Minutes before the clock struck midnight on September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo made landfall on Sullivan’s Island as a Category 4 hurricane.
Charleston had never before seen a disaster of this scale, and it hasn’t seen one since. If you were here at the time, you’ll never forget it. Even those who weren’t around for Hugo are unlikely to forget it – simply because of the massive + permanent impact it made on our city.
To mark its 30-year milestone, we put together a quick, ABC-style rundown of the infamous weather event.
A. Atmosphere. When Hugo reached the S.C. coast, its barometric (or atmospheric) pressure measured in at as low as 933 millibars – the lowest known land-based level ever recorded in the Carolinas.
B. George H.W. Bush. The then-president visited South Carolina in the wake of the storm to survey the devastation.
C. Category: 4. Hugo’s strength when it made landfall in South Carolina.
D. Death toll: 86. Of those deaths, at least 26 occurred in South Carolina. Read their stories here.
E. Evacuation. S.C. implemented FEMA’s computerized informational model called HURREVAC when making decisions regarding evacuation during Hugo. Since then, N.C. + G.A. adopted the same model.
F. Folly Beach Boat. The Folly Beach Boat washed ashore thanks to Hugo – and quickly became a local landmark. It stayed put at its home near the bridge to the island until 2017, when Irma swept it over to a private dock. Since then, many locals have rallied to bring it back to its former spot.
G. Gracie. Hurricane Gracie (Sept. 29, 1959) was the last major hurricane to hit South Carolina prior to Hurricane Hugo.
H. Historic buildings. More than 80% of Charleston’s historic buildings were damaged by Hurricane Hugo. Property owners were still expected to abide by Board of Architectural Review regulations when making repairs.
I. Inland. After hitting the coast, Hurricane Hugo unexpectedly moved inland, barreling through the Carolinas and causing extensive damage across Charlotte.
J. Jim Cantore. Jim Cantore dubbed Hugo the “first television storm” because of the way it was actively covered by the national media.
K. Knots. Wind gusts measuring as much as 94 knots – or 108 miles per hour – were observed within the city of Charleston.
L. Loss: $5.9 billion. The estimated cost of damage from Hugo in S.C.
M. Major hurricane. Hugo was considered a major hurricane when it hit Charleston. A storm is classified as a major hurricane if it has reached at least Category 3 strength.
N. National impact. Up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hugo was considered the costliest storm in U.S. history.
O. Outages. Nearly 300,000 homes in the state lost power due to Hurricane Hugo, making it the worst power outage in state history. In some areas, it took as long as three weeks for the lights to come back on.
P. Path. Hugo’s journey through S.C. began on Sullivan’s Island, then traveled northwest (hitting major cities like Charleston, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach + Columbia) until it reached N.C.
Q. Quake. Up until Hurricane Hugo took its place, the Great Earthquake of 1886 was regarded as the most destructive natural disaster in Charleston’s history.
R. Retired. The name Hugo was retired from the National Hurricane Center’s list of Tropical Cyclone names, due to the level of destruction caused by the storm.
S. Storm surge height. The storm surge height recorded at Bulls Bay, S.C. was about 20 feet. At the time, that was the greatest storm surge height ever recorded along the East Coast.
T. Time. Hugo made landfall in South Carolina around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 21, and tore through the region during the early hours of the 22nd.
U. Unemployment. Hugo left 270,000 South Carolinians temporarily jobless.
V. Cape Verde hurricane. Hugo was classified as a Cape Verde hurricane because it developed within the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of Africa. This is where many Atlantic hurricanes begin.
W. Width. The eye of Hurricane Hugo was 35 miles wide.
X. X marks the spot of where Hugo made landfall – first in Guadeloupe, then St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, twice in Puerto Rico, and finally on Sullivan’s Island.
Y. Yellowjacket stings. All the downed trees meant sap – which brought out hordes of bees. Insect stings, namely from yellowjackets, were the most common nonfatal injury reported in inland areas following the storm.
Z. Zero. The number of buildings on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island left unscathed by the storm.
Remembering Hugo
We asked our readers who were here for Hugo to share their experiences. Here are some of their stories.
"[I was] Manning a relief center in Whitesville, SC. Still recall the calm of the eye passing over us as we shifted people around to undamaged portions of the school.”
“I had just moved here from that state up north and thought - well we have tornadoes so how bad can a hurricane be? What was I thinking?! I was working for a local hospital and reported to work before Hugo hit and stayed for 3 days after until relief workers arrived. Although my role was a Radiographer, we had to help throughout the hospital due to the extreme situation. I remember pushing patients in beds into hallways away from windows...making sandwiches in the kitchen to feed staff and patients, running across the 7th floor hallway of ‘bowing’ windows to the neonatal ICU to take films while we had power, sleeping on floors and Xray tables, and watching the Engineering team tie ropes around their waste to wade through the chest-high flooded grounds to get the facility generator running. When we were relieved at last I remember trying to find my Crickentree Apartment in Mount Pleasant and having to park my car on the side of the road and hike in the general direction because so many trees were down and there were no landmarks left to help navigate. What I remember most is the welcoming neighbors....as I found the drive in, someone had spray-painted ‘Welcome Home’ on a huge tree over the main entrance, and every night the residents gathered in the middle of the complex and had cookouts with thawing freezer items using a ‘chuck wagon’ someone had with propane. It was both an incredibly difficult time (understatement) and an amazing display of extraordinary spirit throughout (understatement).”
