Hurricane Hugo brought major devastation to the Caribbean during the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season.
Preparations Barbados served as a staging area for disaster response in the Caribbean due to its strategic position in the region and distance away from Hugo's forecast impacts. Several relief agencies had convened in Barbados earlier in 1989 to coordinate hurricane response plans. These agencies were mobilised ahead of Hugo's arrival in the Lesser Antilles. They were joined by additional teams from the United States Agency for International Development and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Additional relief teams from the OFDA, Pan American Health Organization, Red Cross, and United Nations Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator were pre-positioned in Antigua to survey the damage and prioritise aid in Hugo's aftermath.p. 1 pp. 2-8 pp. 9-13 pp. 14-20 Civil defence officials in Dominica and Guadeloupe prepared shelters to house evacuees. Non-critical patients at Princess Margaret Hospital in Roseau, Dominica were sent home beginning on 15 September to free space for possible hurricane victims. The government of Dominica urged its citizens to take emergency precautions. The Dominican Ministry of Public Works prepositioned earthmoving equipment around Dominica to clear landslide debris. A curfew in Guadeloupe mandating that streets be clear of pedestrians and vehicles came into effect at 6 p.m. AST on 17 September. Leading up to the curfew, residents rushed hardware stores and supermarkets to stock up on supplies. Many on the Atlantic-facing side of Guadeloupe evacuated farther inland. Cable television played a significant role in keeping residents of Martinique updated on the hurricane's approach. Though no formal evacuation order was enacted for Martinique, the prefect of Martinique recommended the evacuation of the low-lying Kinsale area on 16 September. Twenty-four evacuation shelters were opened throughout the island. Disaster preparedness plans were set into motion by Martinique's government ministries, dispatching crews to board windows and secure buildings. Air France cancelled its three Martinique-bound flights from Paris scheduled for 18 September; flights to the Lesser Antilles were largely cancelled by the afternoon of 16 September. Most buildings in Antigua were shuttered by noon on 17 September and all local ships were brought to their moorings. V. C. Bird International Airport closed and the island's electric grid was turned off.
Across both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, 217 shelters were opened; over 161,000 people sought refuge in these shelters. Although warnings from the NHC afforded ample time for preparations, shelters were required to be provisioned longer than in typical hurricanes. Some of these shelters took heavy damage during Hugo, and one required evacuation by civil defence authorities after its windows gave way to the wind. Shelters in Saint Croix housed 1,000 evacuees. Operations at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas were suspended on the afternoon of 17 September. Banks, courts, government offices, and schools were also closed throughout the region. Evacuations in Puerto Rico began at dawn on 17 September and were completed in eight hours. Most of the 166 shelters opened in Puerto Rico were public schools. More than 2,000 troops from the United States National Guard were mobilised in Puerto Rico; in San Juan, National Guardsmen and volunteers drove around the city issuing emergency instructions over loudspeakers.
At least 30,000 people evacuated in Puerto Rico, making it one of the largest evacuations in the territory's history; government and media representatives described the evacuation as "the best coordinated weather event they could recall." Three thousand people evacuated from southeastern Puerto Rico and five thousand evacuated from San Juan neighbourhoods. However, many were initially reluctant to leave. La Perla was evacuated for the first time in living memory. Hundreds of evacuees were brought to a stadium in Mayagüez. The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport terminated all scheduled flights at 6 p.m. AST on 17 September. All international airlines evacuated their aircraft from Puerto Rico, though one Airbus A300 owned by American Airlines was left behind for emergency use. Tourists left en masse on departing flights before the airport terminated operations. Cruise ships with San Juan as their port of call were rerouted elsewhere. One person was killed in Utuado, Puerto Rico, after being electrocuted by a power line while preparing for the storm.p. A1 p. A5 On 18 September, Puerto Rican Governor Rafael Hernández Colón ordered a shutdown of the island's electric grid to mitigate damage. A state of emergency was declared in the Dominican Republic on 18 September.p. 1A p. 4A Four international airports were closed that day and businesses began to fortify against Hugo's effects. Civil defence officials aided preparations in Puerto Plata and evacuated a beach there. A Boeing 727 charter evacuated 135 vacationers from the city.p. A-1 p. A-4
Buildings were boarded up in Nassau, Bahamas, and classes were cancelled at The College of The Bahamas on 18 September.
