Hurricane Hugo

[Spartan]

With all of the other large hurricanes happening this year, it seems appropriate to remind everyone that 16 years ago today (9/21/89) -- (almost to the hour), Hurricane Hugo made landfall just north of Sullivan's Island as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds at 135mph. Its pressure was 935mb.

It damage totalled $7 billion, and at the time it was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States. Similar to Katrina, FEMA was slow to respond.

[teshadoh]

And so where was everyone?

I was in 12th grade in Rock Hill when Hugo hit - I stayed up for a while to watch the weather coverage but for whatever reason I fell asleep around midnight. But it was around then that I remembered it started raining hard. When I woke up, my parents were relieved that it was morning, a tornado touched down next door - they said it sounded like a train, clearing out a path of pine trees a few lots across - fortunately no homes destroyed. But nonetheless, our yard was littered with tree limbs & it took most of the day to clean up. Incredibly I slept through the entire thing, even though I was only 30 to 50 feet away from some of those trees that were snapped - hard sleeper I guess.

I think it wasn't for another week when we had power again, the school was closed for a day or two but we had to go back - everyone stank. Some parts of Rock Hill didn't have power for an additional week or more.

But of course this was just Rock Hill, over 100 miles north of Charleston, we obviously didn't suffer the worst.

[krazeeboi]

I was back in Orangeburg County (small town just south of Orangeburg), at my grandmother's place with some other relatives. I forget what grade I was in, but I was 9 at the time (somebody else figure it out, LOL). I slept through the whole thing too--I might've awakened for a few seconds, but that was about it. We just had some limbs to litter our yard, that was about it--no major damage in our area.

[Spartan]

I was in elementary school. I distinctly remember going outside and standing in the rain to wait for a friend to come over. It was windy. Not sure why I chose to stand outside though? The damage in Spartanurg was only slightly worse than a that of a bad summer thunderstorm. Some trees down, mostly leaves, limbs and other similar debris. The creek behind our house at that time had some serious flooding. Almost up to the back door. I realize that means nothing to you guys, but that was a lot of water. Trust me

[RestedTraveler]

I was in college at the University of Florida and I was glued to the Weather Channel on the TV in the 3rd-Floor lounge outside of the UNIX lab in the CSE Building because I didn't have the budget for cable TV at the time.

[The_sandlapper]

I was 13 and was a my end of summer track and field banquet over in the NE side of town. I remember getting home that night watching the news and falling asleep as it passed over. My father stayed up with my little sister that night. The next morning I took my bike out to assess the damage around my neighborhood. quite a few trees and branches had been blown down but we still had power.

[krazeeboi]

OK, we need some Charlestonians to give us their reports. LOL

[MikesLogic]

That's one storm I will never forget.. My house didn't recieve much damage thankfully but my grandfather lost the roof to his house and my aunt's house was destroyed on Sullivans Island and my great uncle's summer house on Isle of Palms was gone, all that was left was the foundation there was nothing there. Alot of people in my family were affected by the storm, most of us live up and down the coast here in SC.

I was staying at my brother's house in Summerville which was crazy cause you could hear trees falling outside, just these cracking and crashing noises non-stop for the longest time. Somehow his house managed to get by without any damage other than the fallen trees which had to be removed from the yard and driveway. I remember after the storm wanting to go check things out but we couldn't get anywhere because there were trees absolutley everywhere, it took days/weeks just to get the roads clear so you could get around. I took a few months and helped out with different relief efforts. It was the craziest thing, I've never seen destruction like that before in the States. Now it seems every summer the storms are trying to out-do the last.

[waccamatt]

OK, we need some Charlestonians to give us their reports. LOL

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was living in the Cottontown area of Columbia. The top wind gust in the Columbia area was on top of the (former) AT&T Building downtown...it was 95 mph, I believe. That was 300 feet up so the top gusts on the ground were probably in the 75-80 range. Our power was out overnight, but that was all. It pays to live downtown..your power is always restored first. The place I was working at in Triangle City lost its roof and the front plate glass window. Everything was covered in mud.

[krazeeboi]

Cottontown is a cool neighborhood.

[sonofaque86]

I was 3 years old when it hit...I don't remember it...

[Charleston native]

Oh boy, I remember this one. To this day, many Charlestonians, myself included, will wince when you even mention the name "Hugo". I was 15 years old, and we lived West Ashley, right across the street from a tidal creek, so we had to evacuate. My parents should have been smarter and taken us down south towards Savannah or Brunswick, but instead we evacuated with the huge mob of about 200,000 cars on I-26. We stayed at my grandparents house in St. George, and I couldn't sleep throughout the entire storm. I remember the wind howling, pitch black darkness, and hearing trees snap like twigs.

