Editor’s Note: This article on Hurricane Hugo was originally published by Mount Pleasant Magazine in 2012. It’s 8 a.m., Sept. 25, four days after Hurricane Hugo. Following an all-night drive from Atlanta, I’ve boarded the harbor-tour boat at Patriots Point for a return to the devastated Isle of Palms. Standing there in a gloomy downpour of rain, we’re a ragtag crowd gathered … [Read more...]
Hurricane Hugo Articles
Lifelong lessons learned from Hurricane Hugo
It’s that time of year again. Hurricane season. It’s also the anniversary of what many folks in the Lowcountry consider a day that will live in infamy: September 21, 1989. If you were living anywhere near here at the time, you know exactly what that date signifies. “Where were you during Hugo?” are words that many long-time residents still ask one another. I personally … [Read more...]
Remembering Hurricane Hugo
The Lowcountry is no stranger to hurricanes. From the time we began tracking hurricane statistics in 1851, Southeast South Carolina has seen 309 tropical cyclones, including 16 hurricanes which have made landfall in Charleston County – the most of any county in the area according to weather.gov. Even before hurricanes were formally named, our home had several recorded storms, … [Read more...]
Nightmare in McClellanville: Hurricane Hugo 1989
“We made it Evangeline. The worst is over.” These were the words that Thomas Williams spoke to his wife as he looked out the back door of his McClellanville home during the calm of Hugo’s eye. The view before him was pretty bad but it wasn’t devastating. For the most part, his house and the houses of his friends and relatives on DuPre street were in good shape. There was no … [Read more...]
Talking with Bill Walsh About Hurricane Hugo
Episode 10. On this episode of VOICE for Mount Pleasant Bill Walsh, Chief Meteorologist with WCSC-TV speaks to Bill Macchio, Publisher of Mount Pleasant Magazine regarding Hurricane Hugo as well as other hurricanes that Bill Macchio has chased including Hurricanes Andrew and Bob. More information about hurricanes at www.HurricaneMagazines.com. Listen To Us … [Read more...]
Hurricane HUGO 30 Years Later: A Retrospective — and How to Prepare for the Next Big One
Late evening on September 21, 1989, a powerful Category 4 storm dubbed Hurricane Hugo raged ashore, bringing 135 mph winds, torrential rainfall and a towering tidal surge that flooded homes and businesses, washed out roads and bridges, reduced homes to rubble, toppled mighty oaks and snapped pines like twigs. Isle of Palms Fire Department Chief Ann Graham was serving as fire … [Read more...]
The Story of a Hurricane Chaser
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my longtime relationship with hurricanes started in 1969 when Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A Category 5 storm with 190 mph sustained winds, Camille was the most powerful hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States. All the destruction and death caused by this act of Mother Nature happened one day after I left Biloxi, … [Read more...]
Escaping Destruction: Surviving Hurricane Hugo
It’s been a quarter of a century since Hurricane Hugo pounded the Carolina coast, destroying everything unlucky enough to be in its path and forever etching memories good and bad in the minds of those who experienced its wrath and aftermath. Virtually everyone who was in the Lowcountry at the time and even some who weren’t can recall where they were and what they were doing … [Read more...]
A Storm’s Unwelcome Visit to Sullivan’s Island: Sergeant David J. Price’s Tale of Survival
If Sullivan’s Island Police Sgt. David J. Price could erase a period of his life, he would certainly eliminate the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October 1989. During those four weeks, Price lost 99 percent of his worldly possessions, protected a devastated jurisdiction, shared the grief and sorrow of his fellow islanders’ losses and worried about … [Read more...]
The Voyage Back to an Island Rocked by Hugo: One Resident Remembers the Hardest Ride of His Life
It’s 8 a.m., Sept. 25, four days after Hurricane Hugo. Following an all-night drive from Atlanta, I’ve boarded the harbor-tour boat at Patriots Point for a return to the devastated Isle of Palms. Standing there in a gloomy downpour of rain, we’re a ragtag crowd gathered from all points of shelter. I’ve run the curfew gantlets, dodged fallen trees and avoided dangling … [Read more...]