Memories Of Hurricane Hugo Are Clear After 25 Years
By Stephen S. Mullins, Anderson Independent Mail, S.C. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Wind whipped hard across the harbor where the War between the States began, lashing Fort Sumter and churning six-foot waves over the shoal called Castle Pinckney.
Downtown, the first sounds of Hurricane Hugo were loud pops and hisses as high-voltage power lines snapped loose from poles and sizzled on sidewalks.
A few braves souls ventured out to stroll on the historic Battery and feel the bite of salt air before they locked themselves away.
Hugo was already a known killer, having ripped the heart from St. Croix and severely punished
By
Thus began a chapter of the book called "And Hugo Was His Name -- Hurricane Hugo, A Diary of Destruction" that I wrote with my newspaper colleague
Late in the evening outside of
Before the night of
By about
Our families were well out of harm's way, and reporters and photographers had their assignments. We thought we were ready.
I disappeared for a moment, zipped into a small newsroom broom closet and asked God to please not let us blow this assignment. At about that time Mayor
None of our eyes would close for more than 24 hours, and we only napped here and there for at least the next 72. At the newspaper, very little care was given to protecting our own homes, cars and other belongings. Some of our staffers lost everything they owned.
The storm ravaged
Police were slow in moving back from the barrier islands just as the draw bridge was thrown off its pilings. I had a reporter stationed with them. His wife was hovering over the city desk, listening to the police scanner, terrified. Waves were rising like hillsides over
During the eye of the storm it was eerily silent and looters set out to raid stores in the city Police Chief
We were operating on sporadic generator power at the paper but there was no running water. Chief Photographer
There were true heroes that stormy night: two men named
There were babies born and there were 35 deaths in
There were ripped-off roofs and flooded ballrooms in the old mansions on the Battery. There were thousands of tall pine trees lying on roofs in the wooded communities of
There were shrimp boats piled against houses and sailboats piled against the shoreline. There was a sailboat named "Guppy" bobbing around in the middle of
And when floodwaters receded there was a report of a bottle-nosed dolphin stranded in a bath tub at
There was power out from
By
That's when Sports Editor
With daylight came the politicians and confusion: Gov.
The two men didn't care much for each other, and they cared even less about coordinating their efforts. But both wanted badly to help. For Hollings it was an especially sad day. His own home on the
People walked aimlessly through the mud on
In the days after the storm, stories emerged of harrowing experiences and death and destruction on an unbelievable scale. But there were also stories of communities and families coming together, solving problems the government couldn't.
In the months ahead, insurance money and building material flooded in and, slowly, lives were put back together.
There's little sign of Hurricane Hugo's devastation along the coast now. But many people still describe their life events as happening before or after Hugo.
Some who stayed say they won't next time. Some still get a little scared when the winds pick up and whip through the tall pines. Some folks still thank the good Lord every day for sparing them from the fury of Hurricane Hugo 25 years ago.
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(c)2014 the Anderson Independent Mail (Anderson, S.C.)
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