Hurricane Hugo, 1989 by Claire

From MemoryArchive

Who: Claire
What: Hurrican Hugo
When: Fall 1989
Where: North Carolina

I was 5 years old and just beginning kindergarten. My new best friend had cried for the first two weeks, missing her mom, and she was finally getting over it.

I didn't realy pay attention to the news, but I remember my parents getting really worked up about something. Then one night, my parents woke my sister and I up to sleep downstairs. We had candles and everything; I thought it was the most fun thing in the world. It was loud and nosiy, but I was having a slumber party with my whole family.

I didn't understand what had happened until the next morning when two trees were on my house, and we had no electricity. The whole neighborhood was in ruins. All the tree removing services were busy in my town so to get the two trees off my house, my parents called in a tow truck. My neighbor had suggested it, and it was really neat seeing a truck pull the trees off.

I still was having fun, though, because school was cancelled and all the neighborhood kids were outside running around playing. It was so much fun because i could actually get to the top of trees that I had always tried to before; it was easier now because they were all horizontal.

When we got back to school after a couple of weeks, my friend had to get readjusted to being without her mom. She cried for another two weeks and then was fine. This is what I recall when I think about Hurrican Hugo.

Looking back at it now, though, it really is amazing. I live in Gastonia, NC. It is about 200 miles inland. This hurricane traveled so far in the state and did so much damage even in my town. I can only imagine what it was like actually on the coast. I am happy, though, that I was too young to actually understand what was happening because I had no fear. Everything was just great and fun and exciting.