tated, because the soggy ground resulting from ear-
lier rainfall allowed their roots simply to pop out of
the ground. Hugo moved swiftly through South Car-
olina and was still a Category 1 storm by the time it
reached Charlotte, two hundred miles inland. Racing
northward, the storm finally disappeared over east-
ern Canada on September 25, but the effects of its
devastation would be felt for years.
Impact Hugo’s destruction was, at the time, the
most costly in recorded history, resulting in its name
being permanently retired. Had the storm contin-
ued on its original course, damages would have been
far greater, given the enormous buildup along the
coast from Charleston to Savannah. As it was, the
worst of the storm pummeled small towns and a
national forest. Caribbean islands in Hugo’s path
suffered terribly, and agriculture in eastern South
Carolina was essentially wiped out. Significantly, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
to whom U.S. senator Fritz Hollings referred as a
“bunch of bureaucratic jackasses,” was woefully un-
prepared for managing assistance following the di-
saster. The hurricane thus resulted in a greater con-
cern for disaster preparedness, especially at the local
level. It also helped bring about passage of proposed
legislation to protect barrier islands, and it con-
vinced more people living in hurricane-prone re-
gions to take seriously evacuation orders for their
communities.Further Reading
Boone, C. F. Frank.... and Hugo Was His Name.
Charleston, S.C.: Boone, 1989. An account by a
reporter for Charleston’sNews and Courierregard-
ing the impact of Hugo.
Elsner, James B., and A. Birol Kara.Hurricanes of the
North Atlantic: Climate and Society. New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 1999. Provides climatology
data for the twentieth century, analysis of hurri-
cane climate research, and discussion of hurri-
cane information, including dangers posed to ca-
tastrophe insurance.
Fraser, Walter J.Lowcountr y Hurricanes: Three Cen-496 Hurricane Hugo The Eighties in America
Ben Sawyer Bridge in South Carolina, following the onslaught of Hurricane Hugo.(NOAA/National Hurricane Center)