In this week’s ‘50 events over 50 years in Farnham’ feature, we take a look back at the Great Storm of 1987.

“Farnham was a bemused town in a changed landscape after the freak overnight hurricane took its vicious toll on south-eastern England,” began the Herald’s report on October 23, 1987.

It continued: “The people of Farnham and the surrounding villages were distressed and horrified as they slowly came to grips with the enormity of the disaster.

“Gardens and estates, woodlands and forests were bruised and battered, hundreds of buildings damaged, roads blocked and bridleways obliterated.”

The national media reported the Great Storm was the most destructive storm to hit the UK since 1703 and its effects were devastating. The then-BBC weatherman Michael Fish became infamous after he assured viewers that there would be no hurricane hours before the storm hit.

He told viewers: “Earlier on today, a woman rang the BBC and said she had heard a hurricane was on its way… well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.”

Despite his assurances, the overnight storm caused more than £1 billion of damage as roofs and temporary or unsubstantial structures were swept away by the kind of gusts of wind more associated with tornados in America.

Surrey and Hampshire suffered while parts of West Sussex’s landscape were decimated with thousands of trees uprooted or snapped, blocking roads out of towns and villages, crushing roofs and cars, halting all public transport.

Many homes, and even schools, coped for more than a week without electricity, telephones and water, fortified with soup and hot meals by neighbours.

The above is part of a series of articles looking delving into the Herald archive to mark the 50th anniversary of the dissolution of the Farnham Urban District Council in March 1974.