Hurricane makes landfall today
| • | For the latest on Hurricane Isabel's strength and course, visit nhc.noaa.gov. |
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NAGS HEAD, N.C. — The edges of Hurricane Isabel lashed at the North Carolina coast last night, unleashing torrents of rain and towering waves that will pummel the region today.
Associated Press
Several inches of water flooded some streets yesterday in Craven County in the central part of the North Carolina coast. On the Outer Banks, the ocean crept onto state Route 12 as road crews braced for flooding.
As Hurricane Isabel approached the North Carolina coast yesterday, towering waves at Atlantic Beach forced a surfer to rethink his decision. Forecasters predict Isabel will strike land today, bringing high winds and storm surges.
Forecasters warn Isabel will strike land at midday Eastern time today — slamming the coast with as much as 105-mph winds, 11-foot storm surges and 10 inches of rain — before marching northwest. Landfall was expected around North Carolina's Ocracoke Inlet. The storm's path of destruction could touch 50 million people nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 300,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia were urged to move to higher ground.
Isabel had slackened from its peak strength. But safety officials said it remained a powerful Category 2 hurricane.
Even 350 miles from landfall, Isabel dashed plans and altered routines. The federal government closed up shop, transportation routes dwindled and schools closed by the hundreds — forcing thousands to wait nervously for the first hint of rain and keening winds.
The Virginia Beach police chief issued a blunt warning yesterday to beach-dwelling die-hards. "We are asking citizens who choose to stay in the mandatory evacuation area that, when contacted by a police officer, they will need to provide next of kin," Chief Alfred "Jake" Jacocks said. "We'll ask them to use a permanent Magic Marker to write their names on their forearms so we can identify them."
Across the Norfolk area, public safety officials said emergency vehicles and personnel would be taken off the streets when the winds rise past 58 mph — an arc of vulnerability that could last as long as nine hours.
By dusk yesterday, darkened clouds hung over Virginia Beach. Winds raked the sandy beach, sweeping a fine grit into the faces of those still outside. Safe inside a city rescue cruiser, diver Bob Zogg, 53, eyed the pounding surf. "If we get the 9-foot storm surges they're predicting, it'll be up over the boardwalk here."
Out beyond a rickety pier, a lone surfer struggled in the churning waves.
In North Carolina, 76 shelters opened in at least 36 counties. Officials activated an English- and Spanish-language emergency hot line. Federal and state damage assessment teams stood ready to tally the damage to speed a request for federal cleanup aid.
NOAA via Associated Press
While some residents' fears subsided as Isabel's winds slowed from a peak of 160 mph over the weekend, other coastal veterans — who have survived hurricanes Floyd, Fran and Bertha — said they have never seen such a direct hit looming.
Isabel, seen in this satellite image taken yesterday, remains a Category 2 hurricane heading for the East Coast.
"This hurricane, if it comes in with the strength, intensity and duration that it's at right now, it's a storm we haven't seen here on the Outer Banks in probably 70 years," said Nags Head Police Chief Charlie Cameron.
For the few who chose to remain in Nags Head, police Sgt. Kevin Brinkley warned that officers would not come to the rescue and asked for a next-of-kin contact. As Brinkley made his rounds, he could see the raging ocean over the low dunes.
"You think we're gonna be OK, Kevin?" Nancy Seitz asked the officer after his final caution.
"I hope so," he said.
"I hope you don't come back out here and find us in body bags," she said.
Coast residents continued to hammer plywood to their homes, hoping to block the howling winds and horizontal rain. Restaurants and gas stations that had stayed open decided to close.
Steven Evans, co-owner of the only two pharmacies on Hatteras Island, boarded up and planned to weather the storm at his house near the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. In 1993, Hurricane Emily, the last storm to seriously affect the Outer Banks, left several feet of water in his Hatteras store. It looked like the bottom of a washing machine, he said, and he expects to fare even worse this time.
"I talked to people who were born and raised there and have never left for a storm before," he said. "They're gone now."
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 will be suspended today as a precaution.
Metro chief executive Richard White said officials did not want to "risk having customers get blown in front of trains or onto the electrified tracks." White said they also were concerned about people at bus stops being blown in front of vehicles or being hit by flying objects.
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.
For many in Isabel's path, an area stretching from the Carolinas to the fields of Pennsylvania and the hollows of West Virginia, one of the rainiest summers in years could get considerably worse.
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. He also ordered highway crews and National Guardsmen to areas most in danger from Isabel. Up to 12 inches 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 inches 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, he worried that the ground would be unable to absorb any of Isabel's rain.
