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Orange Blooded [3194]
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What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 7, 2017, 11:32 PM
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I was born just 2 years after so i didnt experience the storm. My parents were living in Hartsville, sc at the time and they always told me it was one of the most scariest moments in their life. Would love to hear some stories on anyone who experienced that storm.
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Varsity [247]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 7, 2017, 11:34 PM
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It was a strong one didn't have power for a month
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Letterman [261]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 7, 2017, 11:35 PM
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A little rain and wind in Clemson- I was in Johnstone E that night.
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Team Captain [493]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 2:11 PM
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I was in Johnstone F that night.
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Rock Defender [53]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 7, 2017, 11:39 PM
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The only vacation I was able to have in several years, and I had to leave due to a mandatory evacuation from Myrtle Beach after 2-3 days. It took ~ 8 hours just to go 250 miles. What a mess.
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All-TigerNet [12943]
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breezy***
Sep 7, 2017, 11:40 PM
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CU Guru [1453]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 7, 2017, 11:49 PM
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I was a freshman at CU. Hugo devastated the lowcountry. No other way to say. Charleston to Georgetown were unrecognizable in many communities. It took several years to rebuild. Habitats for birds and wild life decimated.
Google it.
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All-TigerNet [11963]
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i was in charlotte. it was arrived aheCatad of schedule and
Sep 7, 2017, 11:52 PM
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much stronger than anticipated. still a Cat 1/strong TS when it hit. It quite amazing for a non-coastal living person like me to see.
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Letterman [258]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 12:01 AM
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I was living in Charlotte when Hugo came through. As well as I can remember, Charlotte had pretty high sustained winds-around 70 mph if I remember correctly. We were without power for 2 weeks. I remember standing in long lines at grocery stores and they let few people in at a time with flashlights . They could sell only nonperishable items since their power was off too. I lost 12 trees in my yard. We would bring food from our freezers,as things were starting to thaw, to a big grill our neighbor had. For the first 3 days we had big cookouts where we pooled our food. After that, it was cans of food, peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, etc. not looking forward to anything like that again!!
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110%er [6881]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 11:27 AM
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Yes it's true that Charlotte was without power for 2 weeks and much of greenville no power for a week. I guess all the power repair was focused on the coast.
Pawleys island was cut in half as the storm water breeched the land. There was an amazing stat about the number of trees lost, something like 20% of all the trees in the state were down.
We went with a church group to volunteer in Sumter for several days. The neighborhood we worked in had trees down on almost every house which of course means there's water damage.
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CU Guru [1265]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 12:04 AM
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My husband, 2 year old daughter and I were living in Hemingway. At 10pm the wind blew the glass fireplace doors open and by 2am you could feel the walls in the middle of the house shaking from the wind! Kept hearing what sounded like train whistles all night - they were tornadoes. The next morning the skies were the bluest I have ever seen and all you could hear were chainsaws. I now understand how people lived by the sun before electricity. We went to bed when it got dark and woke up when the sun started coming up. Power was restored to the downtown area around 1am a few days after the storm and it woke us up because of all the lights made it seem like it was daytime!
Probably way more that anyone wanted to know
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Orange Blooded [4974]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 12:16 AM
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That post was very interesting actually. Thanks for sharing.
I was living in Simpsonville. We got 30-40 mph gusts as I remember. Maybe higher. Had some trees blown down in the neighborhood.
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Team Captain [490]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 12:13 AM
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I was living in. Harlearon and drive to Columbia to ride it out at my parents. We woke the next day and drove to our place at Pawleys and it took us about 6 hours. We had men in trucks with chainsaws cutting trees on the back roads through Sumter county and Clarendon county. We got to Pawleys and we're finally let on the island We had to walk because houses were blocking all the roads. We got to our lot and the house was gone completely. We found it later a mile away on the mainland. My apartment in Charleston was also trashed. I will never forget it and pray I never experience anything like it again. Of course now I am in Atlanta and Irma may come to visit
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Hall of Famer [22940]
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3 trees fell on house, thousands in neighborhood
Sep 8, 2017, 12:28 AM
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Spent the next week without power and going to other neighborhoods cutting trees off roads and helping senior citizens with yard cleanup.
