Retribution: The Second Chances Trilogy Book Three
Page 37
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Great Storm of 1987, which occurred during the night of 15 October and early morning of 16 October, left an enormous path of destruction across southern England.
Wind gusts of 70 knots or more were recorded for four consecutive hours. The strongest recorded gust was 100 knots at Shoreham on the Sussex coast, and gusts of 90 knots were recorded at other coastal locations. Inland, gusts as high as 85 knots were recorded at Gatwick airport.
These catastrophic winds brought down millions of trees that severely damaged buildings and cars and blocked roads and railways. Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without electric and telephone service for prolonged periods of time. The storm killed 18 people, capsized a ship at Dover, and drove a Channel ferry ashore near Folkestone.
A total of 15 million trees were lost in the storm, including 10 million conifers, 3.25 million oaks and 1.75 million beeches. The National Trust lost over 250,000 trees and 30 of its properties were badly damaged.
If the storm had struck a few weeks later, damage to trees would have been far less. Because of an unusualy mild autumn, most trees were still in leaf and therefore more wind resistant. Because the autumn of 1987 was also unusually wet, sodden root systems could not withstand this massive assault.
The Great Storm was not a hurricane. By definition, a hurricane is a storm that develops in the tropics, which the Great Storm did not, and supports sustained winds of 64 knots, which the Great Storm failed to do for more than minutes at a time. Regardless of origin and qualifying factors, the devastation wreaked by this storm surpassed that of a great many actual hurricanes.
Forecasters came in for heavy criticism because the public did not receive adequate warning. A BBC weather presenter famously told viewers there would be no hurricane. He was, however, referring to a tropical storm in the North Atlantic that he correctly predicted would not reach Britain.