to school and him to work, a kind of denial really as Surrenden Road had between 30 and 50 trees lying across it, several more in people's roofs and my abiding image is our greenhouse had been picked up and put down a metre away.

We all just spent the day walking around Surrenden Road and Surrenden Crescent, up and down Peacock Lane which was all complete devastation. I still have a copy of the Argus pull-out of the events, most striking images are the beach huts strewn across Hove Lawns and one of the minarets on the Brighton Pavilion blown down

 

[ryeseagull]

I was living in Rye. The shed door was flapping. My Dad went to close it and then realized that the shed had no roof. Power was out for a few days and when it came back on, it was that boring quiz show with Angela Rippon. Jesus.

 

[fork me]

I was at Uni in Sunderland, a nice sunny day up there if I remember correctly.

I came down for breakfast and when the Northern bastards I shared a house with told me there'd been a huirricane in the south I assumed it was just a piss take, then I saw the news.

Tried to phone home all day to see if everyone was all right but only got as far as 0273 when the engaged tone came on.

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

At the time I was living up near the pepperpot. I slept through the entire storm and awoke next morning, got ready for work and started to walk down Islingword Road. I remember wondering why the street was so messy with rubbish and broken glass,tiles etc. It was only as I got to the Lewes Road/Bottom of Elm Grove junction and looked at the level, that I realised the devestation. I was standing right next to 2 red phone boxes that were at 45 degrees with a large elm tree against them. From that point, I had to climb over trees,cars etc just to get towards my work ( Lombard in Preston Road ). Finally got there 30 mins late to find that I was only the 4th person in an office of 25 to make it!

 

[bhaexpress]

Pure carnage round my way but it was also the night my then wife decided to stay in London. She has been out on the lash and I couldn't get hold of her the next day until about 4PM. She was so pissed the night before that all she could say was that she thought it was 'a bit windy' when she left the pub ! She had a hell of a job getting home mind you.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

my local paper shop blew away