Remembering Hurricane Hugo

September 21, 1989

Hurricane Hugo struck Charleston, South Carolina on September 21 as a category 4 storm. Hugo ranked as the eleventh most intense hurricane at time of landfall to strike U.S. this century and is rated as the second costliest hurricane with over $7 billion in damages. Hugo's storm surge was the highest ever recorded on the East Coast. It was estimated at 20 feet just north of Charleston. Hugo's 150 mile wide swath destroyed about one billion board feet of timber and resulted in major damage hundreds of miles inland. The total number of deaths associated with Hurricane Hugo is 82.

While downtown Charleston suffered extensive damage, the brunt of the storm was borne by the northern suburbs of Mt Pleasant, Sullivan's Island, and Isle of Palms. Both islands were disconnected from the mainland by destruction of their bridges. Along the coast it destroyed many houses and the storm surge piled boats on top of each other.

I was 10 years old and living on Isle of Palms, SC (outside of Charleston). Even at this young an age, I was already accustomed to watching the hurricanes form in the Atlantic Ocean during the summer months and early fall. We ended up evacuating to Orangeburg, SC where we still heard the effects of the storm. I remember some things very clearly. We left our dog in the garage where he could get in the boat. That was a tough decision. I will never forget returning and seeing the house and the island. Our house had 3 feet of water at one point and mud covered the entire floor. Trees were down and covered the whole front and back yard. Our neighbors and us bonded together and I remember being on the second floor and cooking on this little Coleman stove. A tree fell on my bedroom but only caught the corner of it. In my 26 years on the Isle of Palms, that is the worst we have had. We had a mandatory evacuation from Charleston a couple of years ago during another hurricane and due to the traffic it took us 15 hours to make a 2 hour drive. So, I was just having some memories from that. Katrina was a lot worse.