Winds Of Chaos

By Ed Magnuson

Beginning as a tropical depression, an area of low pressure off the west coast of Africa, it whirled across the Atlantic, gathering strength from the moist tropical air, puffing itself up into a fearsome 150-m.p.h. hurricane. At week's end Hurricane Hugo, its fury spent, whimpered out in rainfall over southern Canada. Between its gentle birth and welcome demise, Hugo carved an awesome arc of destruction in a 2,300-mile sweep from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to the Carolinas.

Like a holiday cruise ship from hell, Hugo hit the major ports of call in the islands, killing at least 28 people and causing more than $2 billion in property damage. After pausing to regain its strength, it slammed into Charleston, S.C., with 135-m.p.h. winds. Its swath embraced coastal resorts and barrier islands well into North Carolina, leveling seaside homes and leaving communities isolated and without power. Eleven people were killed, and insurance experts predicted that the covered damage costs may exceed $753 million, the record payout caused by Hurricane Frederic in 1979.

Frederic assaulted the Bahamas, Alabama and Mississippi just two weeks after Hurricane David killed 1,200 people in the Dominican Republic, then spread destruction from Florida to Canada. Hugo was the fiercest storm to strike the U.S. East Coast since then. Last year, almost to the week, Gilbert, a maximum Category 5 hurricane with 175-m.p.h. winds, had howled along a more westerly course, pounding Jamaica before stomping into Mexico and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Thanks to the increasing proficiency of storm forecasters and a greater readiness to heed their warnings, the loss of life inflicted by Hugo was minimal. A mass exodus from coastal areas saved countless people in the U.S. Except for a few diehards who refused to leave their low-lying homes, Hugo found few lives to endanger.

The hurricane's weeklong assault began at 1 a.m. on Sunday as its 140-m.p.h. shriek shattered the sleep of the 340,000 residents and uncounted tourists on Guadeloupe. "There's nothing left of St. Francois," reported the resort town's mayor, Ernest Moutoussamy. Eleven people were killed.

Not slowing in the slightest, Hugo fell on Montserrat, an eleven-mile-wide British island of 12,000 residents. Tin roofs were ripped off houses and nearly every building sustained serious damage, leaving few inhabitants with either shelter or fresh water. The wooded mountains that had inspired visitors to call Montserrat the Emerald Isle turned brown as most of the green trees lost their tops. "It was paradise here," said Governor Christopher Turner, who placed the damage at $100 million. "Now we're back to the kerosene age and washing in the river." Ten residents died.

Next to be mauled were other Leeward Islands. Antigua and Barbuda caught only glancing blows, but they were powerful enough to cause $37 million in damage. In St. Kitts and Nevis, more directly in the storm's path, ham-radio operators estimated that 99% of the population of 48,000 was homeless. Damage there was put at $50 million.

Still on a northwesterly course, the hurricane swept into the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas. On St. Croix nearly all its houses were damaged or destroyed and most of its 53,000 people were left without shelter. The huge Amerada Hess Corp. refinery was knocked out for at least 60 days, eliminating its daily production of 545,000 bbl. of oil and sending gasoline futures higher on world markets. Even worse was an outbreak of looting and rioting by armed gangs of local residents who shouted, "Whitey, go home!" at tourists and ransacked stores in the main cities. President Bush dispatched 1,200 military police, U.S. marshals and FBI agents to restore order.

By Monday morning Hugo closed in on Puerto Rico, still packing a 140-m.p.h. punch. In the 33-mile stretch between the capital of San Juan and Fajardo in the northeast, 80% of the houses lost their roofs. Virtually every building in downtown San Juan sustained damage. Hugo seemed to single out two groups for special punishment, blasting out windows in the high-rise hotels catering to tourists and demolishing the fragile slum shacks of the island's poor. More than three-fourths of the Caribbean National Forest was knocked down. The tiny islands of Vieques and Culebra were flattened. Seven were known dead in Puerto Rico, more than 30,000 were left homeless, and damage was tagged at $300 million.

Moving slowly across open ocean for three days while regaining its 135- m.p.h. punch, Hugo gave authorities in South and North Carolina ample time to evacuate coastal areas. The highways west of such resort centers as Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach were snarled, and some profiteering developed (gas was sometimes sold at $10 a gal. and $10 sheets of plywood for $30), but the movement proved prudent.

Hugo began its attack on historic Charleston about midnight on Thursday. The showcase city of antebellum mansions and broad, oak-shaded avenues had not been hit by a major hurricane in 30 years. Now the devilishly timed onslaught coincided with high tide, propelling 17-ft. waves toward shore. The wall of water rolled into Charleston's streets, carrying a score of boats and a 50-ft. yacht with it. In the harbor, Fort Sumter of Civil War fame sustained $1 million in damage, and the destruction at a nearby Air Force base was described by the Pentagon as "catastrophic."

Piling insult on injury, Hugo ripped off part of the roof of Charleston's city hall even as officials gathered there to plan disaster relief. Thirty buildings collapsed, and homes throughout the area were blown down. The storm was broad enough to smash Garden City Beach, a luxurious resort community 70 miles north of Charleston. "Garden City for all practical purposes is gone," said M.L. Love, a county administrator. South of battered and deserted Myrtle Beach, 14 houses were destroyed on Pawley's Island. Hugo even knocked out power in Charlotte, N.C., some 200 miles from the sea.

As Hugo neared the Appalachians, it finally seemed to weary of its frightening game. On Friday morning it diminished to a tropical storm, then headed through West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, carrying dwindling winds and showers into Canada. But even as Hugo faded, its memory would live long for all those who were unfortunate enough to be in its path and now must rebuild their battered homes -- and shaken lives.

With reporting by James Carney/Miami and Joseph J. Kane/Charleston