Just going back to an earlier topic regarding Vince and the perception of a hurricane hitting Europe.
I was reminded of the Great Storm (as it was called) in October 1987. It caused massive amounts of damage along the south coast of England with a loss of life of 18.
If anyone's interested I've found a couple of decent links that are worth viewing. The Great Storm was extratropical with winds in excess of 100mph (hurricane force on the Beaufort Scale).