Dic: in recent memory, in(within) living memory

• Never in recent memory has there been this much snow!
• I haven't been this happy in recent memory!
• The floods are the worst in living memory.
• Areas of southern Italy are experiencing some of the worst storms in living memory. (= the worst storms that people can remember)
• Some of these houses still had outside toilets within living memory.

in recent memory: Fig. the period of time in which things are still remembered and discussed.

PHRASE : n/adj PHR, usu with adj-superl/brd-neg | If you say that something is, for example, the best, worst, or first thing of its kind in living memory, you are emphasizing that it is the only thing of that kind that people can remember.

... http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/memory, Cobuild