Eye came right over Lugoff/Camden. Freakiest thing going outside in the middle of the storm.
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All-Conference [444]
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I was living in the tin cans--Johnstone Hall, can't remember
Sep 8, 2017, 12:47 AM
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the letter of my section & hall but the soccer team was down on the 1st floor & i lived, this my sophomore year, about 2 or 3 levels above them. My window looked right down on the power plant & Death Valley. All i remember regarding weather was little rain if any and some light winds, maybe up to 20 mph max.
Others that lived on my hall that i haven't seen or spoken to in decades were Bill "Ace" McCannless, Craig Shipman, Todd Amerson, Andy Farmer, T. Doolittle, Chris Stuart, Tom from Ohio, Jim O'Malley, Brad the orange farmer from Florida, Neil from Brookland-Cayce High, and some good ole boys from Clinton, etc., etc. Man i miss them days.
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All-TigerNet [10938]
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Johnstone D, E, and F all overlooked the P plant
Sep 8, 2017, 10:48 AM
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with D being closer to the shoeboxes and F next to the quad.
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Head Coach [781]
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I saw the Gray Man
Sep 8, 2017, 12:54 AM
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I was shooting dice in an abandoned hospital when this old timey looking fella pulled up in a Sea Doo and asked if I wanted to ride. I got on back and we went right out into the hurricane. After me a the Grey Man rode out Hugo on his Sea Doo he dropped me off at the Pink Pony with a 2 for 1 coupon. It was pretty cool.
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110%er [9664]
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This story sounds Photoshopped...***
Sep 8, 2017, 11:28 AM
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Orange Blooded [3351]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 6:55 AM
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Something that comes to mind when thinking back about all the impacts of Hugo...
People from the CSRA who used to take the shortcut through "the woods" when traveling to Clemson may remember a bridge in the middle of Sumpter National Forest with a sign that said "Slow - Weak Bridge". Well, Hugo did us all a favor and took this substandard bridge out. We lost our little shortcut for a couple of years but the bridge was finally rebuilt to meet state standards.
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Orange Blooded [4194]
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the bridge to Sullivan's Island between Mt. Pleasant
Sep 8, 2017, 6:55 AM
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and Isle of Palms
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CU Guru [1813]
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I remember this.
Sep 8, 2017, 7:37 AM
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This photo says it all. So many iconic photos from that storm - the house that floated down the street without disturbing a single item inside, the boat wreckage in McClellanville, pine trees capped off about 10 feet up. I took my wife (then my GF) home to Aiken and stayed a couple nights before driving back to Charleston. It was like entering a war zone.
My mother served as a distribution point for supplies, made sure shut-ins were cared for, and even orchestrated a Habitat home build for a lady and her family in Awendaw (pretty sure that's where it was). I learned a lot about my mother, who has battled illness since the '70s, in the aftermath of Hugo. In fact, I learned a lot about the great people of the Low Country and SC in general.
Our neighbors had like seven holes in their roof, and no insurance in their old country home. A Baptist men's group from Spartanburg stopped by and repaired their roof.
It was a devastating event that brought out the best in our community and our state. So oddly enough I don't remember it sadly, but rather nostalgically.
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CU Medallion [65416]
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CU Medallion [65416]
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I was working shift work, 4 x 12 shift that night. Drove
Sep 8, 2017, 3:14 PM
[ in reply to the bridge to Sullivan's Island between Mt. Pleasant ] |
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home in ~60 mph winds at midnight, no fun at all. Lost power around 1 am. Stayed up till the eye came through Orangeburg at around 2 am or so, wlaked outside, couldn't believe how calm it was, and how clear you could see stars. Then, wind (and rain) came back from opposite direction. We were lucky, got power back after only 3 days. My parents near Santee didn't get it back for 3 WEEKS!
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110%er [6098]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:06 AM
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Columbia had a 90 mph wind guest on top of old ATT building. Lots of pine tree limbs down
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Hall of Famer [23994]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:44 AM
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I'll never understand why people think its a good idea to leave your boat in the water during a hurricane.
