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Researcher’s interactive map shows path of Hugo

September 21, 2009 By

Twenty years ago tonight Hurricane Hugo ripped through South Carolina, causing tremendous damage to property and land. To take a tour of the damage and the lasting impact of Hugo, the University of South Carolina’s Dr. Susan Cutter, one of the nation’s top hazards and natural disaster experts, has created a Web site feature titled “Hugo Then and Now.”

Visitors can click on the Hugo map and scroll over seven areas in South Carolina to hear and learn about the damage Hugo caused in that particular area and any lasting impact 20 years later.

Cutter is director of the university’s Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute and a Carolina Distinguished Professor. She is an ofted-called-upon expert to assess disaster damage. Federal officials relied on her after 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina. USC’s Peggy Binnette says that thanks to Cutter, the school one of the nation’s best in geographic information systems (GIS)studies.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Education, News, Weather

SC stimulus spending posted online

September 21, 2009 By

South Carolina is one of three states to put stimulus expenditures on the Web. State Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom says it’s critical that the money be easy to track. Now all individual uses of stimulus funds by state agencies are available at the state Comptroller General’s web site. The stimulus transparency page contains three files: one sorted by the state agencies spending the funds, another sorted by the purpose of the expenditures and another sorted by the vendors and recipients.

Details for stimulus spending will also soon be posted on the state’s overall stimulus Web site, www.Stimulus.SC.gov, during an upcoming overhaul of the site.

More than a half-billion stimulus dollars of an estimated three billion have come through state government so far and Eckstrom says transparency keeps public officials more accountable.

He says the stimulus spending details will be updated monthly

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government

Ex-teacher, volunteer reflects on Hugo

September 21, 2009 By

A former Lowcountry teacher and Red Cross volunteer reflects back on the disaster of Hurricane Hugo. “I remember one of the kids in the class said, you know Ms. Baughman, you make it sound like the end of the world, and I said you know, you got to be ready,” says Ann Baughman.

In a run-down trailer right outside of the Summerville High School gym, 11th and 12th grade teacher Ann Baughman prepared her class for what was to come.

“I was telling them, you know, you need to be sure you have your medication, you need to be sure if you are diabetic, that you have prepared to take care of your diabetic medicines, and you need to be sure that you’ve done all the things we need to do to be prepared for a hurricane,” says Baughman.

Baughman was also a helping hand. At the time of Hugo, she was already an American Red Cross volunteer for 20 years. Red Cross Lowcountry Director Louise Welch says it’s volunteers like Baughman that made light of the storm. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Education, Environment & Conservation, News

After 20 years, Hugo still vivid to utility workers

September 21, 2009 By

It was two decades ago on this day when Hurricane Hugo struck the South Carolina coast.

Tom Gibbs now serves in SCE&G’s Department of Outage Management, helping to administer the utility’s emergency operations. He had good training for that position, since he has been with the company for 36 years, including duty during Hugo.

Gibbs says for four nights after Hugo, it was very, very quiet.  “You step outside, and dead silence.  No crickets, no birds, nothing.  Except the electrical generators near some buildings.  It was eerie.  It made you realize how quick your life could be changed.” 

Gibbs says he and other workers noticed unusual behavior following the storm from dogs and other animals, very weary following a life-threatening experience.

“There was a joke at the time,” said Gibbs.  “Two squirrels are walking down the sidewalk.  One says, ’I don’t care what you say, but I’m not going back up in those trees.’ “  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Human Interest, News, Weather

Red Cross bucket serves as symbol of Hugo

September 21, 2009 By

On the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo devastating the Carolina coast, the American Red Cross remembers the kits they delivered at the time of the disaster and they’re still around today. Twenty years ago the American Red Cross delivered thousands of little red buckets throughout the Lowcountry in the wake of Hurricane Hugo.

“We distributed thousands of hot meals, lots of ice, and clean up kits,” says Lowcountry Chapter of the American Red Cross Executive Director Louise Welch.

And in 1989, Welch says those little red buckets were symbols of hope and repair.

“The clean-up kits are basic things: a bucket, a mop, and the materials you need to clean up your home so you can get back in it, with water’s been through, or even pluff mud has been through. But, a lot of people on the island still have their bucket since Hugo,” says Welch. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Human Interest, News
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