Hurricane Hugo was supposed to come through Rocky Mount back in the 1980s. Dad was a truck driver on the road. Mom was working at her job on 3rd shift and Paula was married.
That left me at our West Mount house to handle preparation for the storm. Dad called me before the storm, however it was almost dark. He had built the north end of the fence at the pool, but there was nothing bracing it against any winds. He told me if it wasn't braced, then it would fall over and possibly in the in ground pool. I contacted my neighbors and asked their help. There we were the 3 of us, Paul and Linda and myself taking wood and bracing that fence so it wouldn't fall. It worked. After we finished with the fence. I had to bring the truck around and use the headlights for light. I was stressed out at this point, but we managed to get it done, I profusely thanked them. I went inside and got set for a long night. I was there alone and I was worried, but I had to do what I had to do; and It was what it was. I went on to sleep and expected by 2am to be awakened to hear the storm raging. I woke up several times during the night and heard nothing more than crickets chirping (if that). At daybreak, I turned on the TV and the storm had turned westward and hit Charlotte NC full force.
Wikipedia
Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde–type hurricane that caused widespread damage and loss of life in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Southeast United States. It formed over the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands on September 9, 1989. Hugo moved thousands of miles across the Atlantic, rapidly strengthening to briefly attain category 5 hurricane strength on its journey. It later crossed over Guadeloupe and St. Croix on September 17 and 18 as a category 4 hurricane. Weakening slightly more, it passed over Puerto Rico as a strong category 3 hurricane. Further weakening occurred several hours after re-emerging into the Atlantic, becoming downgraded to a category 2 hurricane. However, it re-strengthened into a category 4 hurricane before making landfall just slightly north of Charleston, on Isle of Palms on September 21 with 140 mph sustained winds (gusts to more than 160 mph). It had devolved to a remnant low near Lake Erie by the next day. As of 2016, Hurricane Hugo is the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the East Coast north of Florida since 1900.
A Cape Verde hurricane, or Cabo Verde hurricane is an Atlantic hurricane that originates at low-latitude in the deep tropics from a tropical wave that has passed over or near the Cape Verde islands after exiting the coast of West Africa.
Hurricane Hugo caused 34 fatalities (most by electrocution or drowning) in the Caribbean and 27 in South Carolina, left nearly 100,000 homeless, and resulted in $10 billion (1989 USD) in damage overall, making it the most damaging hurricane ever recorded at the time. Of this total, $7 billion was from the United States and Puerto Rico, ranking it as the costliest storm to impact the country at the time. Since 1989, however, it has been surpassed by multiple storms and now ranks as the eleventh costliest in the United States.
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