Unless of course its a piece of crap and they're trying to get an insurance settlement.
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All-In [40929]
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My dad's 35 ft boat
Sep 8, 2017, 7:09 AM
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was never found.
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Orange Blooded [2574]
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We've enjoyed it tremendously, please tell him thank you!***
Sep 8, 2017, 7:59 AM
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Legend [19944]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:11 AM
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I don't remember a whole lot from that one, except that we had to evacuate (living in Savannah, GA at the time) and that my father had a lot of business in the Charleston area afterwards as an architect/ residential contractor.
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Team Captain [458]
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We lived in the mountains of western North Carolina,
Sep 8, 2017, 7:13 AM
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far enough away from the coast, you would think, to be safe from the brunt of the storm. The resulting tornado-like winds felled so many trees in the forests surrounding our home, that we never cut a tree down again for firewood, and we heated our place with wood. There was hard wood aplenty for the last ten years we lived there.
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Orange Blooded [4757]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:19 AM
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I was a teenager living in Florence. Amazingly, I slept through the worst of the storm, but I woke up to one hell of a mess. Trees down everywhere, houses and cars smashed, many roads unpassable. I had a friend sleeping over (yeah, in hindsight that was really stupid) and his dad called him home that morning (somehow we still had phone service)--what was normally a 10-minute drive took him almost 2 hours.
We were without power for about 4 days, which wasn't bad at all by comparison. The night sky was incredibly beautiful. Some people I know didn't have it for several weeks and it was not unusual to see extension cords running across neighborhood roads from the powered houses to the unpowered houses. It took weeks to clean up. I remember volunteering for cleanup crew on a citywide effort to get trees and other debris off the roads. Florence was hit surprisingly hard for how far inland it is.
I know people whose homes were destroyed. My family was very lucky; there were no large trees near our house, so the home suffered no damage that I remember other than some missing shingles. We did have several trees fall over the back property line and crush our chain link fence. My future in-law's home had two tornadoes pass by which knocked down several trees, but miraculously their house and cars were not significantly damaged. One tree missed my future wife's car by inches. She said it was a terrifying night and none of them slept, they could hear the tornadoes coming through the yard.
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All-In [38427]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:21 AM
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Tore half the roof off of our house in Moncks Corner , completely decimated the FM national forest and McClellanville was a disaster area for 6 months.
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CU Guru [1676]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:43 AM
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Live between Macedonia and St. Stephen, edge of National forest, had to cut our way out. 4 miles one way, 7 the other. About half way, we ran into other people cutting trees coming our way. Without power for 6 weeks. Lost 30ish pecan trees, roof. Will not sit thru another one
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Commissioner [950]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:40 AM
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Google Hugo photos...the tornadoes were horrible...
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110%er [7219]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:56 AM
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It was a lot like hurricane Gracie.
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110%er [5576]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 11:20 AM
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We had to evacuate to Ben Tillman Elementary School for Gracie. We were out of school 2 days, then the morning we were supposed to go back to school, a tank at the tank farm blew up about a few blocks from our house. We had to evacuate again.
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CU Guru [1007]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:01 AM
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I was about 14 at the time and lived in York SC. We had a tornado touch down not too far from my house during Hugo. It took a large air handler unit off of the mill my parents worked at two roads down from us and threw it in the parking lot. A large tree was uprooted and tossed on top of my neighbor's house. We did not have power for a week and did not have running water for a week.
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110%er [6101]
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Re: Very powerful. Very fast forward speed (20mph)
Sep 8, 2017, 8:04 AM
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Hugo didn't drop to tropical storm strength until it was over Pennsylvania, where it still had enough punch to blow a wall out in a school.
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CU Medallion [65416]
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It was in 1989, but if you go into Holly Hill from I-26 on
Sep 8, 2017, 8:11 AM
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Highway 15, you can STILL see some of the forest of snapped off pine trees. My brother in law (now deceased) had a contract that lasted for over 8 years afterward, hauling away tree debris for the state, to lessen the risk of forest fires. That should give some idea of how much devastation there was. I had to take 4 alternate routes to be able to get to my parents house near Santee after the storm due to downed trees blocking roads. Far and away the most destructive storm in my lifetime. And, that was about 60 miles inland. Anyone from McClellanville and surrounding coastal areas where the hurricane actually made landfall will still get nauseous if you mention Hugo to this day, I bet.
