Hurricane Hugo Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Hurricane Hugo
Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Hugo approaching South Carolina on September 21
Formed	September 9, 1989
Dissipated	September 25, 1989



Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 160 mph (260 km/h)
Lowest pressure	918 mbar (hPa); 27.11 inHg



Fatalities	76 direct
Damage	$10 billion (1989 USD)
Areas affected	Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, North Carolina, most of eastern North America

Part of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Category 5 hurricane that struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, South Carolina and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 82 people and leaving 100,000 homeless. At the time, Hurricane Hugo left the most damage for a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, although other storms have since caused more destruction. Hugo is currently the tenth costliest hurricane in the United States.

Retirement

The name Hugo was retired. The name Humberto has been used every six years since 1995 instead.

Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale
TD	TS	C1	C2	C3	C4	C5

Hurricane Hugo as a Category 5 hurricane.
Satellite image of the Western Hemisphere on September 19 showing Hugo northeast of the Turks and Caicos
Satellite image of Hugo approaching landfall on the U.S. East Coast as a Category 4 hurricane, on September 21
Hugo's path in the Caribbean
Hugo traversing the northeastern Caribbean on September 17 as a Category 4 hurricane
Ninety percent of buildings in Saint Croix were damaged.
Rainfall totals in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Damage was extensive in Culebra.
Electric motors at Carraízo Dam were flooded, disrupting water service to San Juan
Beach on the northwestern coast of Puerto Rico a few days before Hurricane Hugo
Hugo making landfall on South Carolina early on September 22
Damaged beachfront property in South Carolina
Charleston was heavily impacted by Hugo
Wrecked mobile homes along the South Carolina coast
The damaged transmitter towers of AM radio station WBT near Charlotte, North Carolina
Rainfall from Hugo spread across the northeastern United States along its track inland
Relief crews attending a beached sailboat in Saint Croix
Governor Carroll Campbell touring Hugo's damage in South Carolina
Runoff along Cape Hatteras due to rainfall from Hugo