Wow…who would have thought that 20 years would go by so fast.  I can remember Hurricane Hugo hitting Puerto Rico and looking at the long range models thinking that somewhere in the Southeast, Hugo would come calling.  At that time our NHC model only went out three days, but the other models were coming together for a Southeast strike.  Little did I know that the storm would make landfall over Charleston harbor as a strong category 4.

I was working at WCIV channel 4 as chief meteorologist.  At that time we were NBC and I had been here just three years.  What an awesome responsibility and tough call to make as the storm took aim at the Southeast and South Carolina.   As the strike probabilities began to rise for Savannah and Charleston and the ridge building to the north, I knew that this was going to be a major problem for us.  Four days out, I was telling viewers to pay attention and be ready to leave. 

As the National Hurricane Center projection took aim at Charleston, we went into full mode and started talking about evacuation of the islands.  Once a watch went up and an evacuation order given, people started to move off the islands.  It’s ironic that at that time, the storm was knocked down a bit by the strike on Puerto Rico and winds were category II strength, 105 mph. 

The warning went up and I remember doing the 11 p.m. news, about 24 hours before the strike.  There was a plane crash in Charlotte that night and was also in the news.  I remember thinking that this will be the story we’ll be covering for about a year after it hits. 

I went home around 2 a.m. and got about 4 hours of sleep and a shower.  I returned to the station and went on the air.  By this time, Hugo was still a category II storm.  It was headed for the Gulf Stream waters which were well over 80 degrees and the storm structure was perfect.  I told our folks and viewers that this is going to be a growing storm.  So much so, we put our own evacuation process into action that we had planned the week before and had our alternative broadcast site ready to go at the county Emergency Operations Center which at that time was at the election warehouse up off Leeds Ave. 

We decided by late afternoon on the 21st to transfer our broadcast operation to the EOC.  WCIV Channel 4 at that time was by the Ben Sawyer bridge on Coleman Blvd, Mt. Pleasant.  More importantly, it was on the salt march and very low.  Dean Swanson and I were anchoring our coverage.  Dean stayed at Channel 4 studios while I was sent to the EOC to take over; so that he could join me right after.  When I arrived, Dee Crosby and I continued the broadcast while Dean made is way to the EOC and the operations group at Channel 4 finished the last minute preps and evacuated the Ben Sawyer facility leaving it on autopilot and empty.

The interesting thing about being at the EOC on that day, every other station in town and networks from around the world were broadcasting from this old warehouse.  It looked like a political convention.  Between hits I had people from international news organizations like BBC, CBC, ITV, and our own networks interviewing me.  We were the NBC affiliate here in Charleston at the time and the TODAY show sent a crew to “shadow” us that last 24 hours before the strike.  So everywhere I went and did, the TODAY show folks were right there documenting the story.  That Sunday on SUNDAY TODAY, they aired a special half hour of HUGO coverage and we were a huge part of it.  Al Roker, who did Sunday TODAY, gave me a ring and we later chatted in his office in New York about the experience and have been friends ever since.

It was an exciting time, but scary time at the same time.  When the storm strengthened throughout the day as we predicted, we knew the Lowcountry would never be the same the next morning.  I remember getting the 5 p.m. advisory saying that the storm had increased to a Category 4 “dangerous” hurricane!

It was a good thing we left the building back by the marsh in Mt. Pleasant.  The storm put six feet of water in the building and smashed everything inside it to bits.  The building stood, but that’s about it.  We also had part of the roof come off the EOC during the height of the storm.  I still remember the wind sound.  A sort of “Wuuuuuuuu!”  Hard to put in writing, but something I’ve not since heard.

The next morning, the sun came up over a devastated South Carolina.  Some said it looked like a war zone and I would agree.  One of the craziest things I saw first, was a guy on the corner selling t-shirts that said “I survived Hurricane Hugo!”

Then it hit as we drove around, or tried to drive around.  There were so many trees and power lines down that you could not get down some roadways.  We had no power for 2 weeks.  Our broadcasts had to come from our transmitter building 20 miles north of Mt. Pleasant in Awendaw.  The funny thing about that is that Channel 4 and 5 shared the tower and we were in one room and Channel 5 in the other.  My friend and mentor Charlie Hall was broadcasting just the other side of the wall and we ended up working together here at Channel 5 a few short years later.

We did not even have a set.  I sent my roommate to my house in Mt. Pleasant and told him to get the kitchen table and a logo I had in my closet.  That was our set.  We slapped the logo on the wall and sat at my kitchen table!!   We broadcast there at the tower for a week before getting back to the old building which was just about destroyed.  They cleaned out the studio enough for a week; so that we could broadcast from it.  But the sales and newsroom were gone.  We had trailers brought in and rented a store front near what is now Wild Wings in Mt. Pleasant.  The rebuilding process started right away.  Everything had to be ordered.  New equipment and about a year later, a new building on Allbritton Blvd. 

For this weatherman with only a few years experience at the time, it was the test of a lifetime.  After being out of my house for three months, a smashed station, rebuilding everything in sight and even after winning an EMMY award, I would not want to repeat this crazy time in our history.  Let’s hope HUGO was our last direct strike.

Hard to believe, but we are now at the peak of hurricane season.  Fred has weakened to a remnant low and the National Hurricane Center has discontinued all advisories.  Through the midway point of the season we have had 6 named storms and two hurricanes, both which have become major hurricanes.  Thankfully, neither have had an impact on our weather.  In fact, Tropical Storm Claudette has been the only storm to effect the U.S.  We still need to watch the tropics very closely, especially through the middle of October.  Remember Hugo hit on September 21st.  We’ll of course keep you updated until the end of the hurricane season on November 30th.

Our weather looks very nice for the remainder of the weekend and really not much change to the overall pattern until next week.  Have a great Sunday !!

Brad

For the most part, our weather looks pretty good for the end of the week.  A weak area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere might pop a stray shower, but most of the moisture and good dynamics are south of the area.  High pressure is ridging down the east coast and should keep us with seasonable weather and a bit of a northeast fetch! 

Highs will be in the upper 80′s inland and lower 80′s on the beaches.  Surf should be good and water temp is around 80.  Beaches should be good, but a tad breezy w/ the northeast wind. 

Lots going on this weekend.  Don’t forget our Blood Drive at the Citadel Mall all day on Friday.  Saturday and Sunday with football and other community events, should be pretty good outside.  If you’re traveling to Athens Georgia for the USC game, looks partly cloudy with a few showers possible during the evening at kickoff.  Gametime temp in the mid 70′s. 

Have a great and safe weekend and I hope you can join us on our weekend broadcasts on LIVE 5 NEWS and follow us on TWITTER: LIVE5WEATHER and FACEBOOK: Bill Walsh, Chad Watson and Brad Miller.

We’ve been tracking “Erika” in the tropics and the good news is that it’s probably not going to survive much after a few days of strong wind shear and interaction with some mountians in Puerto Rico and Hispanola. 

This storm is in a very bad environment for development and will most likely be downgraded to a depression as we move towards the end of the week.

We’ll keep an eye on it though, seeing that tropical systems have a mind of their own sometimes.  But the confidence is good that this will not be a big player.

Elsewhere, a tropical wave is getting set to move off Africa with some circulation assocated with it; so we will keep a close eye on that as well.

I hope you can join us for tonight’s broadcast and have a great long, Labor Day weekend!