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Commissioner [940]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:14 AM
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Mosquitoes. They were terrible in the days after the storm.
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CU Medallion [65416]
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Big white spotted variety that I had never seen around here
Sep 8, 2017, 8:21 AM
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before the storm.
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All-Conference [444]
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CU Guru [1097]
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Scout Team [191]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:20 AM
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I went to Coker in Hartsville when the storm hit. We were lucky to be playing Volleyball in Tennessee. The thing I remember most is the trees that had been around a long time were gone. It was definitely a scary moment for all my friends on campus. My parents in Lancaster were hit hard too. I couldn't get through to them on the phone. When we got back to school, they were sitting in my dorm room. I remember Dad saying well we got bored so we took a drive. (love that guy!).
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CU Medallion [60228]
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one of the craziest things I saw....
Sep 8, 2017, 8:33 AM
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was riding down the road in the National Forest above Charleston a couple weeks after.
On one side of the road ALL the trees were knocked over, all lying on top of each other the same way. Like a giant foot had just mashed them into the earth. On the other side of the road, ALL the trees were also knocked over, but lying in the OPPOSITE direction. The sheer power of the wind is really impossible to explain.
It was a horrible, but amazing experience. In a way, I'm glad to have gone through it. But I wouldn't EVER want to go through it again.
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110%er [7191]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:35 AM
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Although I was not living in Charleston at the time, my Dad rode the storm out.He ended
up with out power for a week or 10 days but had a portable generator.
His house suffered about 25 thousand dollars in damage, on the garage side of the house.But he also lived in a subdivision that was not near the harbor so he didn't have the water damage.
Downtown Charleston was spared a lot of major damage because of the nature of housing.A lot of the old homes in Charleston were built before pre fab housing was ever an idea, so they were built to withstand category 3 and 4 storms.Irma is a 5 right now, and if she struck Charleston straight on like Hugo, the damage would be far greater, especially on the beach areas; Folly, Isle of Palms, and Sullivan's Island which had a lot of damage from Hugo.
The biggest problem would be flooding in the low lying areas, especially if it hit at high tide like Hugo did.
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Orange Blooded [3821]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 9:06 AM
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The old buildings survived because they have metal rods running through them. Interestingly they were built in to withstand earthquakes, not hurricanes.
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Legend [17914]
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....uh, a druken rock band in a hotel room for a night???
Sep 8, 2017, 8:47 AM
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not an experience i recommend one seek out.
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Hall of Famer [20571]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:49 AM
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In Florence, it left quite the mess. We were without power for at least a week. I took some pictures at some hotels at I-95 and US 52.
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CU Guru [1593]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:58 AM
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I grew up in Florence and the next morning it looked like a war zone.
Especially seeing all those utility trucks coming in to town lined up down the streets.
It was hot as heck the next day , we were without power for only 1 day.
In some areas of Florence Matthew was way worse and I didn't have power for almost a week.
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CU Guru [1431]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:49 AM
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I was attending the Citadel in the Fall of 1989. I was not in Charleston during landfall. The school made us all bugout before it hit. I was taking Celestial Navigation in Naval ROTC that semester, and had to plot a course from Charleston to "somewhere in the Western Atlantic" as one of our assignments. We chose a spot in the leeward islands. When we found out about the storm, we tacked the map up on the wall and started tracking it with the hourly updates. We knew we were in trouble when the storm was tracking almost perfectly on our plot.
Coming back to Charleston several days after the storm was beyond belief. The storm basically followed me home up I-26 and I-77. As you passed Charlotte, to Columbia, to Orangeburg to Summerville and finally Charleston, the destruction got worse and worse. The size of the trees and structures that we completely destroyed got bigger and bigger. One of the most lasting sights were high tension power lines bent over double. Sadly many of the ancient live oak trees on the Citadel's campus were destroyed. It still has not recovered that beauty even today.
