St Jude's Storm

I do remember the storm of 1987. I was only half a mile away from the old people's home that lost its roof, and the fire engine that got hit, living in Mudeford near Christchurch in Dorset. I was lucky in only getting a bit of flashing damaged, as many houses round about had great bites out of their roofs after. But I do remember the storm and it was like all the tiles being lifted and dropped.

I grew up in Scotland and remember another infamous storm there, about 1967, when someone's wooden garage ended up on top of a group of beech trees for days after. And I was in Northampton in 1998 for the big flood there, coming back from a club at 2am in unbelievably heavy rain, water everywhere, but living on higher ground that wasn't submerged.

These events will happen but decades apart. They may become more frequent with cliimate change and indeed did so in the past. There are 17th and 18th century accounts of freak weather, one of the most interesting observers was William Stout, a Lancaster ironmonger, who recalls one night so cold thousands of birds fell to the ground dead. And apprentices left to guard the market stalls of their masters died in numbers that same night, because they had no protection.

Many people slept in attics up to early 20th century, that weren't sealed. There are stories of people wakling up after overnight blizzards to find themselves covered in snow that blew in at the eves.

We have the technology now both for better protection and preparation and to cope. Yet it must still be terrifying for many people because such events are still infrequent, and we haven't enough in our make-up, from limited experience, to get a perspective.

I do remember the storm of 1987. I was only half a mile away from the old people's home that lost its roof, and the fire engine that got hit, living in Mudeford near Christchurch in Dorset. I was lucky in only getting a bit of flashing damaged, as many houses round about had great bites out of their roofs after. But I do remember the storm and it was like all the tiles being lifted and dropped.

I grew up in Scotland and remember another infamous storm there, about 1967, when someone's wooden garage ended up on top of a group of beech trees for days after. And I was in Northampton in 1998 for the big flood there, coming back from a club at 2am in unbelievably heavy rain, water everywhere, but living on higher ground that wasn't submerged.

These events will happen but decades apart. They may become more frequent with cliimate change and indeed did so in the past. There are 17th and 18th century accounts of freak weather, one of the most interesting observers was William Stout, a Lancaster ironmonger, who recalls one night so cold thousands of birds fell to the ground dead. And apprentices left to guard the market stalls of their masters died in numbers that same night, because they had no protection.

Many people slept in attics up to early 20th century, that weren't sealed. There are stories of people wakling up after overnight blizzards to find themselves covered in snow that blew in at the eves.

We have the technology now both for better protection and preparation and to cope. Yet it must still be terrifying for many people because such events are still infrequent, and we haven't enough in our make-up, from limited experience, to get a perspective.