Remembering Hurricane Hugo, Thirty Years Later

A look back at the wreckage left behind by the most destructive storm to hit Charleston in modern times

Just before midnight on September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo roared ashore slightly north of Charleston, South Carolina, as a Category 4 storm, leaving in its wake twenty-six dead in the United States and an indelible mark on those who lived through it. Even today, thirty years later, mentions of Hugo stir up memories of sailboats tossed like toys, splintered homes, and cars floating down the street. Pat Conroy painted a picture of the destruction etched forever in the Lowcountry’s collective memory in his novel South of Broad: “My city looks firebombed and unsalvageable, as if Hugo had taken it with a perverse sense of artistry, and turned Charleston into Guernica,” he wrote. “The city of the rarest man-made delicacy is on its knees, all putrefaction and carrion.” Here, the Historic Charleston Foundation shares striking images of the powerful storm’s aftermath.

September 18, 2019

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The remains of a building on Hayne Street, just north of the Charleston City Market downtown.

Photo: Photo by William J. Graham courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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A building at 35 Hayne Street sits amid the rubble.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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The corner of King and Spring streets.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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A front view of the building on the corner of King and Spring streets.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Men inspect the roof of the circa 1816 Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul, west of King Street, for damage.

Photo: Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation.

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The interior of the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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A dismantled roof hangs over a building on the corner of King and Spring Streets.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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The wreckage at 56 Laurens Street, just west of East Bay Street downtown.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Two men survey a collapsed house on Rutledge Avenue.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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The facade of the Irish Volunteers Armory on Vanderhorst Street stays standing.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation.

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Debris is strewn about the lawn of the Grace Church Cathedral, founded in 1846.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Sailboats overturned at condominiums on Sullivan’s Island.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Debris from Hurricane Hugo in stacks outside houses on Broad Street.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Piles of branches and wood lined up alongside homes on Smith Street.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Eastside homes in ruins.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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A building reduced to rubble.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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A tree uprooted in a church graveyard.

Photo: Photo by Jack E. Boucher courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation.

Remembering Hurricane Hugo, Thirty Years Later

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