I was fortunate enough to be taking a couple of field Biology classes that semester. We went up to Francis Marion National Forest after the storm and out on the Barrier islands. After a while, one became numb to the destruction caused by the intensity of the wind. However, the destruction caused by the water was on a whole other level. I saw whole communities on the sound side of the storm picked up and moved in as far as the tree line. Windows on a few trailer homes were pushed open as the water flowed through the entire house.
I think the two worst parts for us were the water and the insects. When you take thousands of pitch and sap filled pine trees and drop them in the water supply, it gave the water a distinct color, odor and taste that I'll never forget. Kind of a iodine and hay filled barn sort of combination. And about 3 weeks after the storm, the mosquitoes were AWFUL. When there is that much standing water around and warm weather, the bugs are going to get buzy....
After I graduated I had the fortune of working for an agency in another state that dealt with the enforcement of Coastal Zone Management Act. As such, I got to see "ground zero" for several smaller hurricanes and other storms before regular civilians (I use that term generically as I am not current or former military). It truly gives you an appreciation for the power of wind and water. It's one reason that while I love the ocean, I'll never own property there.
Best of luck to everyone potentially impacted by the storm.
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CU Medallion [53773]
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50 mile an hour winds in Easley.***
Sep 8, 2017, 8:51 AM
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All-American [562]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 8:53 AM
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I lived in MB at the time and worked at an oceanfront hotel. The amount of damage there was terrible, but mainly along Ocean Blvd. Things were worse as you went South. Houses were in the street in Surfside. Pawleys Island was cut in two. There were boats from McLellanville along the roadside by Hwy 17.
The pine forests along 17 lost at least half the trees, snapped like matchsticks. My wife's grandparents lived in Charleston. When we finally got to visit, we had trouble finding their house because so many trees were down that the entire neighborhood looked different.
There was a ton of damage around Camden because there were tornadoes that went up the state and into Charlotte and points North. I think at the time, I heard they went as far as New York state.
Interesting note is that we came to Columbia to stay with in-laws. My power was back on in MB within 24 hours. My sister-in-law in West Columbia didn't get power back for a week.
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All-In [40344]
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I was 7, my sister was 9
Sep 8, 2017, 9:07 AM
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We got scared watching the weather and convinced my mom to leave early to Columbia to my grandparents house.
Woke up and Columbia was destroyed. It was scary.
Dad stayed back working at the Rutledge tower. He said the building swayed and everything on wheels rolled all around. The pressure and was so strong it took 4 men to close a window.
We were out of school for a month.
Houses across the street from each other had a pecan tree fall on one during the front half of the storm. The neighbors actually chilled during the eye. Then it fell across to the other house when the wind switched direction.
Luckily our house lost 3 shingles and had one tiny branch fall through the kitchen roof.
People joined together to help cleanup and ate like kings cleaning out freezers of fish and game meat so it wouldn't spoil.
The sense of community was cool.
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Orange Blooded [2332]
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Joined: 5/7/03
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 9:13 AM
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My wife and I experienced 105 mph sustained winds in downtown Camden overnight. We were getting ready for our wedding a week later! Had no electricity, but had phones. I could tell several good stories, but Camden neighborhoods looked like war zones from dozens of downed trees. Many wedding guests could not attend due to clean-up more than a week after the storm.
My oldest brother and his wife rode it out in downtown Charleston. Their home, c. 1759, sustained major damage and it took a full year for repairs to be fully finished. Anyone old enough to recall Hugo does not take hurricanes lightly.
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All-In [30814]
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Joined: 6/22/03
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Landed late night. Power went out early. The rest of
Sep 8, 2017, 10:49 AM
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The night all you could hear were trees cracking every where, sheds flying by, and wind.
Walked outside during the eye and our house was fine. Cars took a beating. Then the 2nd part hit After the eye, same stuff. Woke up the next morning and started pulling trees off the house and pulled up the carpet which was soaked from flooding. Luckily the flooding was just above the st e ps so the carpet sucket it all up. No standing water in the house. The backyard was underwater for a few days.
