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| Level crossing sign pushed over by 1987 winds |
Last month, as Hurricane Irene rushed her way up the east coast of the United States of America, quite a few people put up their two-penneth on the subject of our own 1987 UK Hurricane. There were references to over-reaction because a few tiles got shaken in the breeze, which I found troubling on two counts:
a) it seemed a bit of an attempt to belittle the very powerful forces heading towards areas of the US that were not used to them and the action taken by politicians to minimise the risk to life of their people; and
b) it seemed an attempt to re-write the story of that time.
Now we have inherited another US storm, Katia, this morning. All this has woken up some very strong memories from 1987 and the consequences for the landscape of Sussex and neighbouring counties. Needless to say the damage in the US has been substantial. The damage in Sussex in 1987 was the worst for 200 years and in many places our skylines still bear the scars.
