‘The car lifted from the ground’: Readers share memories to mark 39 years since the Great Storm of 1987 hit Peterborough
The storm claimed the lives of 18 people in England
“Earlier on 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.”
Those were the words of BBC weather presenter Michael Fish during a lunchtime forecast on October 15, 1987.
A matter of hours later, the strongest storm since 1703 had hit southern and central England, leaving 18 people dead and millions of pounds worth of damage.
Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here
Today (Friday, October 16), marks 39 years since the Great Storm of 1987 caused devastation across large swathes of the country, including here in Peterborough.
The worst affected parts of the country were on the south coast, particularly East and West Sussex, where winds of up to 115mph had deadly consequences.
Peterborough escaped largely unscathed compared to other parts of the country, but the city certainly received a good battering as the hurricane-force winds moved north.
Earlier today we asked readers to share their memories of how the storm impacted their lives here in Peterborough, and how they look back on the event nearly four decades on.
Liz said: “My large bedroom window being sucked open and the contents of my window area ending up on the lawn. I was 8 years old and I've never forgotten it. Terrified me. The noise!”
Reader Wayne shared a particularly vivid memory, saying: “I remember driving near the sea cadets as I rounded the bend on to Town Bridge, the front of the car lifted off the ground.
“It was a little scary as the bonnet lifted in front of me, luckily it dropped straight back down.”
The storm couldn’t have come at a worse time for Helen, who told us: “I was moving into my first house and almost lost the sofas over the Town Bridge due to the wind catching the van.”
For tradesmen like Doug, however, the storm provided a welcome boost in repair jobs.
He said: “I was a roofer then, so I was busy ripping people off fixing their roofs for a tenner at a time. I soon got rich.”