Biggest storm you have found yourself in

I was living in Chatham in Kent for the great 87 storm. There's not much that wakes me up at 3 in the morning, but that storm did.

The power all went off and I went out the front in the pitch dark for some reason and above the roar of the wind I could hear the occasional THUMP sound.

In the morning I found out it had been roof tiles blowing off and burying themselves 6 inches deep edgeways on into the lawn a couple of feet from where I'd been standing.

The scene in the morning was from a disaster film. It wasn't all bad though. Anyone who'd ever even half considered doing any type of building work could name their price. Actual cowboy roofers who'd done some sort of roofing work before were gold dust and jealously fought over....
 


Dunbeath on the northeast Scottish coast.
Blew a branch onto the tent and snapped the poles, lay there for an hour as it flapped to and fro. Finally plucked up the courage to look in the back and everything was sodden.
Had to shift everything to the campsite laundry room and try and dry off to sleep in there. Tent last seen flying over the local pub and out to sea.
 
Yesterday in Mallorca...f***ing nuts and caught out when on the bike.
Apparently the island is on code red for storms and wind....lovely today mind
 
Great storm of 87. Came out of London local pub after lock in and there was a stillness to the atmosphere I’ve never known before or since. Went home and to sleep. Woke up sometime later half pissed to howling winds and car alarms. Drove to work next day and London looked like a disaster zone, trees across roads, houses stripped of tiles, bins everywhere.

Caught outside extremities of hurricane in Cuba. They hoy the lougers in the water as the suction prevents em being dragged away by wind btw. Instructed to stay in cottages after evening meal with a jug of beer for company. Sat down to watch US weather station tracking it. Weather was getting worse with palm trees thrashing around in wind outside and we’d drank all the beer. Then the feller from stoke strolled past with his empty jug going for a refill. Sod this....I followed him. Suddenly all the brits were heading for the bar jugs in hand much to the hotels securities dislike. Palm trees were still thrashing around but the wind was nowhere near as bad as it looked watching from indoors. Nowadays when I see those thrashing trees on fillums it’s not as impressive.
 
I was in Cuba when two typhoons were coming in at the same time. My mate and I decided to go jet skiing that day.

Our right legs were black and blue from smashing against the skis afterwards. Absolutely massive waves and then the drops were even deeper. Guess that's how waves work and shit 🤔
 
That thundersnow a few years ago. 2012? I genuinely thought it was a nuke or a plane crash or something.
Playing cricket in Yorkshire years ago. Six wickets down, chasing a huge score we had no chance of getting, our captain started doing a rain dance.

The skies darkened, thunder rumbled, and forked lightning and torrential rain sent everyone running to the pavilion.

Closing in on a win, their captain was keen to get the game finished. As pools started forming on the pitch, he came in our dressing room and said "Should we give it half an hour and see if we can get back on ?". At that moment, one of the stumps, which had been left outside, fell over and started floating down the hill.

It rained torrentially for a week. We never mocked our captain's rain dance again.

When we first got our cat I told my Nanna that it was washing itself behind its ears. She told me that was a sign of rain and we laughed it off. 10 minutes later the heavens opened.
 
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Tail end of a Hurricane on the North Sea Oil rigs in 1978.

Nortroll had to disconnect from the Brent Charlie.

Running up and down the legs in the massive sea swell...mental.

Doing a "Superman" holding onto the railing with over 70mph winds battering us 😎
 
Massive storm whilst I was working on a ship on the Mississippi
Standing on the bridge watching the lightning bolts hit the river around us

I was just getting my installation report signed off when the whole ship shook. I joked with the skipper that I was pleased he'd signed the report in case it was my newly installed kit that had been struck. It was, luckily it was just a big burn mark on the antenna dome and no real damage

I'd been in the fcker thirty minutes before
 
I was right amongst that one that hit Halkidiki in July, hundreds injured and a few died. The damage was pretty bad and knocked the electricity and phones out for 24 hours.
A river appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of our drive and there were full trees floating down it.
 
Hurricane Ike - most of the houses around me were destroyed
Hurricane Harvey - this is my Mrs leaving the house

I was there for that one. I took a selfie when I walked to the nearest garage on a beer run, I looked like a drowned rat. The looks I got when I walked back into the hotel during a power cut carrying 48 beers absolutely wringing wet..

'I'm English don't you know, this isn't much to worry about.'
 
not the biggest but probably one of the scariest as I rode my bike home through this thunderstorm a few years ago.. the lightning was absolutely intense. I've previously been about 30 metres away from a lightning strike where a tree exploded after being hit and I definitely don't want to be in that position again.

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Rode home in a massive storm and couldn't find anywhere to get shelter. Lightening hit a few hundred yards away but felt about 2 yards away. Was not a fun time. Rain was so heavy the roads flooded.

The other time I was driving in Orlando and we heard a bang on the roof. A massive ice ball must have hit the car as ice came down all four windows.
 
I was there for that one. I took a selfie when I walked to the nearest garage on a beer run, I looked like a drowned rat. The looks I got when I walked back into the hotel during a power cut carrying 48 beers absolutely wringing wet..

'I'm English don't you know, this isn't much to worry about.'
Aye, you were out near Gessner IIRC.
 
Rode home in a massive storm and couldn't find anywhere to get shelter. Lightening hit a few hundred yards away but felt about 2 yards away. Was not a fun time. Rain was so heavy the roads flooded.

The other time I was driving in Orlando and we heard a bang on the roof. A massive ice ball must have hit the car as ice came down all four windows.

I got to a point where I usually cross a steel pedestrian bridge which has about an 80 metre span across one of the rivers that flows into sydney harbour... a bolt of lightning hit about 500 metres away so I decided to turn back and take the longer way around by road which was less exposed. I'd only gone about 10 metres and there was a massive explosion behind me which I'm guessing was a strike hitting (or very close to) the bridge :)

I was proper bricking it. Don't think i've road through a storm since.
 
The 1987 storm.

Was out at 6am doing my newspaper round, my heavy paperbag kept me on my feet. Was a challenge not to lose any newspapers before getting them through the letterboxes.

Plenty of people moaning that morning that their newspaper was a bit damp :rolleyes:

Didn’t give it much thought at the time, just thought it was a bit wet and windy!
 

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