THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310487
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUXTON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Today, at Cape Hatteras School, there's little visual evidence of the horror that struck a year ago, save a yellow Post-It note marking a 16-inch flood line on Principal Joyce Bornfriend's desk.
But a one-word memory still lives in the minds and hearts of Holly MacKenzie, Ami Tandy, Jade Austin, Jeremy Stafford and their classmates.
Emily.
``I can remember talking to my Mom on the phone and hearing windows busting out in the background. Then after two more phone calls, the phones went dead. It was a scary feeling,'' MacKenzie, 17, recalled Monday.
All of the floor wax and elbow grease which has resurrected the school cannot erase those fears, of which young and old on Hatteras Island are reminded every day.
``We're still living with my grandmother,'' said Stafford, 17. ``I can't play my music as loud as I'd like, but it's OK. At least my family's together.''
Like Stafford, many students are still trying to piece their lives together. One end of Ami Tandy's house is still under repair. Winds ripped out the windows in Holly MacKenzie's house. And four feet of water swept through Jade Austin's house. ``I can still remember the water rising so fast,'' Austin, 16, recalled.
With the help of government and private loans, homes are being rebuilt. But the students and their families are dealing with the pain of being unable to replace the irreplaceable.
``I've found some letters,'' said Tandy, 17. ``But we lost almost all of our baby pictures. That really upset my Mom. You can't replace those.''
Emily took from MacKenzie more recent, but no less treasured, pieces of her life.
``I lost all of my prom pictures and yearbooks. We're all seniors. When you lose something like that, you lose your high school memories. But so many people lost so much more.''
The students said their deepest pain came not from the loss of possessions but from watching their parents try to cope with disaster. Holly MacKenzie had already seen her mother fight cancer. The financial burden caused by Emily added to the family's troubles.
``My dad's a fisherman,'' she said. ``He lost all of his crab pots and all of his nets. It meant having to start from scratch. I felt so bad asking my Mom for $5 for anything. I realized how tough it was for them.''
Tandy agreed. ``I know my folks were really worried after the storm about being able to send my brother and me to college.''
Life at home was so upsetting for many students that their school eventually became a refuge.
``It was a different experience coming back to school,'' Stafford said. ``Dealing with people was difficult. You didn't know what to say. It was like a death in the family. In a way it was a death. Our house died in that storm.''
When school reopened a few days after Emily struck, things that used to be taken for granted were in short supply. Texts, notebooks, pencils were valuable commodities.
``You couldn't just go to Conner's (a Hatteras Island supermarket) and get a notebook,'' MacKenzie said. ``They had their own things to deal with. We had to share.''
Sharing came not only from within the Hatteras community, but also from around the country. It changed the students' view of adults.
``It was really amazing to find out how other people felt,'' Tandy said. ``Sandy Rosell's classroom was wall-to-wall with supplies, and the stage of the auditorium was full. That really amazed me.''
MacKenzie added, ``It really makes you feel like authority isn't bad after all. If it was just kids, we wouldn't have gotten all of this cleaned up.''
But Bornfriend said the kids reached beyond their own troubles to help others.
``There was such a wonderful outpouring of human goodness,'' Bornfriend said. ``I saw kids who lost their homes put it all behind them and reach out to help someone else. It's not something you see much of anymore. There's not much call for heroes these days. But I hope we don't need heroes again anytime soon.'' ILLUSTRATION: Satff photo by PAUL AIKEN/
In September 1993, Saun Gerhard hauled away a piece of roofing that
struck the Tower Circle Motel in Buxton, N.C., during Hurricane
Emily. Families in Buxton have struggled to rebuild their homes in
the year since the storm.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE EMILY by CNB