“I was in 6th grade living in Summerville. We lost many shingles, windows shattered due to the wind and I remember watching from an upstairs window as our basketball pole went around in circles. The worst part was the aftermath. No power for weeks. Trees down everywhere. And the heat! It was so hot those weeks without power.”
“3 days locked in Trident Medical Center ICU working before being able to leave. How incredibly hot and noisy during the weeks following without electricity.”
“We lived in Columbia, had 2 small children and spent the long dark frightening night on a mattress in the middle of the house. We lost power for 2 days, had trees down and flooding. While nowhere near the destruction here in Charleston, no one expected the storm to be so fierce that far inland. It was a night we will never forget.”
“We evacuated to Greenville the morning before Hugo hit and watched, with everyone else, it coming into our beloved city. Armed with a new chainsaw, we returned to something we barely recognized coming into Charleston. No matter how bad it looked on the news, nothing could have prepared us for the devastation; we didn’t even recognize our Mt. Pleasant neighborhood! Four weeks without power and debris piled so high we couldn’t even see our neighbors across the street. It did, however, bring out the best in people and as people emptied their freezers, we ate like kings!”
“I remember how the community came together and helped each other after the storm. You cleaned your yard, your neighbor’s yard, the street, etc. If you had something that others did not, such as phone service, ice, or a generator, you shared it. Everyone came together and I believe that is why our city was able to get back to normal so quickly after the storm.”
“Left Mount Pleasant and went west to Spartanburg. Just a little breeze experienced there. Almost went to Charlotte but something said ‘just continue West’.”
“My brother and his wife were from Ohio and had just moved to Charleston a few months before Hugo hit. They were both nurses and decided to stay , one at Roper and one at MUSC. My brother said he had never heard anything like the storm before and didn’t think he would stay through another one. He was also a nurse on the MUSC helicopter. They were both able to contact their families and advise they were ok.”
“I was in college at Charleston Southern University. I remember the feeling of fear and returning to what felt like a ghost town. The destruction...Things that were once there, were no longer. The smell of tar. I will never forget the never-ending smell of tar from all of the roofing repairs. I remember A LOT about Hugo!”
“I was here.... The very loud wind, sounded like a train moving. Then the “Eye”.... so eerily quite. I’m not sure which was more frightening. Because you knew after the eye passed, more was to follow. My boyfriend (now husband) was with the City Police Dept at the time. The work they did, to ensure safety and prevent looting, was incredible. I’ll also never forget seeing the National Guard on almost every corner of downtown, for our protection as well.”
“When the storm hit, I was five years old. Our whole family rode out the first half of the storm in our historic home at 68 Broad. We spent the hours before the eye hit under our dining room table: Three children, ages 3, 5, and 7, two adults, and one very scared Springer Spaniel. When the hurricane came ashore, all of the windows blew out in the house. My father was in the attic at the time and we thought he was gone. During the eye, we used the 20 minutes of calm to scramble across the street to a building that was more secure, and rode the second half of the storm out. Our story was written up in Life Magazine. I will never forget. " – Daniel Ravenel Jr.
“I was in Summerville. I remember the smell of pine from the downed trees.”
The frightening thing about Hugo was the size of the storm was larger than the whole state of South Carolina. As we evacuated from our James Island apartment to the upstate of South Carolina, we wondered have we evacuated far enough away, and will we have a home to come back to. That evening of the storm, we will never forget hearing Dan Rather say on national television, ‘It’s going to hit Charleston!’ Coming back into town after the storm, we were hit with the powerful scent of pine from all the down trees. As we got closer to our apartment, our anxiety about what we would find was unbearable. Thank God, we were spared. Our apartment building was only missing some vinyl siding. Since we had no power, we and a group of our friends gathered all the food from our freezers and refrigerators along with our coolers, Coleman Stoves, and propane gas. During the day we would help each other cut trees and clean up yard debris, and at night we would feast on the collection of food before it went bad. My husband and I were married earlier that year in May, so the top of our wedding cake did not make it to our first year anniversary. Instead, it was shared with our friends to commemorate how fortunate we were to have survived Hugo, but much more than that to be fortunate enough to have such loving and supportive friends!” –Melissa and Jim Haskell
“Goose Creek. My wedding gown went missing for 2 weeks. It arrived in time for my wedding.”
“We left Ladson, and went to Heritage USA in Ft. Mill. We stayed for three days and nights. We had 90 mph winds there too. I will never forget Hugo.”
“I evacuated from Hilton Head to Orangeburg, SC, where Hugo roared overhead as a fully formed hurricane after midnight. When the eye passed overhead, we went outside and looked up at the stars before the shrieking, screaming winds returned on the backside. I will never forget it.”