as an example of when the Met Office "got the prediction right". The model forecast hinged on observations from two ships in the Atlantic near the developing storm the day before it reached the UK. During the day of the storm, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) increased warnings to force 11 and eventually to hurricane force 12. It conducted research that most of the general public could not understand the severity of the warnings. The storm has led to more awareness and understanding of storminess among the public by the KNMI, which started a teletext page and the introduction of special warnings for extreme weather events in reaction to these findings. Impacts Casualties were much higher than those of the Great Storm of 1987 because the storm hit during the daytime. The storm caused extensive damage, with approximately 3 million trees downed, power disrupted to over 500,000 homes and severe flooding in England and West Germany. The storm cost insurers in the UK £3.37 billion, the UK's most expensive weather event to insurers. Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing buildings or falling debris. In one case in Sussex, a class of children was evacuated just minutes before their school building collapsed. The actor Gorden Kaye was also injured during the storm when a plank of an advertising board was blown through his car's windscreen. See also Vivian (storm) 25–28 February 1990, later Wiebke . This is called the 1990 storm series. List of natural disasters in Great Britain and Ireland Great Storm of 1987 European windstorm References External links On this Day by the BBC Burns' Day Storm Burns' Day Storm Burns' Day Storm Burns' Day Storm 1990 meteorology 1990 disasters in the United Kingdom Robert Burns Power outages in the United Kingdom January 1990 events in Europe Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm 1990 in France 1990 in Belgium 1990 in Denmark 1990 in the Netherlands