[devonlad]

Nothing like the 1987 damage ( no roof and no power for 3 weeks).  Hope everyone else is as lucky as we have been.

Without wishing to diminish those personal tragedies that will happen with any natural event there really does seem to be an ever increasing hyperbole from the media over events like this. 'The worst storm since 87 etc.' The map I posted yesterday morning clearly showed the track of the storm but they were still threatening damnation here in Wales where it didn't even rattle the slates. Despite that clear map from the Met Office BBC Wales still had a reporter down in Cardiff trying to 'bull up' a non event into a crisis!
 
 Even the Met Office TV forecasts were quite restrained last night but the TV News and Newspapers (no doubt - I don't read them) were trying to make a drama out of what is a fairly normal event. I turned on Breakfast TV to see some reporter twit down in Dover stood in a bit of nice morning sun with cars going up and down the prom trying to make out how bad it was.
 
 Again apologies to those that have suffered but the build was hysterical nonsense of the media's making.

couldn't have said it better

[devonlad]

I think of it as the "may contain nuts" syndrome My assumption is that as we live in such a litigious age everyone is frantically covering their arses and as long as a warning has been issued then no further action can be taken, regardless of whether the warning is proportionate to the risk. Fair enough, but to me it leads to complacency about real risk, eliminates the need for common sense and personal responsibility and in the long run surely makes us less safe. I know that a bag of peanuts has nuts in it, that coffee is hot, that in the autumn and winter it rains and snows- continuous warnings about every facet of existence from bird flu to a windy night seem to ignore thousands of years of intellectual development..

[tizaala]

And if there were no warnings you would have moaned even louder, An FB friend has just had 15 trees down on her lane, and has gone out to look for her french windows. A lot of people were glad of the early warning .

[lachlanandmarcus]

Our friend in Herts has had her massive chimney crash to the ground and a chap in Watford and girl in Kent killed by trees. So def out of the norm I think, tho probably a little exaggerated.

[tizaala]

I don't suppose the girl in Kent would have said the warnings were exaggerated , Or  the 99mph wind recorded at the needles , Just be grateful for the early warning this time

[Tamsaddle]

I just wish wish wish that 14 year old boy in Newhaven had listened to the warnings and taken them seriously.   Those poor parents.

[feldar]

We had a gust that was 99mph at the needles Isle of Wight. So it was a tad windy here in Lymington.
Guess where i had to drive back from yesterday  South Wales!!! We had our sheep AGM in Fishguard and the M4 was interesting to say the least. A little blowy and i found myself on the hard shoulder a couple of times when i didn't want to be there!!
Made it home eventually but very hard journey.

[RUSTYME]

Last night , 1am , it was raining a bit , but didn't even need a coat when i walked the dogs .
Back in at 1.30 , had a coffee , went to bed , read some of John Pilgers book , ' The New Rulers of The World ' , went to sleep , woke up this morning , 7am , nothing , just a normal morning !
Made a coffee , read some more Pilger .
Just breezey here now .
Hope all are ok , (is that right ? , it sounds wrong when i say it ! ) .

[lachlanandmarcus]

I don't suppose the girl in Kent would have said the warnings were exaggerated , Or  the 99mph wind recorded at the needles , Just be grateful for the early warning this time

The photo on the BBC site of what had been the static caravan were heartbreaking. So very sad.

[Greenerlife]

No power for five hours, one trellis fence down in the garden, my house moved twice in the evening (no foundations) lots of windfalls to collect and the tree surgeons are busy - but gorgeous weather here in Surrey now.

[sabrina]

Storms are normal for us in the winter. You prepare as best as you can. Weather is something you learn to respect not moan about because your flight or train is not running. going to watch the waves is just plain stupid. Why was that poor boy out after all the warnings. I feel for the families who have lost people .

[Lesley Silvester]

Absolutely nothing here in Shropshire. We did have a bit of wind and rain in the late afternoon early evening but the rest passed us by, despite the Met office map showing winds of 16 mph in this area. I rang my mum this morning as she lives on the East Sussex coast and she said that things were fine there (in 1987, my brother's chimney went through a bedroom and ended up in the kitchen) although it was almost impossible to walk along the sea front as it was so windy.


Feel for those who lost lives and for their families.

[Spinningfishwife]

I suppose you have to think of it in terms of no warnings = more deaths and lots of damage, sensible warnings = some deaths and less damage (sensible people taking sensible precautions), very strong (and perhaps over-dramatic) warnings= least number of deaths and least possible damage, due to even the doziest members of the population having noticed that something unusual was about to happen and being a bit more careful. Forewarned and forearmed, yes? It's a fact though, most folk are so convinced that they're protected from everything in their own little mod cons bubble that they're completely confused and indignant about the forces of nature. Look how everyone gets if there's half an inch of snow, it's as if no-one has ever seen it before let alone having a clue how to drive in it.

I think we got something of the side swipe here up by Edinburgh, there was about an hour when the rain was torrential and there was a lot of wind, then it calmed down again. On the other hand that's a pretty average Monday evening here in October, could have had nothing to do with the storm.

[Fowgill Farm]

We went down to Stoneleigh NAC on Sunday and coming back up the M1 to Yorkshire was a bit windier & we had spells of torrential rain, but once past Sheffield all was calm & sunny. We had nothing up here so bit of a none event but we had moved some of the big pot trees, benches etc into shed and wieghed down the bird tables in preparation, at least it got us motivated to have a tidy up outside. Like somebody said the Met office were damned if they did and damned if they didn't warn us.
Mandy