I’m writing this message as we approach the end of September, before our forthcoming fund-raising event at the home of the Association of British Insurers, on 1st of October 2024. By the time you read this message we will have progressed further in gaining more income that will help to carry on and achieve all, or at least some, of our objectives. As always, I ask everyone I meet to donate to the Museum or think about ways we can generate more income. If you would like to get involved, please contact us.
October Storms
For those of my vintage, this time of year reminds us of the Great Storm, which was a “once in 100 years (or was it once in 1000 years?) storm”. It hit the southeast of England in the early hours of Friday 16th October 1987. The official title for it is “87J”, which is how I’ve known it ever since. Storms in those days were given a letter after the year in which they occurred. Although the forecasters labelled “87J” as a once in a hundred years event, it was no time at all before an even bigger storm, “90A”, came along causing even more damage in January 1990. Hence deserving the “A” suffix.
The highest gust was 120 mph, recorded in Shoreham, West Sussex, and the Great Storm caused a huge amount of damage across the southeast of England. There are many pictures of fallen trees, damaged houses, crushed cars, broken piers and sunken ships. There was also a human cost with 22 lives lost in England and France. There was a significant loss for insurers, including my Syndicate.
I don’t remember having difficulty getting into work on that Friday morning, despite many trains not working and many roads being closed. I do, however, remember the homeward journey and seeing many trees on their side and blocking traffic. Living in north Kent I was struck by the joke that as six of the seven oak trees giving Sevenoaks its name had fallen, the town would be renamed as “Oneoak”.
As for being the “Storm of the Century”, I think the jury is still out. There were a number of severe storms across the British Isles before and after this one. It depends on how you classify a storm, it’s severity, wind speed, impact of damage caused. There are a number of factors to look at. With the onset of climate change, and there being many storms in recent years, will the Great Storm hold up as a “one in a hundred years” storm?
Reg Brown, September 2024.
