THE great storm of 1987 struck on the night of October 15 after an unusually severe weather system whipped up strong winds across the South of England. A storm of the same magnitude had not been seen for around 280 years and it killed at least 22 people here and in northern France. Gusts reached 120mph in Sussex, Essex, and Kent and toppled six of the seven famous oak trees at Sevenoaks in Kent. The storm caused substantial damage to buildings and felled around 15 million trees. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power and some had to cope without electricity for more than two weeks. Many of the plane trees which lined the streets of London were ripped from the ground and scaffolding and billboards collapsed. Emergency services faced an unprecedented number of call-outs during the storm, which struck in the early hours. Roofs were ripped off in the London borough of Ealing and cars crushed. In Dorset two firemen were killed as they answered a 999 call. During the next few days commuters were advised to stay at home as hundreds of roads and railway lines were blocked by fallen trees. The clean-up cost insurance companies around £2billion. The storm is remembered particularly because of the faux pas made by BBC meteorologist Michael Fish who famously brushed off its severity hours before it hit.He said: “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. “Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t, but having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France.” On his Twitter page yesterday he posted: “Brightening up. Warm & humid. Max 21C. Misty with drizzle tonight. Warm Min 16C. Brightening again tomorrow but wind and rain later. Max 22C”