Word: hugo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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What happens to a land beloved for its beauty when the beauty is ripped away? The northeastern islands of the Caribbean, ringed by sugary beaches, plush with unlikely flowers, inspiring rummy tropical dreams, have become the American paradise. Even the license plates say so. Two months ago, when Hurricane Hugo mowed across the islands from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico, it turned a landscape that was achingly lovely into one that was painfully bleak. In the case of St. Croix, where a large bomb could scarcely have done more damage, the looting and disorder that followed were as terrifying...
...repairing the physical destruction is only the beginning; next comes the damage control. Dec. 15 marks the start of the high tourist season, and if tourists do not come back, neither will the islands. More than 10 million visitors came last year, leaving behind $7.3 billion. After Hugo, cancellations poured in, even for destinations not touched by the storm. "Part of our problem is fighting people's terrible knowledge of geography," says John Bell, executive vice president of the Caribbean Hotel Association. "There were groups dropping out of trips to Aruba and Barbados, which were hundreds of miles from Hugo...
Searching through the debris for blessings in disguise, hotel owners note that the disaster could have happened in high season rather than before it. In addition, the tragedy may help inspire local governments to repair the infrastructure properly, and then some. "Hugo has done for St. Thomas what nothing else could," says Hotel Association president Nick Pourzal. "Now they are planting, landscaping, spending the money to line the boulevards with bougainvillea. I've been trying to get this done for 15 years...
...with plans for a $140 million hotel on St. Croix scheduled to open in late 1992. Great Pond Bay Resorts just won approval for a $250 million project with 350 hotel rooms and 600 condos. If the islands all do struggle back, it may be because in the end Hugo could not destroy what most people come to the Caribbean to find. It could not make the sea less bright or the sun less clear, or bestir the starfish or break the spirits of the islands' hosts. The present flurry of activity may be at odds with the placid island...
When Hurricane Hugo ravaged America's paradise from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico, the tourism industry shuddered to a halt. After two months of eager, endless work, most islands have recovered, but devastated St. Croix is still struggling to rebuild its ruins -- and its image...