Sheffield hurricane 1962: How The Star's Vulcan told the story of the storm which was 'worse than the blitz'

“Worse than the blitz – that was the wry comment on everyone’s lips today as we carefully picked our way to work through the broken glass, slates and shattered branches.

It was easy to smile – this morning, anyway – at the comparison between enemy bombardment and the effects of our second gale of the week.

Easy until, just as after a blitz, we began to look round and found that some tragic homes had nothing at all to smile about.

Everyone once had his blitz tale. Today everyone has his tale of narrow escape from flying slates, disintegrating chimney pots and falling branches.

Again, just like the blitz.

But the gale is worse in one important respect. The damage to property and the injuries to people extend throughout the city and first reports suggest that it is much more wide-spread than after the bombardment.

It is not concentrated in a few areas and it is, therefore much more difficult to deal with.

Many buildings, after a long battering from winds of hurricane strength, are a danger to their occupants and to passers-by.

The streets, littered with broken bricks and slates and the houses topped with swaying aerials were far from reassuring in the light of day.

What can be done to make good the damage? The authorities are obviously faced with a regional emergency. With switchboards jammed with calls, telephone wires down-in just the same kind of situation as we remember from earlier visitations – the civic authorities are swamped with calls for help.

They say they can do nothing to help private owners. Unless there are special measures to deal with repairs, many houses will remain in their present state for months.

There are not enough builders here to do the work within a reasonable period.

As a stricken area we need help from outside, as in the days of the blitz.

Flying columns of builders should be drafted in in the same way as they were then.

And if the emergency is seen to extend beyond this region throughout the country, it is for the Government to decide whether it should declare a national emergency and assume powers to direct the work of repair and restoration.

In these circumstances the police, the ambulance service and the fire brigades come into their own. The Civil Defence do an invaluable job.

But their task is to deal with the immediate effects of the disaster. They cannot help, for example, the Sheffield builder who received eight hundred calls for repairs within a few hours today.

This kind of help can only come from a swift and powerful central organisation.

We have all gaped in awe at the astonishing pictures of American hurricanes and the incredible devastation which they cause.

Now the situation is on our own doorsteps and we have to find our own way of dealing with it.We must ensure that the damage is repaired before rain makes the losses even more severe.

We must ensure that stricken families will return to their homes as soon as possible.

The blitz spirit will be necessary in coming weeks. It will arise naturally in most Sheffielders to soften the disaster and personal loss of those bereaved and homeless.

This is an emergency and it needs emergency action.”