A Sigh Of Relief

September 23, 1989

Once again, Hampton Roads has been spared the devastation of a major hurricane. Charleston, S.C., was not so lucky. Hugo, with winds of 135 mph, left that city reeling.

But as damaging as the storm was, its toll in destruction and death could have been worse. Hugo has claimed more buildings than people, and that represents an important victory for all the men and women involved in forecasting the storm's direction and helping people get out of the way before it was too late.

Up and down the East Coast, tens of thousands of people fled in the face of the storm. That was the only sensible thing to do.

We take for granted today technology that was not around to warn people when Hurricane Hazel, with which Hugo was compared, roared into the coast 35 years ago claiming nearly 100 victims.

Forecasting, aided by satellite observation and computer models, still isn't perfect, but it's more than good enough to provide a word to the wise.

Television, which lacks depth with most kinds of news coverage, is unbeatable when it comes to keeping people informed about the approach of these moving mountains of water and air.

When you can see a satellite picture of a storm that's bigger than many states, when you can see the television reporter leaning into the wind with pounding surf in the background, when you know that what you're seeing is just an introduction to the main event, you get out.

Unfortunately the people of Charleston, a beautiful city of great historic value, couldn't take their buildings with them. Mayor Joseph Riley reported "a degree of physical destruction that is unprecedented in anyone's living memory."

That's a tragedy, but we should all count our blessings.

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