On the night of August 27, 1893, a huge tropical cyclone, the largest and most powerful storm to hit South Carolina until Hurricane Hugo in 1989, made landfall just east of Savannah, Georgia. With gusts as high as 120 miles per hour and a storm surge as high as 12 feet, the worst of the storm struck the Sea Islands near Beaufort, and Saint Helena, Hilton Head, Daufuskie, Parris, and smaller islands were devastated. The storm killed more than 2,000 and left more than 70,000 destitute in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Losses in lives and property were most catastrophic among blacks who were former slaves or their descendants. Clara Barton and the American Red Cross launched a massive relief effort, the first after a hurricane in U.S. history, and donations in 1893-94 fed, clothed, and sheltered thousands.