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TUESDAY'S EDITORIAL

Katrina puts S.C. on alert for September

THE ISSUE: Hurricane Katrina

OUR OPINION: Big storm rekindles memories of Hurricane Hugo here

Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst big storms to hit the United States. Conditions in the Gulf of Mexico turned the hurricane into a monster that is still on the move north. Damage along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and beyond is severe.

Katrina's strike is for many a wake-up call for the heart of hurricane season in South Carolina. History tells us the month of September is our time of greatest risk.

This big storm rekindles memories of Hurricane Hugo here in 1989. South Carolina knows what it is like to get hit and hit hard.

Charleston and the coast north of the Grand Strand were slammed by the storm on Sept. 21 and 22, but locations such as Sumter and even Charlotte, N.C., suffered heavy damage.

Orangeburg and Calhoun County residents, especially in the eastern section of the counties, have their own stories of sorrow.

Following the storm, Orangeburg was a city without lights, but only until late on Sept. 23, when utility officials restored power to 90 percent of the residents in the immediate city limits. Those living in the eastern section of the county — Holly Hill, Santee, Vance, Eutawville, Eutaw Springs, Rocks Pond Campground and Lake Marion subdivisions — would have to wait weeks until full power and water could be restored.

In Orangeburg County, tax assessors reported an estimated $50 million in damages; about $31 million in real and personal property, with an added $19 million in damage to timber. Calhoun County declared its Hugo damages at $20 million.

The struggle for normalcy went on for months, years for some.

And the impact of Hugo — which caused $6 billion in damage and left 29 dead on the U.S. mainland — continues to be felt even today. Experts say the long-term effects on the state's forests could last for three decades and reach $40 billion.

As we watch Katrina and have our eyes on the Atlantic for new storms during this month, we remember Hugo — a reminder of what hurricanes can do and a reason for heeding warnings and following the emergency plans of 2005.

Hugo may indeed have been South Carolina's "storm of the century," but that was the 20th. The 21st is shaping up as a period when the threat from hurricanes will only grow.