It was 19 years ago today!

[swampfox43]

When Hurricane Hugo roared into Charlotte around 4am on Friday morning, Sept. 22, 1989, it was still a Cat 1 hurricane. A night of terror myself and thousands of others will not soon forget.

Below are some of the photos I took on the morning of and days following the hurricane while driving around Charlotte. Some of the photos locations are self explanatory and there are other locations I cannot identify. Most of my driving was confined to Sharon Amity, Providence Rd, and Fairview Rd and a few from the uptown area. The Circle K photo was at Fairview & Providence. Anything that was open more than likely had lines wrapped around the building. I've got a photo somewhere showing this massive line of people wrapped around the Burger King over by South Park Mall. I'll add it later if I find it. Most of the 4 lane roads were down to 1 lane. I was living at The Fairington Apts at the time so I included a few photos of the damage sustained there as well. Anyway, I hope those interested enjoy this flashback. Would love to see other forum members personal photos.

[cltheel.sdl]

Wow, interesting photos...I was only a little over 1 at the time, so I don't remember Hugo, but a huge tree fell on our house and went through the roof. If we hadn't been in the downstairs bathroom, my sister could have been hurt, as the tree went in right above her bedroom. Anyways, it looks like quite the mess.

[suburban george3]

It was amazing how strong Hugo still was as it came thru the interior of the Carolinas. Charlotte really took it on the chin with that storm. I was in high school at the time and I remember pretty much all schools in the state were cancelled. I drove my mother to work that day and had to go get her as the most intense part of the storm was coming thru the Winston-Salem area and we were having to dodge all sorts of flying debris (the dolts where she worked at didn't shut down only to have the power go out and decided to call it and make everone go home.) Damage in our area wasn't as severe as Charlotte, but there was a lot of coverage on the extent of the damage in the Queen City as well as the mountain communities. Truly an amazing storm.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Thanks for sharing those photos swamp!

It's amazing that hurricanes can be that strong in charlotte. But they can. That is very similar to Fran in Raleigh back in 96. Just a matter of time before it happens again. It will probably take a charleston landfall to happen again....but it will.

Incredible photos!

[davidals]

I grew up in Charlotte, but was living in Boone when that storm came through.

I spoke to my mom on the phone that morning, and the house, in SE Charlotte was untouched, but every tree in the yard was down, in some other direction. The power was out for 21 days; she moved in with a cousin across town who had power back within 2 or 3 days.

In Boone there was little wind (TS Hugo by then, though Wilkesboro was on the windy side of the storm, Boone was on the rainy side), but very heavy rain, and most roads out of town were blocked by mudslides or washed out. A few days later I drove down to Charlotte, and it was pretty surreal - the short distance to the Blue Ridge, it was mostly flooding-related damage (like the foot of solidified mud surrouding Boone Mall), but the minute you started descending the Blue Ridge, and from that point on into Charlotte, it pretty much looked like the pics above. I remember seeing a tremendous number of downed trees in Wilkes and Iredell Counties, many stretches of flattened forest.

[MZT]

I remember driving with my mother to Florida in the summer of 1991, and the trees in coastal South Carolina were still leaning west from Hugo.