My mom and dad went back to Charleston 2 days later to check out the damage, and our house fared OK. The tree in our front yard had been twisted, possibly by a tornado, and it punctured a small hole in the roof, but that was it. The whole area looked like a war zone. There were 2 people in my church, whom I knew well, that were killed by the storm. The funeral was surreal...the church was dark because there were no lights, men were unshaven, and music had to be played by a piano, not an organ.

[Topher1]

I was in Aiken, and we actually evacuated to my grandmother's basement (also in Aiken). Of course, the storm wasn't that serious in the area (55-60 mph winds), but we still had some downed trees, and were powerless for a few days.

Surprisingly, my great aunt had some significant damage to her home in the Charlotte suburbs, and we had to drive up there and help her clean up for a few days.

[MCNite]

I was 10 years old. I was at home in Charlotte when one of my parents woke me up in the middle of the night. We all spent the rest of the night in the closet. When it was over, we saw a lot of branches--I remember a lot of greenery and mud. We didn't get any flood water. I don't remember how long our power stayed off. I can only remember using the kerosene heater for a few days, and seeing the hallway light come on when power was restored.

[DigitalSky]

I just turned 4. I remember it.. we did have some damage to our house and trees down around the area, power was out and and we had friends stay with us.

[NCMike1981]

I was 8 yrs old, I believe in the 3rd grade. I remember staying at my grandparent's house in Durham that day and it being really windy, looking up at the big willow oak they had in their back yard. I don't think there was really much if any damage in the Triangle from Hugo. I'm not even sure why I remember that gust of wind, unless it was because it was on the news so much that it was sort of hammered into my head.

[davidals]

Gosh - I'm all about the old threads...

I was in Boone NC, in the mountains in the NW corner of the state, and even at 3500' in the Appalachian Mountains we had tropical storm-force winds, a flash flood tore down the valley in the center of town, and the power went - it was back on in town in 2 days, but it was more than a week elsewhere in Watauga, Ashe and Wilkes Counties. Every highway out of Boone was cut by mudslides, with one exception.

My family was in Charlotte, which got a real rude awakening - hurricane force winds 200 miles inland.

Hugo remains the 2nd most intense hurricane to landfall on the East Coast, after Andrew.

Others have covered the hurricanes, including Hugo, but I've been involved in a project to chronicle other severe storms to affect the Carolinas and Virginia on Wikipedia, mostly several tornado outbreaks, with lots of work/research to still do...

[krazeeboi]

Wow, you sure did drudge this one back up from a watery grave...

But thanks for giving us your account. I didn't know that the mountains got it that bad.

[sonofaque86]

lol

[Charleston native]

Wow, I haven't seen this one in awhile! I did not know Hugo was the 2nd most intense storm to hit the US. With the whole Katrina situation, hurricanes like Hugo and Andrew have been forgotten, primarily because Katrina was the costliest in history.

[monsoon]

My sister in law's house at the Isle of Palms was sent to the bottom of the ocean by that storm, and a number of my other relatives in Charleston had damage and no power for weeks. Some of present day Charleston is due to the redevelopment of parts of the city after that storm occured.

And as far inland as Charlotte, which got a direct hit, many of the skyscrapers downtown had their windows blown out which made the downtown area uninhabitable for a while. The danger of a plate glass window falling from 40 stories was too great to let people go down there. It was odd seeing the towers with plywood nailed to them for months as they waited for more glass to be made. (its all custom on those things) With few exceptions the entire city lost power and it was weeks before it was fully restored. It was an interesting story as to what happens to a populated urban place when the infrastructure disappears overnight.

[krazeeboi]

Wow, I haven't seen this one in awhile! I did not know Hugo was the 2nd most intense storm to hit the US. With the whole Katrina situation, hurricanes like Hugo and Andrew have been forgotten, primarily because Katrina was the costliest in history.

Yeah, the "female" hurricane came in and showed us who's REALLY running things. But I think I'll remember Katrina more vividly than Hugo.

I also didn't know that Charlotte got it that bad either. In SC, our focus was on the Lowcountry, so other cities didn't really register with me.

[Tennesseestorm]

Wow - several memories with that one, even for me here in northeast Tennessee. I remember I was in middle school at the time (8th grade I think). I remember all of the talk about it. The storm came right up by here in northeast Tennessee and if I recall, it was still a tropical storm when it came into our area (someone correct me if I am wrong). I do remember us having winds gusting to over 70 MPH. We often get a lot of the remnants of hurricanes, but by the time they reach here, they are usually just strong breezes (up to 50 mph) and heavy rains, but that is the strongest one here that I remember.

I remember coming home from school and seeing a childs swimming pool at the neighbors house lifted off of the ground and disappearing into the sky!

[spectacle21]

Hugo actually hit Charlotte on the morning of my 3rd birthday. I don't remember anything about the storm of the aftermath. My mother says that I slept through the whole thing.

[krazeeboi]

Oh you're young.