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Remembering Hugo - 2019 Hurricane Guide
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2019
THE SUMTER ITEM
Remembering
Hugo 30 Years Later
Memories remain vivid for Sumterites By Ivy Moore Special to The Sumter Item Thirty years ago in mid-October, a group of friends and neighbors sat on a front porch in the heart of Sumter watching a lineman repair the final connections that would restore power to the area. It had seemed like a much longer wait than the nearly three weeks they had lived without lights and hot water after Hurricane Hugo hit the area on Sept. 22, 1989, devastating Sumter and its surroundings. As the power came on, they lifted a glass of warm white wine and toasted the lineman in gratitude. Today, the memories of Hugo are still vivid to residents who experienced its wrath. The category 4 storm had hit Sumter with wind speeds up to 110 miles per hour. Thanks largely to advance preparation, injuries were kept to a minimum, and only one person died in the storm. Emergency responders, Shaw Air Force Base personnel, what was then Tuomey Regional Medical Center and state employees, subject to being called in for emergency duty, were ready, but the amount
of devastation was still far beyond what a city 100 miles from the coast expected. Hugo was the most powerful storm to hit South Carolina in the 20th century. It hit after dark, and after a few hours, the only sounds to be heard were those created by the monstrous storm – howling winds, thrashing trees, unseen objects crashing into buildings and cars, the thud of huge trees hitting the ground. While residents huddled together in their dark homes or emergency shelters, Sumter’s leaders and volunteers, led by then Sumter County Civil Defense Director Vic Jones, occupied the Sumter County Courthouse; before the storm hit, Jones had exhorted residents to “be patient … look around them, find someone who’s worse off and help that person.” The crew took calls from around the county – people with no power, roofs blown off, power lines down, some hunkered down under tables or in bathtubs, as well as those just scared of what they couldn’t see in the total darkness of the storm. When the storm cleared the area, the sheer destruction
it left behind was almost as frightening as Hugo itself. Roadways were blocked with fallen trees, debris from homes and other structures found far from their place of origin. Traci Quinn, then city editor for The Sumter Item and a volunteer at the courthouse who is now the communications director at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, noted at the time that she had “… terrific memories of the teamwork that existed in the recovery effort,” not just among those with government and aid agencies but also among the city’s residents. “Everyone came together in a spirit of community,” she said. Many Sumterites had no recourse but to bury their pride and accept food, water and the hospitality of friends and neighbors. The Sunday, Sept. 24, Item was filled with Hugo news under the banner headline “We’re down, but not out.” A curfew was imposed, and National Guardsmen carried rifles because of looting, residents were urged to be patient, Sumter damage was estimated at $95 million, and officials couldn’t even estimate when water and power would be restored.
In the days, weeks and months after Hugo, Sumterites saw a different Sumter, with neighbors actively reaching out to help others. Even now, with the passage of three decades, there are still remnants of Hurricane Hugo’s damage. Canopies of trees that once shaded areas in the city are thinner now, and only those who were here in September 1989 see the vacant lots, still standing damaged homes and other effects, and they can tell you what businesses or homes now stand where others once thrived. Now, when powerful hurricanes near our coast, the memories of Hugo fill many with fear and foreboding. We fill our cabinets and closets with bottled water and nonperishable foods, extra pet food, flashlight batteries and crank or battery-powered radios. We have cellphones now and spare chargers to maintain communication with loved ones. We check on our neighbors and extended family. And we ask ourselves, “Are we ready for another Hugo?,” and many pray for safe passage of the storm out to sea.
Hurricane Hugo by the numbers
7 days
Number of days it took Hugo to become a Category 5 hurricane
Total deaths across U.S. (21), Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (5) and Caribbean (24)
50
4
Category Hurricane Hugo was classified as when it struck the South Carolina coast
140 mph 30 miles 18-20 feet Wind speed reached during the storm
Diameter of Hurricane Hugo’s eye
60,000
270,000 54,000
People in the state left homeless
People temporarily unemployed
State residents seeking disaster assistance
1 death in the tricounty area
Estimated storm surge
$13.5 billion Damage estimate after accounting for inflation
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center and The Associated Press