Hurricane Hugo | Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Ceiba, Puerto Rico. My GMC Jimmy and 1971 VW Bug made it through with minor paint damage. The front of the building was on the leeward side of the prevailing winds. A neighbor who lived across the street (Nimitz Drive) took the image.

Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, September 18, 1989.
Hurricane Hugo swept through the Virgin Islands and the eastern half of Puerto Rico. Here’s a view of our on-base house at the height of the storm. The carport roof had blown off, but more importantly, our living room window had blown in, sending debris throughout our house. Shards of glass were embedded in our interior concrete walls! Fortunately, we had evacuated to Florida less than 36 hours before.

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Our house at 28A Nimitz Drive at the height of the storm. The image was taken by our neighbor from the safety of their house across the street.

Hurricane Hugo thirty years ago today. The eye of powerful Hurricane Hugo swept over the central U.S. Virgin Islands and the eastern coast of Puerto Rico on the morning of September 18, 1989. Here’s our house at the height of the hurricane as the winds whipped to a nearly sustained 100 mph with gusts to 120 mph. The house sat on the highest hill in base housing on the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads (Ceiba, Puerto Rico) overlooking the Carribean Sea. At this point of the storm, our carport roof had blown away (as did the backyard porch roof) and the living room window on the side had blown in. Our tan GMC Jimmy and blue VW bug somehow managed to make it through the storm with only minor paint damage from the sandblasting of the winds. The upstairs front window blew in a little bit after this picture was taken when the winds shifted around as the eye passed.

Of course, many areas of the base were heavily damaged or completely destroyed but the islands of St. Croix, Vieques and Culebra were essentially leveled. Hugo went on to deliver a powerful hit to South Carolina a few days later.

Our daughter had just turned six months old in September so we had evacuated to Florida less than 36 hours prior to landfall (actually the last flight out on American Airlines from San Juan to Miami).

tracks-at-1989

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Hurricane Hugo – September 1989

Hurricane Hugo – 1989