POWERFUL winds wreaked destruction across Oxfordshire in January 1990, documented in our archive with photos of uprooted trees and fallen roof tiles.

Among the most dramatic, however, is this picture of a weather-ravaged house in Brightwell Upperton, near Chalgrove.

Stood outside was the then-resident Mr Keitch, who said he 'couldn't believe his eyes' at the state of his home.

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His family had returned from visiting relatives, to find the gable wall of their council house completely blown out.

South Oxfordshire District Council told him repair work would start immediately, and that this was the worst damage the authority's housing stock had suffered during the gales.

Mr Keitch, who was then working as a demolition worker in Wallingford, had to take his wife and their four young children to stay with his grandmother, while repairs were carried out.