Charlotte, NC

With the 2007 hurricane season in full swing, it evokes memories of a time not-so-long-ago:

Throughout Thursday, September 21, 1989, the local world was watching for weather reports about the category-5 Hurricane Hugo which had viciously swept through the south Atlantic and was heading straight for us. Later that night, after putting my young sons to bed, gathering candles and putting batteries in a portable radio , I fell asleep on the living-room couch.
Around five in the morning, I was awakening from a dream that had me in front of a large, roaring stadium crowd. It was then that it struck me: the roaring wasn’t from a dream; it was from the wind hitting my front door and windows! The hurricane had hit Charlotte.

A few minutes later, Morrow Avenue’s transformer blew and our power went off. I immediately lit one of the candles and huddled with my youngest son (who had been awakened by the wind; my oldest stayed in bed to “be safe”) around the radio. The reports were scary, but the WSOC Radio news team was handling them in a calm and empathetic manner.

At around 10 AM — after the storm passed — we slowly emerged from the house. Tree limbs and brush obliterated the street, our chimney was partly destroyed, and a pear tree in the back yard kept a white oak from crashing down on the house. In the front, though — the house faced west — our porch chairs hadn’t moved an inch! The storm was forging a straight path without doubling back. Later it was determined that, if it had, much of Pineville would have been seriously damaged!

After assessing the wrath of nature, the town-wide cleanup began. The town had already planned to replace its transformers and had them ready to install, so workers began the job later in the day. Almost within hours, we had power back on — including at gas stations, convenience and grocery stores. When that news broke, folks from a fifty-mile radius came to our little town for their needs.

Back at my job at nearby Home Quarters Warehouse — now sitting in about two feet of water — the boarded windows remained intact, but, in time, we discovered there was roughly a million dollars’ worth of inventory damage. Among the employees sloshing through the water to inspect the building, there was a Fort Mill lady who had a job interview lined up for that morning; and, though both Highways 51 and 521 into Pineville were considered impassible, she’d dodged the fallen limbs, brush and trees and made it in time for the scheduled appointment. The manager, totally floored by her determination, hired her on the spot! No interview; just “come in when we re-open.” This charming Southern lady stayed with the company until the store closed six years later.

But the most amazing story borne from the hurricane actually came out of Harrisburg, just north of Charlotte. On Thursday, a man had taken his children to Carowinds (see previous article), which was south of the Queen City. In the back of his pickup truck was a very pregnant mama cat. He covered her with a small blanket and told the kids she’d be all right until they returned. After a day of enjoying themselves, they returned — to find only newborn kittens! The mama cat couldn’t be found anywhere.
So, after a futile search, he loaded up the kids and kittens and drove back to Harrisburg. Overnight and through the force of the next morning’s hurricane, they bottle-fed the babies and kept them warm and dry. Obviously, they were orphans and needed their help.
When the storm had passed they, like so many others, went out to cut trees, repair roofs and clear brush. This continued into Saturday, when, out of one of the bushes …

staggered the mama cat! She was wet and bloody, worn and shivering, but she came all the way through the worst of the storm to be with her babies! The story hit the newswire, was reported on local TV channels, and brought tears of joy to thousands of weary residents.

And so it was … a day that lived in local infamy, yet brought about a closeness as friend helped friend, neighbor assisted neighbor, and, through the determination of both a Fort Mill superstar and an amazing mama cat, a message of hope, devotion and love.