Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2014

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I’ve had a lot of fun and exciting
adventures in my life, and chasing hurricanes
tops the list. I’ve been in hot pursuit of Hur-
ricane Andrew just after it ravished South
Florida, I’ve followed Hurricane Bob as it
wreaked havoc on Cape Cod and I felt and
witnessed the high winds of Hurricane George
as it tore up Duval Street and other areas of Key West.
But my fascination with violent storms started right
here in the Lowcountry, when Hurricane Hugo roared
ashore in September 1989.
Hurricanes are like no other storms. Born off the west
coast of Africa, they drift out to sea and gain velocity and
strength. They become tropical depressions, earning an
official name and even developing a personality of sorts.
The names of especially destructive storms are not reused.
Hugo, a moniker forever embedded in my mind, has long
been retired.
As Hugo flexed its muscles and charged toward the
Carolina coast, I was oblivious to this impending threat
and the chaos that surrounded me. I couldn’t be con-
cerned about the weather because I had to get East Cooper
Magazine to the printer. Relying on 1989 technology
– no Internet, emails or high-tech publishing tools – we
securely packaged the magazine’s pasteup boards and, on
Tuesday, Sept. 19, prepared to put them on an airplane.
My wife, Kim, who was four months pregnant, knew she
couldn’t get my attention while I was on deadline. I was at
the office preparing the magazine for the next flight out of
Charleston, and, knowing Hugo was on its way, Kim gave
me a call.
“Did you know they are canceling flights out of
Charleston because Hugo is approaching?” she asked.
With a sense of alarm in her voice, she added, “If you don’t
get the magazine to Columbia by tomorrow morning, it
won’t get to the printer on time.” This sign showed how high the tide was at various places
throughout the Lowcountry.
It’s been a quarter of a century since Hurricane Hugo pounded the Carolina coast, destroying everything
unlucky enough to be in its path and forever etching memories good and bad in the minds of those who
experienced its wrath and aftermath. Virtually everyone who was in the Lowcountry at the time and even
some who weren’t can recall where they were and what they were doing before, during and after Hugo swept
ashore, packing a combination of wind, rain and high water rarely seen before and never seen
since along the normally tranquil South Carolina shoreline.
Bill Macchio, publisher of Mount Pleasant Magazine and its predecessor, East Cooper Magazine,
remembers well Hugo’s untimely visit to the Lowcountry.