Hurricane Isabel closes in on North Carolina
By Allen G. Breed
Associated Press
ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. — The North Carolina coast braced for a weakened but still potent Hurricane Isabel while already rain-soaked areas as far away as Pennsylvania prepared for possibly ruinous flooding.
The Category 2 storm was expected to slam into the Outer Banks early tomorrow with 105 mph winds and storm surges of up to 11 feet. But forecasters were worried that, as with Floyd in 1999, the worst damage would come from flooding far inland.
Most of the barrier islands were nearly empty by late today when the first squalls from Isabel buffeted the coast. More than 300,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia were urged to move to higher ground. Even seasoned storm veterans succumbed to the five days of warnings that started when Isabel was a Category 5 leviathan with 160 mph winds.
But a few thousand hardy — or foolhardy — souls ignored mandatory evacuation orders and remained to see if Isabel would shatter North Carolina's "Crystal Coast."
"I'm a Vietnam veteran," said attorney Wally Courie, who was toughing it out in his home just off Sportsman's Pier in Atlantic Beach. "I've got PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). It's called a flattening effect. I've been through so much ... hardly anything gets to me anymore."
A hurricane warning was in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina to the Virginia-Maryland line, and tropical storm warnings extended from South Carolina to New Jersey.
At 2 a.m. EDT, Isabel was about 205 miles southeast of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, moving northwest at around 13 mph. It was expected to strengthen slightly as it approached the coast and could spawn isolated tornadoes in eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Forecasters said Isabel's remnants could hit Quebec by Saturday.
AccuWeather Inc. said today that the storm's northwest track, hitting North Carolina's angled coastline with a direct punch, will have the effect of pushing water toward the mainland, producing 12-foot storm surges and waves up to 40 feet high off the Virginia capes.
"This is probably going to ram right into the coast head-on," said Kerry Schwindenhammer, a meteorologist with the State College, Pa.-based forecasting firm. "It's not a case of a glancing blow."
In the nation's capital, federal and district offices were ordered closed, and Congress canceled votes so members could return home. Bus and subway service there was to be suspended tomorrow morning as a precaution.
The Air Force moved one of the jumbo 747s known as Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., to Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga., said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan. A 757 sometimes used by the president was also flown to Georgia as a precaution, she said.
Isabel's path covers an area from the Carolinas to the fields of Pennsylvania and the hollows of West Virginia — one that has witnessed one of the rainiest summers in years. More than 9 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Pennsylvania, and National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield said heavy rain could extend all the way to New England.
Gov. Bob Wise declared a state of emergency for all of West Virginia, anticipating heavy flooding in the Potomac River basin. Up to a foot of rain was possible in Morgan County.
Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner also declared a state of emergency, saying she was particularly concerned about northern communities that flooded Monday. About 8,000 people, mostly coastal residents, were ordered to leave.
Pennsylvania officials said the ground is so sodden that it would take as little as 2 to 4 inches of rain to cause rivers and creeks to spill their banks.
John and Rita Razze's home in Chadds Ford, Pa., was flooded with several inches of water when rain earlier this week caused the nearby Brandywine River to overflow. Now, with everything pumped out and cleaned up, John Razze worried that the ground would be unable to absorb any of Isabel's rain.
"Usually we stay here and wait it out," said Razze, who left work early Wednesday to move his heater and anything else he could carry to the second floor. "This time, we're going to get the heck out of here."
At historic Jamestown, Va., archaeologists blanketed a dig of the first permanent English settlement in America with a tarp and anchored it with sandbags. More than 500,000 artifacts from Jamestown Island are stored in a storm-proof vault.
In Kill Devil Hills, N.C., museum curators prepared to move artifacts and photographs collected for the centennial celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight.
In the middle of Chesapeake Bay, most of the 295 residents of Maryland's Smith Island packed up and left for the mainland, but 50 to 60 stayed behind.
"I've been here 65 years. I've never left for one yet," waterman Eddie Evans, 65, said as he sat on his dock after tying down his crab pots. "I was here for Hazel when the eye came right over the island."
