It was the storm of the century, an unstoppable force of nature which swept across Scotland leaving devastation in its wake.
But unlike Storm Éowyn, the damage wrought by the hurricane came not just from the wind, but from the waves and the sea.
As Scotland continues its clean-up after the gales that wreaked havoc last Friday, memories were kindled of a similar natural catastrophe which struck almost 72 years to the day.
Like Éowyn, the great storm of 1953 was a ‘one-in-a-generation' event, whose fury was felt far and wide.
But while the storm of last week was heralded by dire warnings from forecasters, advice not to travel from the Scottish Government and a Met Office 'red alert’, seven decades ago Scotland was unprepared for what the weather was about to throw at it.
The storm surge which struck the east coast of Scotland during the night of Saturday, 31 January, 1953, has been called the worst natural disaster to hit northern Europe for two hundred years.
Generated by an intense, rapidly moving low-pressure weather system from the North Sea, the storm’s gales whipped the waves into a surging mass that bore down on the UK.
But this was not unusual – storms from the sea arrive every year. However, there was an added complication which compounded the destruction of the forces at play.
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Arriving two days after the full moon, the sea surge was bolstered by an unusually high spring tide, which would overwhelm defences and sweep whole communities away.
The 1953 storm – or Great Flood as it became known – happened at a time before mass communication, when warnings could be sent out but could fail to reach their targets in time.
Agencies which today work hand-in-hand were not fully in touch with each other and while forecasters realised the danger, their alarm was slow to leak out, or did not get to the people who needed it most in time.
On Friday 30 January, once it was clear that a severe storm was developing, the U.K. Meteorological Office issued its first weather warnings.
Yet when the storm arrived in its full fury the next day, On Saturday 31st, the Princess Victoria ferry still sailed from Stranraer, heading to Larne in Ireland.
Almost immediately the ship was struck by winds of 120mph and battling nine foot-high waves. Barely out of the mouth of Loch Ryan, the ferry’s captain James Ferguson realised the crossing was hopeless and tried to return to port.
But, battered relentlessly by the surging sea, the ferry floundered as her bow doors were breached and water began to flood aboard.
Soon afterwards, the Princess Victoria capsized with the loss of 133 lives. Her captain and crew were among them.
But despite the catastrophe, word of the danger from the storm did not reach the communities in its path.
The surge struck land on the Northeast coast, hitting the isolated communities of Aberdeenshire head on.
Flood defences were overwhelmed, and the fishing villages that lay by the sea were swamped.
Rows of homes were swept away by the waves while their inhabitants fled for their lives.
Eleanor Hepburn, was 12-years-old when the storm struck the village where she lived
She later said: “At that time my father was home at lunchtime the piers were already covered in water and it wasn’t even high tide. Soon there was water everywhere.
“At Gardenstown (a nearby village), sheds and garages were washed away into the harbour and the wood from the boatyard was floating down the street.
“At Crovie, there was no where to run. Most people got out of their back windows and climbed up the brae. The village was never the same after the storm - most people didn’t go back to their homes. They were just left.”
Those who died in Scotland included forestry worker from Banff whose motorbike was hit by a tree.
An elderly man died in Fraserburgh after a large wave knocked him into a wall.
Two lobster fisherman - Harry and Harold Gear - died at sea after sailing out from the North East coast to check their lobster pots.
Across the UK 307 people lost their lives, while in the low-lying Netherlands hundreds more were killed.
In the wake of the disaster a Parliamentary Inquiry would identify the need for stronger sea defences across the coast, to ensure similar scenes were not repeated.
Communication lines were strengthened, and ways to reach those in danger worked out.
And while there have been floods and gales since, none have approached the cost of the Great Flood’s. The warnings that came on the wind were heard.
