I enjoyed watching the ITV1 programme about the 1987 hurricane last night and it brought back many memories.
I lived at home on the Surrey/Kent border at the time and we were in the thick of the melee. Falling trees missed the house, thank goodness, but fences, sheds and all manner of other debris went everywhere.
I also remember watching a JCB try to clear a tree out of the road to unblock it and snap the telephone wire in the process.
What struck me, though, last night was how would be cope in 2007? Michael Fish admitted it was probably a good thing that they didn’t forecast the hurricane properly, as it saved people from being injured.
If it happened now, we’d all know about it and mass panic would ensue.
The other thing I remember from 1987 is that we kept up with the news using battery-powered radios. Given that everything is electric in 2007, this could prove a little tough now. With no TV and no computers, no office would be able to function without electricity.
My abiding memory of 1987, though, is that it meant I got almost a week off school, even though I was convinced that it would be open on the morning after the hurricane.