Fun fact.. Charleston got snow that same year. Ended up missing about 3 weeks of school total which we didn't have to make up.
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Orange Blooded [3654]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 11:56 AM
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It destroyed a hotel that my company had in the US Virgin Island but they still used it for shelter and because it had its own desalination plant we were able to give fresh water.
Virgin Islands has already been killed by Irma and Jose is on its way unfortunately horrible
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Standout [333]
TigerPulse: 95%
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 1:57 PM
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My parents house on inland waterway almost exploded! Dad left a few windows cracked, that is why it was still standing. One wall was pushed out several inches. Construction company had to pull back in place. Had to put supports
Under house. 3 weeks without power. Washed work clothes in tub. Humidity so high they would not dry. Went to work with damp clothes. Chain saws and generators still raise my blood pressure!
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MVP [541]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 2:34 PM
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I was a high school senior just north of Camden, hobbled by a broken ankle in football at the time. No fun hobbling around on crutches, trying to climb over downed trees to get out and survey the damage. My dad and older brothers had gone on a mission trip that week to Haiti. I remember my mom begging them not to go, fearing that they would get hit by Hugo. They were fine, it was us that got the storm. They arrived home safely the day after Hugo hit. I remember lying in the hallway with my mom and her dog. We had a brick home and were in an interior hallway with the doors all closed. But the wind was still so loud. You couldn't sleep - it was like someone screaming in your ear for 3 hours straight. The trees that fell that night damaged some of my dad's shops but not our house. I remember a tree fell through his boat shed but my mom's hanging plant was still hanging in the tree beside that one. So weird. Like another poster, I remember the skies being so blue the next day. And the smell of all of the fallen pine trees filled the air. We had no electricity for about 1.5 weeks. The first few days we lived high on the hog as our freezer thawed. We were eating steaks and pork chops on the grill! Then that ran out.....and the cans of Spam and Treet became the norm. Bleh! We were very blessed to make it through as well as we did. If you go through it, you dont want to see one ever again and wouldn't wish a hurricane on your worst enemy.
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CU Medallion [50787]
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It killed so many wild turkeys that
Sep 8, 2017, 3:24 PM
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there has been no Fall turkey since and DNR still won't consider it.
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110%er [5021]
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Posts: 8274
Joined: 12/9/12
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 3:29 PM
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It was bad in Charleston.
We had a huge pine tree fall through our ceiling and crash in through my Aunt's bathroom. We were all packed in the hallway with mattresses against the wall for protection. We went outside during the eye to see the damage and it was pretty nasty...I remembered it being eerily calm for about 30 minutes and the wind picking right back up....Definitely quite the experience that I will never forget...and the power was out for about a month or so....
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110%er [5021]
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Oh and...
Sep 8, 2017, 3:32 PM
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just a few months later we got the biggest snow in Charleston that we ever since I was alive....1989 was hell of a year...
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Commissioner [961]
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Posts: 1932
Joined: 11/30/98
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 3:54 PM
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I was in San Juan, PR when Hugo came through and it was a complete howling, white out. My apartment was on the 14th floor of ESJ Towers on Isla Verda beach. The wind was so strong that it blew in the complete, exterior solid glass wall. The entry door to the room bent into a c shape at hinges. When the wall blew in I was hunkered down in the bathroom but decided it was time to get out of the room. I had to put both feet on the wall to get enough leverage to pull the door open enough to jump into the hall. The wind immediately slamed the door behind me. I spent the rest of the storm at the elevator door area. Power and water was out for weeks. Bathed in the ocean, slept in a room with no exterior wall on the 14th floor. No elevator service for weeks. A lot of climbing steps. After the storm, I called family in Sumter SC to warn them how bad the storm was ( it was like a giant tornado). A few days later the eye of the storm passed over their house. A lot of damage in Sumter also.
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Orange Blooded [3391]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 4:19 PM
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Live 20 miles north of Charlotte. Winds gusted in excess of 65mph. Lost one cedar tree and three others survived. The extensive rain caused water to come in the bottom floor and wet the carpet for only about a foot from the edge of the walls. Power was out just over a day. Had to replace the roof. We were very fortunate.
