“H” is for Hurricanes

“H” is for Hurricanes. The term “hurricane” comes from the West Indian word “huracan” which means “big wind” and is used to describe severe tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. From the earliest days of European settlement in South Carolina, there have been references to West Indian storms that we would now call hurricanes. The hurricane season runs from July through October. The worst hurricane ever to hit the state was the Sea Island Storm of August 1893 that killed several thousand Carolinians. In the twentieth century the three hurricanes that have been the most severe in South Carolina were Hazel (October 1954), Gracie (September 1959) and Hugo, a category 4 storm (September 1989). Since 1900 on the average every eight or nine years a hurricane makes a direct hit on the Palmetto State.