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THURSDAY'S EDITORIAL

THE ISSUE: Hurricane Frances

OUR OPINION: Tropical storms are bad enough; this one is serious

Memories of another big hurricane

By LEE HARTER, T&D Editor

Here we go again. Another "I remember" story.

This time there's a twist.

Sure, I can spin lots of stories of Hurricane Hugo, South Carolina's "storm of the century." So I will.

The dawn of Sept. 21, 1989. A group of young reporters gathers in a newsroom nearly dark in the daylight after a stormy night. It will be nearly two days without power - days when news gathering and newspapers do not stop. No TV. Radio only from the west, where damage is slight. Off they go, having only to look outside to find trees and power lines down.

How will we produce a newspaper? This is before The Times and Democrat's portable preparation extraordinaire. Strategy and results (plus pleading): a generator from the nearby fire station (many thanks still), extension cords, two lamps, two Macs and a prayer.

Don't forget paste-up in these months before computer makeup of newspaper pages. Wanted: copy.

A courier (actually a reporter sent on a desperate mission) retrieves Associated Press text and photographs from The Aiken Standard an hour away to the west.

T&D reporters are back with storm stories aplenty, anxious to write. They exchange keyboards for pen and paper, their newsroom the back steps in the light of the day after. Helping hands type their stories on the Macs.

From the east there are horror stories. Photos we have. They'll show the destruction, if only there is a place to print. Ads we have, too, thanks to a department relocated to the director's living room and kitchen, also to our west.

Photographers opt for the old-fashioned way of making prints as the plan for the bigger task of turning the presses becomes a lesson in geography. The best bet is Bamberg, near but far enough to have power - and a press. The plan works.

The result: a scaled-down, one-section edition of 16 pages. A hodge-podge of typefaces and pieced-together captions. A newspaper memory. A keepsake dated Sept. 22, 1989.

The story's been told before. What's the twist? After all, this is only Sept. 2, not our prime time for hurricanes. Hugo's 15th anniversary is still weeks away.

It's the watch, the countdown if you will. Out in the Atlantic spinning away is a hurricane. Frances is her name.

The lady has the look of Hugo. If anything, she promises to be stronger.

The days of waiting are at hand, just like those days in September 1989. Headlines then and now focus on the storm's move through the ocean and toward the East Coast. Despite the latest tracking, South Carolina yet could be in her path.

Don't comfort yourself with the stuff about Hugo as the "storm of the century." That was the 20th. Y2K is past. The calendar has turned and this big storm is on the move.

Ask North Carolinians. They've gotten every Fran, Floyd, Dennis and Bertha now for a decade. We're due. Memories have me worried enough to prepare. You should, too.

-- Editor Lee Harter can be reached at lharter@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5520.