Back in September of 1989 Hurricane Hugo slammed the coast of South Carolina and headed straight for the Charlotte, NC area leaving a path of destruction and devastation. I was attending Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC just south of Charlotte at the time. I and many others thought we were too far inland to receive anything more than some rain and wind.
We were wrong…..
Take care all –
Rourke
Well here in SW Florida I sure have seen my share of hurricanes. My house still has damage from 2004s hurricane Charley.
While in the Army I was living in Connecticut and the eye of Hurricane Belle passed right over our house. No damage but it was earie going outside and it being calm till the eye passed through. I have never lived in an area during a natural disaster but I did go to the 9th ward in New Orleans after Katrina. Wow, what a mess.
Hugo was a unique storm. I was working as a construction manager on the Union Camp project in Savannah at the time. At the time, we all thought the storm would make land fall in Savannah. We closed down the job after securing and covering the ongoing construction. In my infinite wisdom, I did not have the hitch with me for the RV. So, I filled the fresh water tank and the black water tank. That put 80 gallons of water on the bottom of the trailer. That was about 650 to 700 pounds of ballast to hopefully keep the trailer upright. Then we struck out for Orangeburg, SC. When we got home, all of the family from Charleston was in Orangeburg. The storm had done two things…stopped froward movement and the steering currents were pushing it toward Charleston. Long story short, the storm came in between Charleston and Georgetown. The eye crossed over Santee and side swiped Orangeburg with 125 mph winds. It kept 90 mph winds to hit Charlotte. There was a path of destruction from McClellanville on the coast all the way past Charlotte. I was out of power for 2 weeks. The manager of Kmart almost got lynched for selling Coleman fuel for stoves and lanterns for over $10.00…it normally went for $1.41. Had to call the cops to save him. If you want to read some harrowing stories, look it up.