[Lorraine Evans]

Meteorologist Stephen Meloche was in South Carolina when Hurricane Hugo hit on September 21st 1989. Hugo killed 82 people as he made landfall as a category 4 hurricane and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

 

[Maalie]

A very interesting read Lorraine, thanks.

[Thesme]

Yep, that was fascinating

[Lorraine Evans]

Excellent, I am glad you both found it as interesting as I did. It was very kind of Stephen to share this with us, a fascinating perspective.

[Colin Ure]

Personal accounts like this are simply amazing.

An old work colleague of mind was in the Camyan Islands when Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004. It was not even a direct hit and her accounts of the Sea rising and flowing clear across the island are amazing and scary. She also report water being forced through doors and walls driven by the winds !

They eventully sat the night out on the staircase as the ground floor was flooded and part of the roof was coming off on the upper floors.

The damage was huge - I remember her telling me her car was covered in 2ft of sand - inside !

One part of me what's to experience a hurricane but another part tells me probably not a good idea.

Really interesting article - thanks for posting

[Lorraine Evans]

I feel the same Colin...I have always thought that I would like to experience the sheer force of the winds in a hurricane but, in reality, I am sure it is definetley not such a good idea.

[whisperjet]

Having experienced Hugo firsthand, I can honestly say that I have never been more frightened in my life than I was that night.  Listening to the roar of the wind and feeling the vibration of trees falling on and about the house was most unnerving.  The toughest part was being without electricity for nearly two weeks, but, as time went by, it became surprisingly manageable.

Below are some before and after Hugo photos of my former home.

[Lightning Hunter]

That was a fascinating read, I also find these reports great reading and I would like to experience a hurricane firsthand at some point in my life. Reminds me of the feelings we went through on Oct 16th 1987, but obviously on a totally different scale.

[Conrad]

I remember the Friday evening when Hugo came northwards to Canada. That evening I travelled from Montreal to stay at a farmhouse just north of Lake Ontario which we reached shortly before midnight. If I remember correctly Hugo crossed over the central part of Lake Ontario at about 2 am on the Saturday morning. The first thing I noticed on the Friday evening in Montreal was that it had become very warm and humid and masses of cloud were moving up very rapidly from the south. Later when we approached Lake Ontario driving rain and very strong wind set in but there was a lull towards 2 am and then the wind and rain returned. Nothing really dramatic as in Charleston. I'd say that my most vivid memory was of the wave of heat on the Friday evening.

[stephenmeloche]

Hi all...

This is my new Profile and my email addy is: stephenmeloche@btinternet.com if anyone wishes to discuss Hurricanes or any other weather phenomena.

Many thanks to Lorraine Evans for getting the PDF technical difficulties sorted and re-posting my article!

All the best!

Steve M.