1 week Ago
The Great Storm wreaked havoc across the county, with thousands of trees felled, windows smashed and power lines crashing down. Beached - yachts were blown ashore at Thorpe Bay as a result of the hurricane force winds Southend Pier and The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge both shut while power lines were brought down and roads closed during Storm Darragh over the weekend, after storms Bert and Connell saw torrential downpours and 50mph winds hit Essex in late November. Devastation calling - Simon Bishop saw a phone box in London Road which had been decimated by a tree However, in October 1987, boats, caravans and beach huts also bore the brunt of the 110mph winds - the worst to hit the UK in 300 years.
Clean up - members of the community come together to inspect the damage caused by the 110mph winds The overnight storm resulted in Southend Hospital being forced to shut, while Princess Anne’s scheduled visit to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford had to be called off. Three tonne freight containers tumbled down like dominoes at Tilbury Docks and the Allders department store, in Basildon, lost half of its stock due to water damage. Gone - cricket screens were destroyed in Chalkwell Echo news editor Simon Bishop was studying photography at Southend’s Seevic College at the time - where the landmark spire on top of the theatre building had been destroyed when the storm struck - and was keen to snap the damage caused.
Toppled like dominoes - huge containers were unable to withstand the winds at Tilbury Docks Hit hard - a truck is left on its side while lights and benches felt the effects on Southend seafront The majority of the windows in Leigh Broadway were smashed and shop awnings were hanging down. In Chalkwell Park some very large trees had been blown down, showing how powerful the wind must have been. The cricket screens had been smashed against a tree and were in pieces.
A roof had been blown off a building attached to Chalkwell Hall and one tree had fallen through the railings facing London Road and crushed a red phone box. Chalkwell Park - huge trees were uprooted in the woods Damage - one of the hundreds of homes wrecked by the storm on that fateful night Ripped from the earth - Simon Bishop saw countless trees uprooted in Chalkwell Park The storm, in the early hours of October 16, was the worst to hit South East England for three centuries and led to the deaths of 19 people. Many will remember the eery stillness in the hours leading up to the storm, and weatherman Michael Fish’s famous last words when he assured the nation there was no such hurricane on the way.
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