THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
Following what has become a grim ritual for locals and a quick study for visitors, Hampton Roads tied things down, bottled things up and stuffed the pantries Tuesday as Hurricane Felix churned toward the coast.
The tone was set in early morning, with the lower Chesapeake Bay taking on the look of an old World War II flotilla photo as the Navy sent its ships to the open sea.
The land-locked swarmed to stores for the usual staples of batteries, canned goods, candles and bottled water. Homeowners on the coast and in low-lying areas, began their damage-control rituals of boarding up and battening down.
Others headed for safer turf: Refugees from North Carolina's Outer Banks were booking hotel rooms in Hampton Roads, and Hampton Roads residents in imperiled neighborhoods booked rooms as well, or headed farther inland.
The Goodnite Inn along U.S. 17 in Elizabeth City is two hours from Cape Hatteras and one hour from Nags Head. The inn was full by midday Tuesday.
``I have to refer them to Chesapeake and Virginia,'' said Stacie Spangler, a desk clerk who said all the hotels in the area were packed.
All 62 rooms at Super 8 Motel, on the main evacuation route on Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake, were taken by the time Erin Raynor, the night desk clerk, got to work at 4 p.m.
``We're full for tonight and tomorrow and the weekend,'' Raynor said. ``People are going to ride the storm out here. We've got our windows taped.''
The storm was much on the minds of the Norfolk Tides who were playing the Charlotte Knights in South Carolina. Tides players shipped their car keys to Norfolk by Federal Express so their cars, left at low-lying Harbor Park, could be moved to higher ground.
ALL THE CANNED STUFF is history,'' said Terri San Miguel, inventory clerk at the Food Lion on Sandbridge Road in Virginia Beach. ``Everything in Aisle 5, they're just grabbing it all.''
Bottled water was gone the night before, she said. Going fast at late afternoon were mayo, juice, potato chips and beer.
Lorraine Bennett, of Bay Colony, was leaning against a fence at Taylor's Do-It Center on Laskin Road, her foot resting on a propane tank for her grill.
She had also bought batteries, and groceries, and refilled the water jugs she'd picked up when a hurricane made a pass last year.
``I called up a friend who borrowed my flashlight,'' she said, laughing, ``and said I needed it back.'' And she had a new Washington Redskins jigsaw puzzle. ``If worse comes to worst,'' she said, ``we can sit on the floor with the lanterns and do the puzzle.
``This is the fun of living in Virginia Beach.''
The HQ hardware store at Norfolk's Janaf Shopping Center had a ``hurricane preparedness center,'' right inside the door, complete with a lengthy checklist of must-buys for the big storm. A small crowd gathered, grabbing at the leftovers.
Buddy Kerr, an HQ manager, said, ``The media's created a frenzy, a false sense of catastrophe. But it's necessary, especially for people close to the coast. And because of Hurricane Hugo in North Carolina, I guess it's probably warranted.''
Meantime, he was busy helping customers who approach him for directions to the masking tape, the wood, the plastic sheets and the plywood.
HOSPITALS, ELDERLY-CARE facilities and other critical services were preparing Tuesday to carry on under the worst circumstances. Emergency rooms in South Hampton Roads and North Carolina hospitals will remain open. All have emergency generators.
Doctors and nurses scheduled to work at several hospitals were told they may be asked to work double shifts today. Some hospitals postponed non-critical surgery and routine appointments.
SEVAMP, the Southeastern Virginia Area Model Program which serves the region's elderly, has been delivering to the homebound elderly meals that will remain edible a few days. The recipients will have food if the hurricane knocks out power.
Doug Friedman, maintenance director of Heritage Hall Nursing Home in Virginia Beach, was making sure the emergency generators were filled with fuel Tuesday. ``I've ordered extra oxygen for residents who would need it in case we lose power.''
He was buying bottled water and making sure everything that would hold water was holding some. ``We're basically battening down the hatches,'' he said.
POWER AND PHONE companies are particularly vulnerable to storms like Felix.
Virginia Power shipped several tractor-trailer loads of wires, poles, connectors and other replacement parts Tuesday to Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks.
If the region takes a direct hit, ``We'll lose big chunks of power,'' said Thomas A. Hyman Jr., a vice president of Virginia Power and North Carolina Power. ``It won't just be a home here or there.''
The utilities' first priority would be to get the power running to hospitals and shelters. In restoring service to private homes, Hyman said, ``We work on circuits where we get big blocks of customers back in service at the same time.''
Charles Gwaltney of Bell Atlantic, the main local phone service-provider, said he didn't expect major phone disruptions because many key lines have been moved underground.
Michael Hall of GTE, the second-biggest local phone provider, is ready to call in special vehicles equipped with portable switches to restore service and will pull employees from the rest of the state to help if necessary.
Cellular phones are more likely to remain operable when trees topple land lines, but even they aren't foolproof. ``Any time you lose a tower or a switch, you risk losing a portion of your network,'' said Carla Ussery, Hampton Roads general manager for Contel Cellular.
Ussery advised cell-phone owners to charge their phones before the storm hits, keep them dry and use them only for emergencies.
INSURANCE COMPANIES, experts at playing the odds, hedged their bets Tuesday by booking rooms and rental cars in Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina for an army of claims adjusters. Some companies were sending extra cellular telephones, fax machines and lap-top computers.
``Our biggest immediate concern is being able to handle a huge number of calls within a short period of time,'' said Jack Wolcott, regional senior vice president at USAA's Norfolk office.
Like other insurers, San Antonio-based USAA said it had stopped writing new coverage for existing policies in the region likely to be hit by the storm.
At Nationwide, ``We've alerted 30 of our adjusters in other states about going into Virginia and North Carolina,'' said Lou Fabro, a company spokesman. MEMO: Based on reporting by Mike Flanagan, Debra Gordon, Charlise Lyles,
Mylene Mangalindan, Dave Mayfield, Tom Shean, Elizabeth Simpson,
Michelle Snipe, Mara Stanley and Denise Watson.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB