BLUEMOMENT

With yet more wild weather forecast, it’s time to batten down the hatches, and hope we don’t see a repeat of January 1968’s ‘Hurricane Low-Q’, which, with winds of up to 140mph, left a trail of death and destruction across Glasgow and Central Scotland.

In Glasgow, on the night of January 14/15, over 300 houses were partially destroyed and 70,000 damaged.

The wind ripped roofs off tenements, and sent chimney stacks crashing through homes and onto the streets. Gable ends collapsed, leaving properties, and people, open to the elements.

Twenty people were killed in the storm, with 9 dead in Glasgow; 700 people were left homeless.

Over a thousand trees were downed in the Central Belt, as well as power lines. In total the storm felled 8,000 hectares of forest across Scotland. Power also failed in Glasgow, leaving the city in darkness.
Down on the river, shipyard cranes swayed and shook. Ibrox and Parkhead football stadiums were also damaged.

The damage city-wide ran into millions of pounds and Lord Provost John Johnston said he regarded the city as being in a state of emergency.

After the storm subsided, the death toll continued to rise. Thirty people died while repairing houses. On 16 January 1968, about 150 troops from Edinburgh came to Glasgow to help with the clean-up operation. An interest-free loan of £500,000 was given by the Labour Government to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, singer Frankie Vaughan helped to raise funds for the victims, by holding a special concert at Glasgow’s Alhambra Theatre.