
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993                   TAG: 9309020277
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DENISE WATSON LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

AT VA. BEACH, VACATIONERS WOULDN'T QUIT WITHOUT A FIGHT

Neither bright red "Danger - No Swimming" flags waving briskly in Emily's wake nor the disappearance of a Chesapeake teen-ager in a powerful undertow kept hundreds of people Wednesday from playing in the Virginia Beach surf.

"We said Emily was just going to have a fight on her hands," said Salima Jones, 19, wet and dripping after a dip in the water.

"We drove all the way down from Philly and we weren't going back without coming to the beach."

Jones and a girlfriend arrived in Virginia Beach on Monday, undeterred by the area's frantic hurricane warnings and preparations.

"We figured it would hit here by Wednesday and it would be OK, and it is. The current is kind of rough but the weather is beautiful."

Hurricane Emily skirted the city but left its mark. There were no reports of structural damage or severe erosion along the resort strip but accompanying high waves and rip currents proved dangerous for swimmers.

Some took their chances. Some didn't.

"No. I'll just stand back and be a watcher today," said Brian Taylor, 35, of Virginia Beach. Any other day he would have peeled off his shoes and T-shirt and hit the waves.

Wednesday, he sat on the sand with his feet firmly planted in worn Topsiders, his shirt tucked tightly in his waistband.

"That undertow is a killer. If these folks want to risk it, that's fine. I'll wait a few more days."

According to the beach patrol, his wait might not be that long.

Lifeguards said the signs should be down today as the waves and riptides start to diminish.

But in the meantime, they were busy. Every three or four minutes lifeguard whistles pierced the air as waders ventured too far.

"As long as they stay in the knee-to-waist area they're all right," said one 22-year-old lifeguard, jumping up as a couple of kids almost crossed that line.

"When they go farther than waist [deep], they'll start swimming, and they can't do that now."

Even if swimmers get the go sign in the next couple of days, Emily has taken its toll on the usually busy last week of summer.

Lifeguards reported that the sparse crowd on Wednesday is usually five or six times thicker. Some hotels, like the Princess Anne Inn, saw mass exodus Tuesday night as the storm came nearer.

Atlantic Avenue, except for one or two window-shoppers, was bare.

by CNB