IT’s the morning after the gale of the day before, and workmen have a busy time ahead of them, repairing some of the extensive damage caused in an area stretching from Cape Wrath to the Mull of Galloway. The winds’ velocity ranged from 60 mph in some areas to 87 mph in others. In Renfrew, the wind force was the greatest experienced since 1936, 12 years earlier, when a velocity of 92 mph had been reported.
Electricity supplies were disrupted, phone lines were blown down, houses were damaged, and roads were blocked by fallen trees. Probably the worst damage of this gale, in February 1948, was at Lithgow’s Kingston yard, at Port Glasgow, where more than 500 men had to stop work when six cranes were blown down. The cranes, each weighing 50 tonnes and standing 100ft tall, were mostly reduced to twisted girders.
Two of the cranes fell onto a tanker that was due to be launched the following month, damaging its bridge and upper structure.
A B.O.A.C. freight Liberator, five hours out from Prestwick en route to Montreal, was forced back by strong headwinds and a fierce gale. The wind was so strong that when the plane returned to Prestwick it was blown several miles past the airport.
Read more:
Herald DiaryTwenty telephone exchanges were put out of action, mainly between Argyllshire and the north-west.
The driver of the London-Stranraer boat-train suffered facial cuts when the side-glass of the engine cabin was blown in. He needed hospital treatment, and the express arrived four hours late.
Shipping and steamer services were also disrupted.
The photograph shows workmen repairing a damaged chimney stack above a tenement in Nuneaton Street, Bridgeton.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here