The Great Storm of '87: Amazing 'then and now' pictures show transformation of battered British landscape

A series of photographs taken in the aftermath of the Great Storm of 1987 and of the same places today reveal how treasured landscapes have recovered.

The cyclone killed 18 people and caused an estimated £1 billion of damage when it struck the south of England 30 years ago. It also brought down around 15 million trees.

The pictures have been published as the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia prepares to batter parts of Britain and Ireland with 80mph winds.

Photographs taken from a helicopter in the aftermath of the night of October 15/16 1987 revealed the devastation wrought in gardens and woodlands at National Trust properties.

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The shoot was coordinated by Mike Calnan, now the conservation charity’s head of gardens.

He said: ‘Seeing the gardens and woodlands from above offered a whole new perspective on the damage caused.

‘As we hovered over Emmetts Garden everyone in the helicopter fell silent – it was like a war zone.’

The National Trust has replicated the series of photographs three decades on at some of the most severely hit places – Emmetts, Chartwell and Knole, in Kent.

Pictures have been taken from the same vantage points, this time using drones, and show how nature has bounced back from the catastrophe.

Mr Calnan said: ‘It was quite moving to put the photographs next to each other and compare how different they are.

‘After being shattered by the storm, our gardens and woodlands now look similar to how they did before, which is down to a combination of careful planning, hard work and time.’