Today, 29 years ago, Essex was picking up the pieces after being ravaged by a ferocious storm which would go down in history.

Now known as the Great Storm of 1987, the hurricane-strength winds wreaked havoc over the county, with boats, caravans and beach huts on the Tendring coast bearing the brunt of their 110mph force.

The storm, in the early hours of October 16, was the worst to hit south east England for three centuries and led to the deaths of 19 people.

Many will remember the eery stillness in the hours leading up to the storm, and weatherman Michael Fish's famous last words when he assured the nation there was no such hurricane on the way.

Previously speaking, former Essex weatherman Terry Mayes said: "I do remember there was a definite eeriness.

"The air was very still and it was also humid. But, no, I had no idea, and nor did anyone else, that such a storm was coming towards us."

But the Met Office had known there were ferocious storms heading for France from the Mediterranean.

"We did not think it would make it across the Channel," said Mr Mayes.

Like most people, Mr Mayes slept through most of the storm. He awoke at 4am.

"Some slates had blown off our roof and we had a garden fence panel down, but nothing serious,” he said. "It wasn’t until I got into work that I saw real damage."

Mr Mayes was then an accountant with Bracketts, a Colchester engineering firm. The winds had ripped off half of the factory’s roof.

"I had a weather station on the site which records rainfall, temperature and wind. The wind in that area had peaked at 75mph. On the coast it was half that again. This had never happened before and, yes, I was excited."

He believes 1987 triggered a dramatic change in UK weather.

"For the next ten years the country had very low rainfall," he pointed out.

"In 1988 average temperatures began to rise and, in the past 15 years so, too, have sea temperatures. This has not been dramatic but it is enough to make a difference to our climate."

And that difference is astonishing.

January 1990 brought high winds (60mph gusts) and confirmed that Essex was getting windier. That February the temperatures dropped and the blizzards came. The snow lay on the ground for more than a week.

“But it wasn’t a hurricane,” insisted Mr Mayes. “To be classed as a hurricane, the wind at its peak has to be sustained at a minimum 75mph. Yes, the winds reached much higher speeds than that, but they were not sustained. The wind was hurricane-force, not a hurricane.”

Tell that to those caught up in the storm in the early hours of October 16, 1987.