THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 21, 1994 TAG: 9411210080
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
In a rare concession to forecasters, Tropical Depression Gordon - having lost much of its punch - was actually going where meteorologists predicted: back to Florida for a third visit.
Meanwhile, residents of Sandbridge and the North Carolina Outer Banks spent Sunday cleaning up Gordon's damage.
In Virginia Beach, city inspectors are expected to fan out across Sandbridge today assessing the damage. Some homes may be condemned.
Sandfiddler Road reopened along its full length Sunday after two days of repairs to fill in a 1,000-foot gap torn out by storm tides.
Gordon formed Nov. 8 off Nicaragua and has zigzaggedthrough the Caribbean, across Cuba, through the Florida Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico. It then cut across Florida, came back into the Atlantic and steered northeast before cutting a sudden left turn and heading for the Outer Banks. Just short of coming ashore, it stalled briefly Friday and turned south.
Forecasters then said they thought it would head south and eventually west, back to the Sunshine State.
It was the first time a long-range prediction for Gordon's course has panned out.
The late-season storm has never been stronger than a minimal, Category 1 hurricane. But it has exacted a heavy toll: more than 500 lives lost in Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica; six deaths in Florida and $500 million in damage; four homes destroyed, dozens more damaged and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to bulkheads along the North Carolina and Virginia coast.
At 4 p.m. Sunday, the broad center of the depression was about 85 miles east of Cape Canaveral. Gordon was moving west at about 11 mph and is expected to make a gradual turn to the north today.
Even though Gordon is forecast to move toward the central Florida coast overnight, it no longer packs much punch.
``This weakening system is not expected to have a significant impact on land other than spreading clouds, patchy rain and a few showers over portions of the Florida peninsula and southeast Georgia,'' said Max Mayfield, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE GORDON by CNB