THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180366
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER CHRISTMAN AND PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
If Hurricane Felix fizzles in the coming days, its winds and waves will have barely brushed the fragile Outer Banks.
But the damage has been done.
The harm from Felix will be measured not in broken bones and destroyed homes, but in dollars lost by businesses during the heat of the summer season.
After as many as 200,000 tourists and residents fled the Outer Banks Tuesday and Wednesday, most retailers and restaurants were forced to fasten plywood supports to their property and close up shop.
John Bone, executive vice president of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, estimated that the evacuation cost Outer Banks businesses from Corolla to Ocracoke as much as $5 million per day.
``We've lost all of Tuesday, all of Wednesday and really all of Thursday now,'' Bone said Thursday. ``We hope to get back to normal.''
Business owners, many of whom returned to work Thursday as county officials lifted the state of emergency, estimated individual losses in the tens of thousands of dollars.
``This hurt us,'' said Cindy Kingsbury, part-owner of the Colony IV Motel in Kill Devil Hills. She estimated that Felix cost them between $35,000 and $40,000.
``This is the last week that was full for us. All of our rooms were reserved,'' Kingsbury said. ``With all the kids and teachers going back to school and vacationers going home, we were depending on this week as our final push for the season.''
The middle of August is critical for a good year, business leaders said.
``August is the month when you start putting away for the winter,'' said Carol Ann Angelos, who runs several Outer Banks restaurants and is president of the Dare County Restaurant Association.
``We've had such a good, good August. When you take all that money away, definitely it's crucial, especially for your small businesses.''
Angelos' Jolly Roger restaurant was one of the few eateries open throughout the evacuation period, catering to locals, visiting journalists and emergency workers. The restaurant at the Ramada Inn in Kill Devil Hills also fed folks who couldn't or wouldn't leave.
As businesses scrambled Thursday to gear up for return traffic, some expressed concerns that revenue would remain slow through the end of the week.
``You hate to see it happen,'' said Mike Kelly, whose four Outer Banks restaurants missed an estimated $80,000 in income through Thursday.
``We'll probably see some more losses - people won't want to come back to the beach if it's raining. It's likely we'll lose up to $120,000 to $150,000 before this is all through.''
The story was the same on Hatteras Island, which was evacuated first and cut off from the northern beaches for much of the week.
``Really, at this stage of the game, it's a complete toss-up whether they're coming back,'' said Tim Midgett, who runs Midgett Realty in Hatteras Village.
``I'd say one in 10 is coming back for the remaining days of this week.''
Midgett said that visitors would receive refunds for the days of mandatory evacuation but that many chose to roll the refund into reservations for next year.
``That's a good sign,'' he said.
In Duck, the Sanderling Inn and Resort lost up to $30,000 per day for three days, General Manager Tina Berger estimated.
``During the whole month of August, we run almost at full occupancy,'' Berger said. ``When something like this happens, it's traumatic for business, and you don't have any chance to recoup the loss.''
Felix's apparent harmlessness stirred some questions Thursday about whether county officials' order to evacuate may have been premature.
But most people reached Thursday accepted the decision.
``I think it was hasty,'' said Kingsbury, of the Colony IV Motel. ``But it was conservative. When you have so many people you have to take care of, you have to be conservative.''
Berger agreed.
``It's tough on business, but the officials did what they had to do,'' she said. ``We would not call their actions hasty if the storm ripped right through here.
``We would be calling them heroes.''
Charlie Hartig, spokesman for the Dare County Control Group - which imposed the mandatory evacuation of the Outer Banks - said he has received complaints that the evacuation hurt sales at the peak of the summer season.
``I'd be lying if I said no,'' Hartig said. ``Obviously these people are concerned about their livelihoods. Ninety-eight percent or more of our people are in tourism-related businesses.
``When you evacuate a community, especially a tourist community, from the standpoint of business, you're in a lose-lose situation.''
But Hartig said the control group did what was necessary to safeguard citizens.
``We're not in the business of ruining people's vacations, nor are we in the business of destroying the tourism industry,'' Hartig said. ``We are in the business, however, of protecting lives and property.''
Despite the economic turmoil, many business people on Thursday expressed relief that things weren't worse.
``At least it didn't hit,'' said Jim Curcio, owner of The Coastal Cactus restaurant in Kill Devil Hills. ``But the business is still here, and we're still here, and that's all part of it.
``You can't tell the weather when to have a storm and when not to.''
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX NORTH CAROLINA by CNB