Powerful category four Hurricane Hugo began lashing the South Carolina coast. The storm made landfall just north of Charleston around midnight the following morning. With 140 mph sustained winds, the storm produced significant wind and storm surge damage along the coast and caused roughly $7 billion in damage

This weekend marks 35 years since Hurricane Hugo battered the South Carolina coast in 1989.In September 1989, Hugo formed from a cluster of storms off the coast of Cape Verde in Africa. Hugo became a tropical depression and grew into Tropical Storm Hugo as it moved west across the Atlantic Ocean.

At the time, it had been more than 30 years since the destruction from Hurricane Hazel, and now came a new monster to the Carolinas. What later would become Hurricane Hugo first originated as a tropical wave off the coast on Sept.

After Hurricane Hugo blew through Charlotte, thousands of downed trees covered homes and roadways, 85 percent of households were out of power and much of the city was inaccessible.