THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508170530
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Not everyone was sitting behind boarded-up windows or standing in lines at Revco on Wednesday while waiting for Felix to come knocking.
While the hurricane stalled off the coast, some folks didn't seem to be all that worried. Or if they were, they weren't about to show it.
``Go ahead, Felix, make my day,'' said a message scrawled in front of a store on Granby Street in Norfolk.
An 87-year-old woman in the flood-prone Deep Creek area of Chesapeake called the city's Emergency Operations center just to let them know she wasn't leaving her home, ``no matter what.'' She just wanted them to know she was there.
In Virginia Beach, couples strolled along the boardwalk Wednesday night in a hurricane promenade.
At the city's North End, knots of spectators gathered on the bulkheads early Wednesday evening. Most were there to watch the furious surf and feel the stinging winds for themselves.
But when swimmers began diving into the churning riptides, the bystanders looked on in horror.
``I know it must be an adrenaline rush, but it's also insane,'' said Dwight Zieman, a North Dakota native who moved to the Beach seven years ago.
Across Hampton Roads, bars were elbow-to-elbow with patrons tipping a glass or two to Felix as they watched the latest forecast.
The front door of Y Not Pizza on Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach sported a challenge to the hurricane: ``Felix get a slice of this'' was spray-painted in white letters across the plywood covering the front-door window. The amateur artist added a slice of pepperoni pizza underneath.
At the Coffease drive-up coffee stand on Virginia Beach Boulevard, the drink of the day was a Hurricane.
It's a cherry-almond-coconut mocha, the young lady at the window said.
``We kind of throw everything in there,'' she said. ``It's pretty sweet.''
In Portsmouth, City Clerk Sheila Pittman was not too worried about when Felix would hit.
Shortly before noon, Pittman noticed some strange activity in the Elizabeth River as she looked from her sixth-floor office window.
A passel of porpoises was frolicking down the river.
``I think Mother Nature is telling us something,'' Pittman said. ``Maybe those porpoises know Portsmouth is a safe place to be.''
No sooner had she calmed down from the rare sight of the ocean creatures in the river than she got called to perform a wedding - one of the official duties of a city clerk.
``I came back from that one and there sat another couple waiting to get married,'' Pittman said.
``I've never done two in one day except at Christmastime,'' she said. ``What is it about hurricanes?''
At Blockbuster Video on Frederick Boulevard in Portsmouth, Catherine Crocker put things in perspective:
``First they get their food, then their batteries, then they come here for their movies,'' she said as she checked out a customer with three rentals.
``They might lose power, but they're getting their movies.''
The worse the weather gets, the more brisk the business, said Crocker.
``We will be jumping tonight,'' she said.
And things were jumping all day at many Alcoholic Beverage Control stores.
Some stores reported sales were up 50 to 100 percent on Wednesday as customers prepared for ``hurricane parties.''
``Sales are up tremendously,'' said Fred Wilford, an ABC cashier in Chesapeake. ``It's more than tripled.''
Customers said they feared the ABC stores would not be open today..
In Chesapeake, customers preferred bourbon and liquor. In Virginia Beach, vodka was tops.
Norfolk cashiers said they were selling out of Myers Dark Rum, Ronrico Rum or Bacardi Rum, lime juice and passion fruit juice - the ingredients for a Hurricane.
And then there were some people who didn't quite understand what this Felix fuss was all about.
Shanell Forehand, a ranger at Seashore State Park in Virginia Beach, said she and her co-workers had some difficulty persuading campers to evacuate. Even after nailing up signs.
Many were from Quebec.
``I had three years of French in high school,'' Forehand said, shaking her head. ``I was having trouble getting them to understand me. None of the other rangers speaks French.
``We finally got through. They were worried mostly about having to go to a shelter. They didn't realize they could leave the area.'' MEMO: Based on reporting by Matthew Bowers, Kerry Dougherty, Gary Edwards,
Rebecca A. Myers, Aleta Payne, Mara Stanley and Krys Stefansky.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Making the most of Felix's winds, David Carr, 19, left, and John
Burge, 18, both of Kitty Hawk, use a tent to wind-skate along a side
street in Kill Devil Hills Wednesday.
Color photo
VICKI CRONIS/Staff
Randy Mudd of Richmond and Kristin Murray of Vienna ``sunbathe'' in
a parking lot being overrun Wednesday by high tide on Assateague
Island. Evacuation was deemed voluntary, but they said they would
not clear out - that would ruin their vacation.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB