COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – 36 years ago, Hurricane Hugo made landfall off the coast of South Carolina, becoming one of the deadliest and most devastating hurricanes to ever hit the state.
On the Wednesday afternoon before it hit the coast, Hugo was still swirling in the Atlantic, and meteorologists were still uncertain where it would land.
Hugo ended up making landfall on Sept. 22, 1989, near Sullivan’s Island as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds near 140 mph.
Due to the storm’s forward momentum, hurricane-force winds were expected to reach much of the state, including the Midlands.
Our sports director, Rick Henry, had just started at WIS when the storm hit.
” I remember we had a meeting in the newsroom with our weather folks, and they emphasized how bad this storm was going to be,” he said.
Henry had also recently moved himself and his family into a new home in Irmo.
“We were huddled together on the floor. My son was like six years old,” he said.
While he was hunkered down with his family, he was also on the phone with his mother, who was facing the brunt of the storm in McBee.
“I could hear the concern in her voice, and then the phone goes down,” Henry said.” And you just have to try to remain calm, you know, for my family’s sake, and just hope and pray that we’ll come through this okay.”
McBee, as well as Camden and other surrounding areas, were hit by the northeast eye wall, which is the strongest part of any tropical system.
Former Camden mayor Mary Clark was serving on city council at the time of Hugo’s landfall.
She said the amount of downed trees and power lines is something that she’ll remember forever.
“It was a real trying time, and our electric department worked seven days a week, 16-hour days until Christmas Eve,” she said.
At the time, Hugo was the nation’s costliest storm, creating over $7 billion in damages and claiming the lives of 86 people.
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