Hurrican Andrew 1987

I used to live in Brighton, very close to the coast, about three quarters of a mile inland, on top of a hill. I was sitting watching the news on the television when Michael Fish staged the weather report. He went through the usual procedures, then said that a lady had phoned the studio and alerted him about a hurricane which was in the Channel, on it's way towards the south coast of England. But, Michael Fish doubted this to be true, even chuckled, and said he didn't expect anything more than a gale, maximum. Famous last words, at 6.00 in the evening. lol.

By 7 o'clock that evening, the winds were becoming quite strong and it was raining, and I began to think that Mr. Fish had been right, but the winds got stronger and stronger, until I could hear debris hitting my window, and tiles falling from the roof, shattering outside my front window... even uprooted shrubs were hurtling around. The noise was tremendous, and then... the electricity cut! No television, no light, but I was lucky in that I had gas-fired central heating and a gas cooker, where I could cook food and also heat water for drinks. Also, quite luckily, I had a stock of candles, for emergencies, so I had three or four candles going in the sitting room, and sat and played solitaire with my pack of cards. The light wasn't strong enough for reading or anything, so there wasn't much I could do to amuse myself. The kids couldn't sleep, so we all huddled in the sitting room, and they napped from time to time on the sofa, as did I, hoping upon hope that the hurricane was going to die down after a couple of hours. There were winds of something like 120 mph.

Many scary hours, and forty-winks' later, dawn arrived. It must have been about 7.30 a.m. when first light came. I tentatively opened the curtains... to devastation. Fences, even walls had been blown down or damaged. There were great gaping holes in the roof tiling on several houses, pieces of greenhouse structure, tiles and glass adorned the grass out front, together with debris of all descriptions, paper, shrubs, dustbin lids, and even washing, where some people hadn't managed to take it in from their lines the night before. I went to the back of the house and opened the curtains there. Trees were still bending in the wind, and all their branches facing north, where the wind had relentlessy zipped through. It was still raging out there, and the sky was a purplish grey colour, eerie, and unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Whole small trees and shrubs were rolling across the grass, fences again were down and tiles missing from roofs, leaving gaping holes, chimneys had been blown down and telegraph wires whipped in the wind. Some poles were even down... it was a scary feeling, and that was the first time during the whole episode that I had found the need to draw a fearful gasp.

We were very lucky, with regard to the electricity because we had an emergency back-up generator in Brighton. Many parts of the country were without electricity for well over a month, whilst repairs were made. Nobody had telephones, as all the lines were down. It was just like being back in the dark ages, but with the added comfort of a brick-built home in which to shelter reasonably safely.

Then, in the late afternoon, the electricity was restored, and I switched on the television. The country, especially in the south, I believe, had suffered much destruction from Andrew. Whole mobile home sites had been wiped off the map, the homes had been blown away and wrecked by the wind, and families had lost everything. All their personal belongings were blowing around in the wind... it was awful. Millions of trees had been uprooted and blown over, or damaged badly in the wind, turning forests into mere groves. Roads had been blocked by fallen trees and debris, cars were squashed by falling trees, and even houses damaged where trees which had been planted too close to the houses had fallen through roofs, wrecking upstairs rooms and the furniture therein. Many people had lucky escapes but some weren't so lucky. Several people died, trying to venture out, or even sleeping in their beds when trees had come through their roofs, and straight down across their beds.

This was the first hurricane of any substance I had ever experienced. It was terrifying and I hope I never have to suffer one again. If only Michael Fish had taken his caller seriously and put out a severe weather warning, maybe it could have saved a lot of lives and property, but these things are brought to try us, I guess.

This night I will never, ever forget! The first hurricane in over two and a half centuries hit England, on 16th October, 1987.