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Glasgow Hurricane January 1968

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:29 pm
by MacotheIsles
Anybody else remember the hurricane that hit Glasgow and the West of Scotland in January 1968? I think it was called 'Hurricane Low Q'. As I remember wind speeds reached 125mph and caused massive destruction in many places, but relatively little loss if life.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:32 pm
by scallopboy
I believe it was on the 14th of January 1968, the night I came home from hospital as a wee wain and still all wrinkly. Years later my dad said it was like having the demon child, take him home and all the windows blow in. :twisted:

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:27 pm
by elgee
I hope that has not left you ::): with self esteem issues

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:21 am
by scaryman2u
I remember that storm Mac.. I remember my wee maw hugging me & my sister in the Scullery as the `Lino ` flapped up and down like Ali Babas magic carpet 8O I thought it was brilliant till I looked at my Mothers horrified face and then I knew it was really serious. that was the start of the clear-out of Kinning Park & and Kingston with chimneys collapsing and roofs ripping off,, it probably suited the council as the construction of the Kingston Bridge was well under way and it made it easy to move us out as we had no intentions of moving prior to the storm :(

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:30 am
by MacotheIsles
Scallop! Quite some entrance into the world. Your name's not Damien by any chance?

I actually slept through it all and when I woke up in the morning our full size garden shed had gone and we never found out where it landed to this day. At least our roof was still on though, unlike many people's though.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:37 am
by MacotheIsles
Scaryman!

Yep - I remember Glasgow took some very heavy structural damage, and there were some nasty incidents of entire chimney stacks coming through roofs. I was only 11 at the time so I can't remember if there were any weatther warnings, but I seem to remember it took most people by surprise. It's a miracle more people weren't killed in the city.

I lived in Helensburgh back then and the storm just ripped up the Firth of Clyde and laid waste to the Gareloch. We drove to Garelochhead the next day and we had to keep stopping while workmen cut through trees blocking the road. There were quite a few completely destroyed yachts on the verge too. I remember that the entire Highlandman's Wood on the hill behind Rhu blew flat. Acres of trees reduced to matchwood.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:43 am
by radar
I remember being woken up at around 2 or 3 am by the noise and looking out of the window and thinking how light it was for that time of the morning.

Living out of the city I also remember the number of trees that were blown down and how it was difficult to get around the area that day.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:00 am
by Socceroo
I was only 10 months old at the time so i do not actually recall it. (Aye i am 40 in March :cry: )

Although i am reliably informed by my mother that i was restless during the storm and put my finger in her eye resulting in hospital treatment.

I have always been fascinated by the storm of 1968, as when you speak to people who recall it, it is a bit like asking where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?

I done a bit of research on the storms in the Mitchell a few years ago. I think there were actually a number of fatalities. I recall reading that there was a Student Nurse killed in Clouston Street off Queen Margaret Drive when a chimney fell through the roof.

In the early eighties when i started in the Construction Industry i recall coming across a lot of botched Tenement repairs when we were refurbishing many of Glasgow's Tenements.

A lot of Roofing Contractors made a lot of money following the storm, indeed i understand a lot of them were able to retire after carrying out a period of about 18 months solid of repairing storm damaged roofs.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:19 am
by Simba
Socceroo wrote:I was only 10 months old at the time so i do not actually recall it. (Aye i am 40 in March :cry: )

Although i am reliably informed by my mother that i was restless during the storm and put my finger in her eye resulting in hospital treatment.

I have always been fascinated by the storm of 1968, as when you speak to people who recall it, it is a bit like asking where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?

I done a bit of research on the storms in the Mitchell a few years ago. I think there were actually a number of fatalities. I recall reading that there was a Student Nurse killed in Clouston Street off Queen Margaret Drive when a chimney fell through the roof.


In the early eighties when i started in the Construction Industry i recall coming across a lot of botched Tenement repairs when we were refurbishing many of Glasgow's Tenements.

A lot of Roofing Contractors made a lot of money following the storm, indeed i understand a lot of them were able to retire after carrying out a period of about 18 months solid of repairing storm damaged roofs.


As I stay off QM Drive at the moment and my brother has stayed there for, ooh, years and years, I reckon I've heard that story before. It certainly rings a bell. I'm sure I've seen it on here before too. I'll ask my parents tomorrow what they remember about it, they got married that year so both were probably still staying somewhere in the West End, or they might have been in Ayrshire, but I'm sure they'll remember it.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:23 am
by Socceroo
I think there was something else about the storms of 1968 before Simba. I would be surprised if there was not. I may have even posted the bit about Clouston Street before.

Hurricane Low Q

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:48 pm
by pwm437
I remember that night vividly. I stayed in Janefield Street next to Celtic Park. The roof of the Jungle ended up in the street. I got to school at Riverside that morning and only about six had shown up from our class.

Four people were killed at 555 Dumbarton Road due to a collapse caused by the winds.

Quite a night

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:26 pm
by glasgowken
I'm certain I saw a few photies on SCRAN, ex Evening Times stuff. But I can't check as my subscription has lapsed :( Bum.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:32 pm
by MacotheIsles
Was looking for more info on the hurricane, but not much so far, however here are some stats which give an idea on the severity of the storm...

250,000 homes damaged. 2,000 people made homeless and 20 people killed.

I can just about remember the old grainy images in the Daily Record of the time.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:48 pm
by gordon
More or less sparked tenement rehab and hence the Housing Associations, no?

PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:50 pm
by Socceroo
No. I don't think there was a direct link between the storm and the Housing Associations. What you have got to remember is that it was not until the early - mid 1970's that it was accepted that a lot of Glasgow's Tenements were worth saving and could be refurbished.

What the storm probably did was make folk realise that the Tenements at that time, of which many had not been maintained since they were built, were pretty vulnerable.

If anything it probably assisted the argument of those who were all for demolishing just about every Tenement property that they could.

A lot of Glasgow's Sandstone heritage was destroyed between 1968 and the mid 1970's.

Where's Escotregen when we need him?