6 Extreme Weather Events in London

1. Tornado, 1091

On 30 October 1091 a tornado swept through the city which destroyed hundreds of houses and a number of churches including St Mary le Bow where four rafters from the roof were driven twenty feet into the ground by the force of the wind. Astonishingly, contemporary chronicles report that only two people were killed.

2. The Great Storm, 1703

The worst storm in London's history struck on the night of 26-27 November 1703. According to contemporary reports, 'practically all the roofs in London were stripped of their tiles' and the leaden roofs of many churches, including Westminster Abbey, were 'rolled up like skins of parchment'. Defoe, who wrote an account of the storm, revealed that 'nobody durst quit their tottering habitations for it was worst without' and claimed that many people were convinced that the end of the world had come.

3. Earthquake, 1750

On 8 March 1750 the city was awoken at about 5.30 in the morning by the shock of an earthquake. According to a contemporary report, 'a noise was heard resembling the roaring of a great piece of ordnance, fired at a considerable distance, and then instantly the houses reeled, first sinking, as it were, to the south, and then to the north, and with a quick return to the centre'. In the Thames the water was so agitated that fish were seen to leap half a yard above its surface. Many preachers were eager to seize upon the event as an indication of God's wrath with a sinful city. Charles Wesley proclaimed that 'of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake' and that 'this He has lately brought on our part of the earth, and thereby alarmed our fears, and bid us "Prepare to meet our God!"'

4. Floods, 1928

The last time that central London flooded was in 1928. On 6 and 7 January heavy rainfall, a rapid snow melt and a spring tide combined to cause the Thames to break its banks at several points. A section of embankment near Lambeth Bridge collapsed and water rushed into nearby houses, drowning fourteen people.

5. Great Smog, 1952

Fog has long been a regular hazard in London. Accounts of its peculiar density date back centuries. Often it was made worse by the burning of coal. In the seventeenth century the diarist John Evelyn wrote of the 'hellish and dismall cloud of sea-coale' that lay over the city. However, in the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, the combination of fog, household fires burning coal and the emissions from factory chimneys produced the dreadful 'peasoupers' which were a serious threat to the health of Londoners. The worst was in December 1952. Transport was brought almost to a standstill as visibility reduced to a matter of inches rather than feet. At Sadler's Wells a performance had to be abandoned because the fog in the auditorium made it impossible for the audience to see and the cast to continue. Approximately 4000 people died as a direct result of bronchial and cardiovascular illnesses exacerbated by the smog but many other deaths may have been related to its effects. The consequences of the Great Smog were so dire that legislation in the form of Clean Air Acts were passed to limit smoke emissions of all kinds and the London smog was largely consigned to history.

6. The Great Storm of 1987

Famously unpredicted by the Met Office, the great storm that swept the south of England on the night of 15/16 October 1987 had devastating effects in London. Gusts exceeding 80 knots were recorded at the London Weather Centre and at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. Nearly a third of the trees in Kew Gardens, many of them rare and valuable specimens were uprooted or destroyed. The storm was the worst to hit the capital since 1703.

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