Impact
Hugo was the strongest storm to traverse the northeastern Caribbean since Hurricane David in 1979. The Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model estimated that storm surge from Hugo led to coastal water levels above normal tidal heights along Saint Croix and the eastern end of Puerto Rico. These equated to storm surge heights of around . Water levels of above normal were estimated to have occurred along the northern coast of Puerto Rico. Rainfall on the Caribbean islands averaged between . The NHC's preliminary report on the hurricane enumerated 28 fatalities in the eastern Caribbean while media reports tallied over 30. As many as 100,000 people may have been left homeless throughout the region as a result of Hugo.
Guadeloupe and Montserrat were hardest-hit among the Leeward Islands, and collectively suffered over $1 billion in damage and recorded 21 fatalities. Though less severe, widespread damage was also inflicted by Hugo across the remainder of the Leeward and Windward Islands. Extensive flooding occurred on Antigua, and power outages befell the island after utility poles were uprooted by the storm. The damage was heaviest towards the southern portions of the island as the center of Hugo passed south. There were two deaths and 181 injuries. Another 509 people were left homeless following damage wrought to 15 percent of homes. Partial damage was documented on 1,500 homes and total loss was documented on 106. Thirty per cent of fishing vessels were also damaged by the hurricane, equating to thousands of boats. The total cost of damage reached nearly EC$200 million. Hugo's damage toll in Saint Kitts and Nevis amounted to $46 million, largely sustained by shoreline structures and crops. This equated to 32 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Homes, government buildings, and trees were damaged by the storm. A fifth of the country was rendered homeless and the entire populace lost power and water. Ninety per cent of the residents of Nevis lost their homes. One person was killed after a wall collapsed upon him.
Dominica was most affected among the Windward Islands. Hugo ruined 80 percent of the island's banana crop and interrupted water supplies. Coastal roads were damaged by the hurricane's choppy seas; a washout along a primary thoroughfare isolated the village of Dubique. Bridges and storm drains also took heavy damage. Landslides isolated towns for many days. The damage toll in Dominica totalled $20 million. Winds in Martinique reached on the Caravelle peninsula. Some banana plantations near Macouba were damaged, though wind-related damage in Martinique was otherwise minimal. Moderate rains, peaking at in La Médaille, led to some mudslides. Rough seas flooded parts of Fort-de-France and damaged piers along the Alfassa Boulevard. Beach erosion also occurred along Martinique beaches.
The hurricane moved near the Virgin Islands and made two landfalls in Puerto Rico as it egressed the Caribbean, causing considerable destruction. Estimates of the damage toll in this region vary but include over $50 million each for the British Virgin Islands and Netherlands Antilles, $2 billion for Puerto Rico, and $500 million for Saint Croix. Hugo's center was southwest of Sint Maarten at its closest approach; a station there reported a maximum sustained wind and a peak gust of . These winds unroofed homes and uprooted trees and power lines. Roughly 25 sailboats sustained severe damage and one boat with four people went missing. Sint Eustatius and Saba of the Netherlands Antilles lost much of their vegetation. Many homes, piers, and public buildings suffered severe damage on the two islands. Eleven people were killed in the Netherlands Antilles and caused $50 million in damage there. The damage toll in the British Virgin Islands exceeded $50 million, with the loss of at least half of the islands' agriculture. Around 30 percent of homes were unroofed. Power outages affected the British Virgin Islands. The Associated Press reported "numerous injuries" and "scores of homes destroyed" on Tortola, the largest island in the BVI. A third of the island's private homes were wrecked. The hurricane also caused widespread power outages in the Dominican Republic while tracking northwest towards the continental United States.
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe sustained the heaviest impacts among the Leeward Islands from Hugo. The hurricane made landfall on the island at 05:00 UTC on 17 September (01:00 a.m. AST) as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds at . This made Hugo the strongest hurricane to strike Guadeloupe since a hurricane each in 1899 and 1928. A minimum air pressure of 941.1 mbar (hPa; 27.79 inHg) was recorded at La Désirade and 943 mbar in Raizet, with a 97-mile-per-hour (156 km/h) wind gust documented in the last weather observation transmitted from Pointe-à-Pitre. A ship in the wharf at Pointe-à-Pitre estimated a gust of . Though unmeasured, French meteorological service Météo-France estimates that wind gusts may have reached . The effects of Hugo lasted for about 12 hours in Guadeloupe, with the strongest winds occurring within a 3-hour window. Rainfall totals ranged from along the southern part of Guadeloupe to in more mountainous areas. Hourly rainfall rates averaged roughly per hour in the core of the hurricane. A station in Gardel documented of rain in one hour. Along Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin, storm surge from Hugo elevated the seas from above mean sea level.