THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160425
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KITTY HAWK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
His company's annual report in hand, Marylander Ed Miller sat in a lawn chair doing what he described as ``a little light reading'' on the beach.
But Miller's gaze kept straying out to the violent green sea gnawing away at the thin strip of sand he occupied.
Hurricane Felix, still hundreds of miles away from the Carolina coast Tuesday afternoon, was sending out a long-distance hello. As the sea churned, surf bubbled around the exposed pilings at several cottages to Miller's left.
``Looks like the vacation is going to be cut a little short,'' Miller said, rising and folding up his chair. ``I went in a little bit. I didn't go out too far. Those riptides are a nasty thing.''
Felix was neither kind nor welcome to the five-person Roberts family from Belfry, Ky. As his clan prepared to evacuate from one of the seaside homes, Bruce Roberts said he and his wife were out $1,000, the cost of a week's rent at their cottage. Arriving Sunday, they had barely managed to get in two days of vacation before the call to leave the coast came.
Their cottage, named ``Driftaway,'' would probably do just that, Roberts said, if Felix hit the Outer Banks head-on.
``The name suits it well,'' he said, a half smile tugging at his mouth. ``Athigh tide, the ocean is all the way to this driveway.''
Meantime, at Pirate's Cove Marina on Roanoke Island, only 30 of the 140 boats usually there remained at their moorings. Marina employees busied themselves late Tuesday securing those that remained, while shaking their heads over the miles-long backup of cars that snaked past on the Nags Head-Manteo Causeway.
``It's been crazy,'' said Deanna Williams, the marina's booking agent. ``I'm ready to go home.''
Phil Lowry was also ready to go home. Heading up from South Nags Head, Lowry, a hospital computer consultant from Washington, and nine family members were heading to Richmond to ride out the storm. They made a brief shopping stop at Kitty Hawk Kites, just across from Jockey's Ridge State Park.
They might be losing their deposit, Lowry said, but no matter. Life and limb were more important.
``We'll go away. If it gets better, we'll come back.'' Lowry said. ``I have a fair amount of respect for hurricanes. It's easier to come back.''
But Brooklyn, New York visitors Monique Luchetti and Michael Ryncavage didn't want to leave. The pair, sitting near the spot occupied by Miller from Maryland, were considering staying on the Outer Banks if they could find a hotel or motel that would take them. Because, as Ryncavage put it, they ``had never seen (a hurricane) before.''
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB