STORM – Redcar 1881

Accreditation The Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea Gazette 22/10/1881.

REDCAR STORM 

          The gale, in passing over Redcar, caused much damage to property. At two o’clock the wind blew hard from the north, and carried before it great clouds of sand. It was well-nigh impossible to stand or walk on the Esplanade. The storm was accompanied by a heavy downfall of rain, which continued all the afternoon. Great damage was done to house property, windows were blown out, chimney pots knocked out, and slates and tiles from roofs were scattered in all directions. On the Esplanade scarcely a house escaped injury of some kind, some having roofs blown off, and others windows broken. Heath Villa, which narrowly escaped destruction by fire this week, was unroofed both at front and behind. Pierremont House and the Royal Hotel were also greatly damaged. In High Street most of the houses suffered roofs being blown off and windows had broken, Clarendon House being the worst condition of any. The houses in Turner Street, Coatham, received the most damage, as, being situated on the extreme side of the town; they caught the full fury of the storm. It was quite pitiable to see some of them, with all the front windows blown in, the roofs off, the floors covered with glass and rubbish, and the rain pelting in so they were hardly habitable. Buckingham House, near the Coatham Hotel, and Victoria House, near the pier, were greatly damaged. The officers at the Coastguard station, anticipating a renewal of shipping disasters which occurred twelve months ago, were ready for action. In one case, where a ship was seen driving before the wind, the rocket apparatus, which rendered such signal service in October last, was got out in case of need. Happily, however no casualties occurred.

Two houses, occupied by Francis Richardson and Thomas Peacock, at Old Coatham suffered severely. Mr. Richardson’s roof fell into the house and covered the bed with bricks. Had the accident occurred in the middle of the night, loss of life or injury to limb must have resulted. A wooden workshop was blown from its position into an adjoining yard. At Warrenby there is scarcely a house that does not bear signs of rough usage.