Remembering Glasgow's hurricane of 1968 that tore through the city with no warning

Nearly 60 years ago, Glasgow saw the deadliest storm its seen in its history - it wreaked havoc across the city.

The 1968 Hurricane, or Hurricane Low Q as its called, came with little warning and caused so much damage in Glasgow that its been compared to the Clydebank Blitz, a Nazi bombing run on Clydebank nearly 30 years prior.

The hurricane formed near the Bermudas on 12 January 1968 and dissipated on 18 January 1968. It hit Glasgow by surprise on January 15. In total 20 people died during the hurricane across the central belt, 9 of which were in Glasgow - 700 people were left homeless, such was the damage caused by the hurricane. In Glasgow alone, over 300 houses were destroyed and 70,000 homes were damaged. Seven ships sank on the River Clyde while many more were pushed adrift causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Half of Glasgow's council houses were damaged - roof slates were blown from tenement tops, windows were blown in, chimneys fell through roofs, and the high flats swayed violently against the strong winds. Partick and Govan were particularly hit hard, and many families had to live with tarpaulin window coverings or even makeshift roofs in the bitter cold of a Glaswegian winter.

The gale force winds were recorded as high as 140 miles per hour according to some accounts.

Debris was flying everywhere, flung from the roofs of the tenements. Entire buildings collapsed, it can’t be stressed how catastrophic an event Low Q was for Glaswegians in 1968.

It made a lot of work for roofers at least, who claim they were able to identify a ‘track’ that the hurricane followed from the rooftops - much like the tornados you see in mid-western America.

It devastated the city, and repairs were long and difficult, a further 30 people died during repair work. The Army was called in to assist with the clean up of Glasgow. The Labour Government provided an interest-free loan of £500,000 but that was nowhere near enough to cover the damages.