ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Lede
Roanoke Valley residents can expect to see the sun today and disaster workers breathed huge sighs of relief as Western Virginia largely dodged its greatest storm threat since the flood of 1985.
Soggy basements, fallen trees, downed power lines, flooded streets and injured apple crops constituted the majority of damage caused by Tropical Storm - formerly Hurricane - Fran in the Roanoke area and Western Virginia.
But the threat of flooding continued late Friday night and early today, as rising water moved down the South Branch of the Roanoke River and into parts of Salem and Roanoke.
Roanoke city officials had expected the Roanoke River to crest at 18 feet near the Walnut Street Bridge downtown - 8 feet above flood stage.
That would have been a "very serious" level that could have forced major roadway closings and caused considerable damage to structures near the river, officials said.
"This new forecast is serious for those homes and businesses along the Roanoke River," city spokeswoman Michelle Bono said. "At 18 feet, we know to expect flooding in numerous areas."
INSERT HERE ANY MAJOR DAMAGE FROM CREST, OR, AS AN ALTERNATE, THE FORECAST FOR SATURDAY. or, how about 2 deaths in state? wayne
At 7:45 p.m., however, the National Weather Service changed its prediction, telling the city that the river might crest as early as 9:15 p.m., but closer to 14 feet than 18 feet.
But at 11:45 p.m., the water level had only reached 13 feet 8 inches, and by 12:30 a.m., it had apparently crested, dropping 4 inches.
The storm could have been far worse. For the Roanoke region, the lucky call came around midafternoon Thursday, when Fran suddenly took an eastward turn and headed toward Charlottesville. Until then, it had been bearing down directly on Salem, said Jerry Stenger, research coordinator for the state climatology office.
"This meant that Roanoke would not be placed within the strongest part of the storm, the northeast quadrant, where the winds and moisture are most intense," Stenger said.
After passing just east of Charlottesville, Fran took a westward turn over the mountains, coming to within 30 miles of Hot Springs, before heading north again, Stenger said.
The heaviest rainfall in Virginia was recorded at Toms Branch on the border of Augusta and Nelson counties, where 13.3 inches fell, Stenger said.
By contrast, the storm dumped lesser amounts of rain over the Roanoke region, ranging from a low of 2.37 inches at Roanoke Regional Airport to just over 9 inches on Poor Mountain at the border of Roanoke and Floyd counties, said Donato Cacciapaglia, a National Weather Service forecaster.
Just under 3.7 inches of rain fell on Mill Mountain near downtown Roanoke. In Blacksburg, the National Weather Service recorded 1.41 inches of rain, while in Danville and Lynchburg, slightly more than 6 inches fell.
Although more rain fell in Roanoke County than many other parts of the region, damage was relatively light. Officials said flood-related calls abated around noon, when the rains ended.
"We have been very quiet," said Tommy Fuqua, emergency services coordinator. "We haven't even taken a problem basement-pumping call since 12 noon." No problems are expected today, he added.
The James River at Buchanan was expected to crest below flood level, Capt. Gary Guilliams of the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office said. That eased the minds of folk in that often waterlogged town.
The Arcadia area didn't have it so lucky, though, according to Guilliams. Water off the hills flooded some houses.
Up the road in Buena Vista, the Maury River was expected to crest at 17 feet, right at flood stage and well behind the city's nearly complete floodwall.
Only three people showed up at a valleywide emergency shelter the Red Cross opened at the Salem Civic Center on Thursday night. That shelter - along with others in Western Virginia - was to remain open Friday night for residents forced out by rising river waters, Red Cross spokeswoman Carol Brown said.
Although the brunt of the storm missed the Roanoke Valley, there were still plenty of casualties.
One was the Market Square Walkway downtown, where high winds blew out a 5-by-8-foot pane of glass atop the Shenandoah Avenue elevator.
Water flooded the elevator shaft, and workers patched the $7 million bridge with plywood and duct tape. At another leak near the First Union Tower parking garage, sheet plastic and duct tape hung from the pedestrian bridge's ceiling.
One of the more dicey spots in the valley was the Roanoke Valley SPCA shelter on 13th Street at Eastern Avenue. There, workers muttered about City Council's recent decision against a rezoning that would allow the agency to moved from its flood-prone headquarters.
By 11:30 a.m., rising water from Tinker Creek was covering the shelter's parking lot, and SPCA officials decided to get out, along with 40 animals contained in an outdoor pound. About 200 others had been evacuated Thursday night to the homes of volunteer "foster parents."
The pound animals were loaded into doggy paddy wagons and taken to a veterinary hospital in Vinton and a Southwest Roanoke kennel.
Water was still covering some roads long after the rain ended.
Late Friday afternoon, floodwaters blocked the eastbound lanes of U.S. 11/460 near Elliston Elementary School in Montgomery County. Several secondary roads were also blocked in the Shawsville and Elliston areas and near the Floyd County line.
Also closed were Virginia 43 near Leesville Lake in Bedford County, the northbound lanes of U.S. 220 near Virginia 807, and all of U.S. 220 Business in Martinsville.
Some roads may remain blocked today for safety reasons even though the water has cleared away, said Laura Bullock, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
High winds and heavy rains forced flight cancellations at Roanoke Regional Airport from 6 to 10 a.m. Even then, departing and arriving flights were sporadic, said Mark Courtney, an airport spokesman.
"It will probably be completely back to normal by Saturday morning," Courtney said.
The storm also caused havoc for area power companies. Despite calling in hundreds of additional crews, power companies said it could be all weekend before everybody gets electricity restored.
At one point Friday morning, American Electric Power Co. had roughly 60,000 customers without power because of the storm. That number had been reduced to about 33,000 by 4 p.m. Friday, AEP spokesman Don Johnson said.
The majority of those were in the Martinsville, Danville and Lynchburg areas, Johnson said. It will probably take most of the weekend to get power back on to everybody, Johnson said.
Some residents in the Deyerle area, in northern Roanoke County near Hollins College, and in western Roanoke County near the Craig County border reported no power as of 6 p.m.
Virginia Power had 415,000 customers without electricity Friday morning, including some in the Alleghany Highlands and the Shenandoah Valley.
The biggest problem created by the storm for Norfolk Southern Corp. occurred 20 miles north of Danville where water washed out a 30-foot section of the company's main line between New Orleans and Washington, D.C. A spokesman said the company expected to have the track back in service by 9 a.m. today.
Also hit hard were some Roanoke-area apple growers, who watched as apples were blown off many of their trees. Other trees were knocked down entirely.
"The wind was terrible; it broke up a lot of trees," said Glenn Reed, a grower on Bent Mountain in Roanoke County.
The wind damage in Botetourt was similar to that on Bent Mountain, although apple growers there have already started picking their crop because it comes in sooner.
One industry that's booming from the storm is tool rentals. Just about every rental store in the valley has run out of generators, dehumidifiers, carpet driers, floor fans and pumps of all kinds.
"We don't stock a whole lot, because until something like this happens, it just sits there," said Chris McCarty, manager of Grand Rental Station in Vinton. "But everything I've got is out."
Staff writers Matt Chittum, Megan Schnabel, Jon Cawley, Leslie Taylor, Christina Nuckols and Greg Edwards contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Barbara and Paul Arnold,by CNBresidents of Ramey's Mobile Home Park, take shelter at the Salem
Civic Center on Friday. color. Graphics: Map by staff. color. Charts
by staff. 1. What's on, what's not. 2. Hurricane Fran. color. KEYWORDS: MGR (2)