Sunday, September 20, 2009

Hurricane Hugo-Part 1

Here we are at the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which hit Charleston "like an atom bomb." At the time, it was the most damaging hurricane ever recorded. It was later surpassed by Hurricane Andrew and then Andrew was surpassed Hurricane Katrina.


There was quite a bit of confusion about where Hugo was going to make landfall. Even when we found out that Charleston was ground zero, Hank and I didn't fret so awful much. Our town about 35 miles inland up the Cooper River. We'd endured edges of hurricanes and many a tropical storm in our lifetimes. The town we grew up in was 45 miles in from the coast and never experienced anything but a little wind and some rain. SO....we stayed home. All of our friends stayed home. How bad could it be...Hank and I sat out one storm...can't remember which one but it would have been '84 or '85, with friends in the bar at the Mills House Hotel on Meeting Street. Fun times!


For Hugo, we had some flashlights and a radio and as an afterthought, filled the bathtubs up with water as we hunkered down with three year old Legare. While our experience here at home was nothing like that of Katrina folks who didn't get out, I think it's safe to say that from 11 PM or so until about 5 AM the next morning we were as scared as we have ever been in our entire lives. Not Legare though, he slept through the whole thing.

When it started to get really dicey and the power went out, we moved from the den to the downstairs powder room which is across the hall from a small coat closet. There were periods of time during the night that I truly feared that we would not be alive to see the morning. For instance, when the pressure sucked all of the water out of the pipes in the house. Have you ever sat on the floor in your bathroom listening to something akin to a freight train bearing down on you IN the dark with just a flashlight and watched the water being sucked out of the toilet??? It's creepy...very creepy.
During the eye of the storm, we walked out on our front porch...eerie....so still...but the porch hadn't been ripped off so that seemed like a good thing. Some of our neighbor's roof, however, was in the front yard. That was bad. There were trees down all around one of our cars, but not ON the car. That was good. We walked upstairs...the guest bath window was broken. Later we discovered it was from the neighbor's flying roof. All in all, we were still standing (we didn't know that some of our neighbor's were NOT), so we went back downstairs to get ready for the other side of the storm. Let me tell you, it was every bit as scary as the first part of the storm.

In the days following, everybody said that it was a good thing all of this went on during darkness....that if it had happened during the day so that we could actually see what was going on, lots more people would have been hurt or killed...not just from trying to run outside to try to fix or save something, but from a heart attack or stroke from the sheer terror. I suppose that's true because...

Gotta go now...will finish this later.

19 comments:

  1. Events such as these are never forgotten by those that lived through them. Can't wait to read more. I can so identify!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How scary...I often think how brave you people are to remain positive and stay in your homes. I think I would be on the next flight out.

    Your pictures give me goosebumps. We vivited Charleston in April. I hate to imagine a beautiful town like that being devastated by such a storm.

    You know, here in the Midwest we have vicious tornados. They pop up without much warning. I have grown up with them, but whenever I see an ominous sky, I still get terrified.

    Waiting for part II.

    xoxo
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  3. We were in Athens Ga at that time and had wind even there! I can't imagine what it was like being in the middle of it!
    Funny thing.. I interviewed for a job in Walterboro the MOnday after Hugo hit. It was one of the towns that had gasoline and food, it was packed and I thought all the people lived there. I had it in my mind that Walterboro was really a busy crowded place! Imagine my surprise when all the people left and went back home!
    We ended up moving there the first week in Oct. and needed to rent a house because we had three St. Bernards, there were ONLY 3 houses in all of Colleton Co. for rent at that time! The rest were already taken by people who had been displaced or by workers that were in town to rebuild in Charleston!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't believe it has been 20 years.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The pictures are just incredibly frightening. I can't even imagine. I look forward to the rest of the story. I hope you were not damaged too bad. Hugs, Marty

    ReplyDelete
  6. Having lived thru Ike last year, I don't know if I'd want to stay thru another one, no matter what strength. It was good we were here afterward, but it was very scary, especially considering all the huge pecan trees we have. The damage was not too terribly bad, all things considered, and it wasn't as bad as what you described being in the house, but it was bad enough for me! Glad you all were ok.

    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my goodness. What a terrifying experience. I will be reading the rest . . .

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember Hugo as well. I was a small girl, and we were living up in NC at the time, so we didn't get the brunt of the storm. I remember hearing about the potential flooding, so I asked my Father if I would be able to see the sharks swimming past my window that night. He said yes! All night long I waited to see those sharks, of course that never happened!

    Out of curiousity did you take that picture of the bridge? It reminds me of the bridge heading over to Lady's Island down in Beaufort.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I live near Charlotte...about 18 miles and I will NEVER forget Hugo hitting us!! How shocked that a hurricane would hit an area 4 hours away from the coast!! Hard to forget!

    ~Beth

    ReplyDelete
  10. I will NEVER forget this either! I was away at boarding school in Virginia. It was a scary time, being away from home and not having my family around during everything. Plus, my friends who lived in and/or around Charleston who couldn't contact their families - back then it was all about "pay phones" - no cell phones/computers like today!

    ReplyDelete
  11. can't wait to read more. i have simialr memories of several other storms!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I slept through it in Columbia, but I was also 2 1/2 so I really had no idea what was going on.

    We have a boat in Charleston Harbor Marina, so we are always on our toes during hurricane season. Plan A is to get it pulled out and Plan B is to take it up river, anchor it and hope for the best. They said when Hugo hit that the entire marina wound up by Shem Creek.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I slept through it in Columbia, but I was also 2 1/2 so I really had no idea what was going on.

    We have a boat in Charleston Harbor Marina, so we are always on our toes during hurricane season. Plan A is to get it pulled out and Plan B is to take it up river, anchor it and hope for the best. They said when Hugo hit that the entire marina wound up by Shem Creek.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I remember Hugo. I was getting my senior portraits made and someone came into the studio and told us all to go home.. they weren't sure where it was going to land. My high school turned into a shelter for towns who were being hit harder. My town was all borded up like a ghost town. We got minimal damage. Just some blown off roofs and trees down. But THEN, I traveled to Charleston with my BF and her family to get her grandmother after the fact. Charleston looked like it had been bombed. Such an eery feeling I remember. Never seen anything like it since with my own eyes. I'm so glad your family came through so well. Hugo...yikes.
    Belle

    ReplyDelete
  15. I remember it well. I was in Columbia - and did not have power for 5 days.....I can't imagine what it was like for you.

    I remember the storm in 84(?). You sat it out at the Mills House Bar and I rode it out at the Chi Omega House at the College of Charleston - great times!!!! How foolish and young, but had a ball.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Twenty years...wow. I remember it clearly.

    Your account is chilling. Glad that you fared well.

    I have been so crazy busy again! (I know, story of our lives...) I've missed you!

    ReplyDelete
  17. AMAZING what mother earth can do... very powerful!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow! I have never heard of such a thing with the water in the pipes! How scary! I'm glad everything turned out okay for your family...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh dear, I hear you! My husband and I spent four horror-filled hours in the bathroom of our Miami home during Hurricane Andrew. I certainly will never forget that "freight train" sound. My feeling was that I would be sucked up into the atmosphere and never found!

    ReplyDelete

Please comment...it makes me HAPPY!