SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014
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25 years later
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO
First Baptist Church’s steeple lies over a sidewalk after Category 4 Hurricane Hugo struck the tri-county area the morning of Sept. 22, 1989.
Memories remain vivid for Sumterites BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com
It’s hard to believe 25 years have passed since the local landscape was devastated by Hurricane Hugo. Yet, talk to anyone who was here at this time in 1989, and you’ll hear stories recalled as if the storm happened a few weeks or months ago. On the morning of Sept. 21, 1989, Sumterites were preparing for Hurricane Hugo to hit
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the S.C. coast. A sampling of stories on the front of The Item had the same theme: Preparation. Emergency responders, Shaw Air Force Base and Tuomey Hospital were on alert, state employees were prepared to be called into duty, school districts were expecting to close, grocery stores were emptied of nonperishables. But even with all the preparation,
hardly anyone really expected Hugo to hit us with such force; after all, we are 100 miles inland. As it turned out, Hugo was the 11th most powerful hurricane ever to hit the United States and the most severe to hit S.C. in the 20th century. It’s said we remember most vividly our really good or really bad experiences. Standing out in the memories of many SEE MEMORIES, PAGE A3
DEATHS, B6 Kate E. Ermis Mary B. Woudwyk Erma V. Dwyer Peter R. Jacob Alvin O. Hancock Carl E. Brooks Nora Cook
Mary L. Jenkins Margaret P. Holmes Sammie Jiles Roy Welsh Stephen S. Davis Carolyn Y. Thomas
INSIDE Leading through the storm: Former mayor tested A3 Red Cross hopes you prepare for the next big one A4 Former civil defense director tracked storm by hand A5 Black River Electric labored long hours to restore power A6 Former law enforcement recall ‘war zone’ A7 Hugo’s wrath felt across area’s sports landscape B1 Throwback to the first day The Item published again D1
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
A NICE SUNDAY
5 SECTIONS, 40 PAGES VOL. 119, NO. 290
Pleasantly warm with sunshine; clear to partly cloudy tonight HIGH 87, LOW 67
Classifieds D3 Comics E1 Lotteries A12 Opinion A10
Outdoors D8 Panorama C1 Television E3 Stocks D2