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110%er [5279]
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Joined: 9/11/04
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 5:43 PM
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I grew up in Hartsville and was 9 when the storm came through. It was definitely a monster. My parents home had to have the roof replaced and one of the chimneys rebuilt. Several homes had it much worse of course. If you're familiar with the town it has many large oak trees in the downtown area. We lived not far from the center of town.
All during the storm we kept hearing what we thought were trains and thought someone must be insane moving a train through this storm. Well of course we found out in the morning it wasn't trains. It was tornados on the street behind us. It was lined with large oak trees down the center of the street and it seemingly sawed every other tree in half practically.
We didn't have power for about a week and we lived in town. Our street was closed off for a good 3-5 days due to a large oak tree that fell across it. I remember it well because all week we played in the street and in the fallen down trees. I'm sure that was really safe lol.
Pretty significant damage in a town that's two hours or so from the coast.
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110%er [5912]
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All-In [46565]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 7:17 PM
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I was a solphmore at Coastal Carolina and I worked as a lifeguard on the beach in Myrtle the 5 summers I was there before Clemson. I tried to get out of Myrtle Beach early the morning it came through but after 3 hours we made it 3 blocks off the beach towards 501 west....lol
We decided to go back home and go surfing. We surfed for about 4 hours but it would tak you 45 min - to a hour to get past the breakers. I got slammed into the reef on 24th Ave south and cut my back up. It was to dangerous and we should have never surfed in that mess.
We went home and showered and several of the people who lived next to our house a block off the beach decided to stay. I left at 7:30 pm on the night it was coming through just about at high tide at 1 am. The traffic was clear and the winds were blowing about 45-50 mph when I left headed back to Anderson, SC. All the shelters were opened and posted but several I went by were posted that no one was there to man it.(sad)
I was so glad I left, my house was flooded to about 3-4 feet up on the bottom floor and part of the roof was blown off.
It was almost a month before we got power and our house fixed enough to live there. The people that stayed had to be rescued because the storm surge took their house off the foundation and moved it 15 yards down. The neighbors house in front of mine toward the beach had a tree fall through his, all his roof was gone except for where the tree was. They completely rebuilt his but smaller because he had less insurance than house. They all wished they left, I've never been so happy I didn't go through the whole storm.
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110%er [6098]
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Went to Maryland game the Saturday after Hugo
Sep 8, 2017, 8:26 PM
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I was a student. Amazed they still played the game
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Starter [353]
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1963 Georgia game in DV was bad according to the old timers****
Sep 8, 2017, 9:00 PM
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All-Conference [416]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 9:17 PM
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I was just a kid during Hugo but I remember the aftermath going to myrtle beach the following summer, was so sad to see places my family went for a couple weeks during the summer just gone. Very surreal.
Closest thing to a hurricane Ive ever been in was this...
https://youtu.be/7CDuMSP6Gws
I was working that day and it was one of the scariest scenarios in my life. FYI, no one was hurt or injured, and the storm escalated so fast that within 10 minutes the wind had increased to 110 mph. The last two people in the video were the final chair needed to be unloaded and both employees. 110 mph wind is no joke, I cannot even fathom 175 and what some of the Caribbean islands have seen the past few days.
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Oculus Spirit [93667]
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Heck of a BJ,***
Sep 8, 2017, 9:27 PM
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Walk-On [115]
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Re: What was hurricane hugo like?
Sep 8, 2017, 9:59 PM
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I have lived in Hartsville my whole life and was 9 when Hugo came through. It was rough here. When I went outside the next morning, it was like a pine tree bomb went off!
Any family still in Hartsville?
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Orange Blooded [3194]
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Joined: 11/21/11
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Yes i do
Sep 8, 2017, 11:41 PM
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If you know anyone by the last name of Lee or Britt then there most likely related to me. My grandfather actually built a 4 bedroom apartment on Jones circle off of hwy 151 in the house that actually went through hugo. He still owns the house to this day so if you ever need an apartment to live in tmail me
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