by Joy Horn
Poor Michael Fish, one of the BBC weather presenters in the 1980s, has never been allowed to forget the weather forecast he gave on the evening of October 15th 1987. ‘Earlier today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC, and said she’d heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.’ Within a few hours, the Great Storm broke. These words even featured in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.
The weather that night may not have been technically a hurricane, but the winds reached more than 120 mph. Early in the morning of October 16th, 15 million trees were blown down nationwide, £1.5 billion of damage was caused, millions of people were left without power, and sadly eighteen people died. It was the biggest storm since a memorable one in November 1703, described in a book by Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe). And Surrey was right in its path.
Curchod’s estate agents: in 1987 this was a newsagent and tobacconist’s shop
What was it like for those living in Cranleigh?
Heavily wooded areas around here suffered most, as the wind ripped through them and trees fell like dominoes. Near Cranleigh, Pitch Hill lost many of its trees. Leith Hill was left denuded as hundreds of trees on its southern slopes were flattened. At Wisley, the Royal Horticultural Society lost some of its prize specimens. Roads out of Cranleigh were impassable in all directions. Trees fell across the road to Shere through Winterfold Wood, forming an arch.
It is estimated that two million trees fell in Surrey, and Surrey Fire Brigade answered 1,250 calls for help that day, especially to clear a basic route through roads that were a tangle of fallen trees. In some roads, neighbours discovered a new camaraderie as they worked together to restore a passage through the debris. There were many instances of trees crushing cars and inflicting serious damage on houses.
Inevitably, falling trees brought down electricity power lines. About 3,000 electricity poles fell, and 5,000 miles of cable were out of action in Surrey. Some people were without electricity for several days, especially residents of Forest Green and Walliswood. A Cranleigh electrician was inundated with phone calls requesting help, and had to prioritise them. He decided that a farmer who needed to milk his cows took precedence over a man whose garden shed had lost its lights. People with large quantities of food in their freezers risked expensive losses, until a public-spirited butcher in Bramley offered space in his large freezer to about 80 profoundly grateful people. South-East Electricity Board was faced with 25,000 faults in Surrey. In the weeks following the storm, emergency teams of electricians were drafted in to help in Surrey from all parts of the country – even from Scotland, Tyne and Wear and South Wales.
An urgent plea was put out for more blood donors. Extra sessions for taking donated blood were organised in Guildford, Dorking and Cranleigh.
It wasn’t all a disaster, though. The owner of a large house on Winterfold awoke to find he had a new and spectacular view over Cranleigh: ‘I reckon the storm has put £50,000 on the value of my house’, he declared.
All but one of these pictures are by Surrey Advertiser photographers, and many of them were printed in Surrey in the Hurricane by Mark Davison and Ian Currie (1988).
The Cranleigh History Society meets on the second Thursday of each month at 8pm in the Band Room. The next meeting is on Thursday October 10th, when Tony Painter will speak on ‘The history and mystery of maps’.
