HUNTERSVILLE – Hurricane Hugo still makes headlines 25 years later.
On Sept. 22 1989, this intense hurricane left infrastructures destroyed and people homeless not only in Huntersville but also in surrounding towns and cities.
Huntersville Commissioner Sarah McAulay remembers what Huntersville was like amid one of the most powerful storms in the U.S.
“There were a lot of trees down. Of course, electrical lines were down,” McAulay said. “Huntersville at that time had maybe two people working in the electric department and they were putting up lines.”
Fortunately for McAulay, the town limits reached her front door on Gilead Road with an electrical line, leaving her home with electricity as soon as the power first came back.
She said the Food Lion and gas station on Exit 23 had electricity.
“Some people did not have electricity for several weeks,” McAulay said. “I do know that it was coming and in the middle of the night, you just heard this howling wind you never forget.”
The commissioner said there was severe damage to homes.
Huntersville Town Clerk Janet Pierson experienced Hugo in all directions. Although she lived in Iredell County at the time, she did a lot of traveling through Huntersville.
Her husband was a paramedic then and required to go into work on the day Hugo passed. On his way to work, he drove Pierson through the storm along N.C. 115 near the Sam Furr intersection to take her to her mother’s house.
“We were out in the middle of it, trying to make our way through it,” Pierson said. “We came across a power line that was down across the road. We turned around to head back to find another direction and we got turned around and a tree had fallen across the road.”
Being one of the only vehicles on the road, Pierson and her husband were caught between a tree and a power line. They decided to drive across the power line in hopes it was not filled with live, electric currents.
“That was stressful,” she said. “Back in those days, you couldn’t pick up a phone and call for help.”
Pierson said once she arrived at her mother’s home, which luckily, had very little damage, she noticed a tree in the backyard beginning to bend.
After hearing a creek-like noise, the tree came down on the house but was not tall or strong enough to break through the home or its windows.
Hurricane Hugo left other lasting memories with Pierson.
“There is a house at the corner of Stumptown and Old Statesville roads and the yard used to have a lot of pine trees in it,” she said. “Well, when Hugo came, it took down pretty much every pine tree.”
Disaster preparedness expert speaks to conservatives
CORNELIUS – Civil preparedness expert Mike Marshall will discuss common sense solutions to challenges citizens may face due to natural or man-made disasters at the next Lake Norman Conservatives meeting.
The chaos resulting from hurricanes, economic collapse or terrorism is something we should all plan for. Marshall, a former Marine, provides information on how to prepare for a catastrophic event when food, water, safety and power sources are compromised.
“I lived in Charlotte when Hurricane Hugo came through in 1989,” Lake Norman Conservatives co-founder Sharon Hudson said. “We were without electricity for 12 days. Even in a bad situation there are things we can do to make our lives safer and more pleasant.”
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Galway Hooker Restaurant & Pub, 17044 Kenton Drive. Social hour and dinner span 6-7 p.m.
To make reservations email [email protected] or register online at www.lakenormanconservatives.org.
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