THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508190083
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The amazing thing is that in the late 20th century, with all its modes of transportation and communication, you can still be stranded somewhere.
``Stuck'' is the best way to describe the status of those of us on Hatteras Island for about 48 hours during Hurricane Felix.
There's only one road in and out of the towns south of Oregon Inlet. But N.C. Route 12 through Pea Island was better known this week as the place where the waters of the ocean and the sound met.
In other words, there was no way out.
Here's what we had available on Hatteras Island: phone service and, most of the time, cable TV and electricity.
Here's what you couldn't do: leave the island by car; leave the island by plane (too windy); leave the island by boat (seas too rough).
No - and by that I mean zero - restaurants were open.
A crew from ABC's ``Nightline'' abandoned a dozen rental cars Wednesday at the Comfort Inn in Buxton, paying a resident several hundred dollars to drive the crew out in his heavy-duty four-wheel drive. They were the last people to get out on Wednesday.
People were dying for newspapers. But with no way in or out, the papers in the boxes were all from Tuesday.
I volunteered to be stranded in Buxton and was told to ``cover a hurricane.''
They should have told me to ``stake out a stationary storm system.''
At least I was drawing my regular wages to be there. The residents and shop owners weren't getting paid.
So we journalists felt we had to do work even though nothing had actually happened. We spent most of our time driving around, looking for people to interview. Most of the ones who stayed - and there weren't many - had perfected their folksy quotes about what it's like to be waiting for a hurricane. The theory was that people on Hatteras had been nailed so hard by Hurricane Emily that most really did leave. The ones who stayed were the hardy souls, the stupid people and journalists.
Some of the people who stayed behind had a noble purpose - giving people what they need during a hurricane.
Many people who were stranded counted on convenience-store owners like the man at the Texaco in Buxton for essentials such as milk, bread, peanut butter and jelly, candles for when the electricity went out, and beer.
His convenience store was essentially a public service. Some of the media who stayed at the Comfort Inn across the street probably would have been very hungry without his store.
When planes, cars and boats can't get you off of an island, it's pretty important to be able to go back to basics: drinking water, candles and bread for sandwiches.
Covering a hurricane ain't always as exciting as it sounds.
Inside, we sat around and talked with the other people on the second floor of the hotel, most of whom were journalists. A couple from Richmond - not journalists - had decided to stay. They were on vacation until Sunday and that was that.
A certain mind-set of frustration and impatience develops when people are stranded somewhere waiting for something bad to happen. Felix's indecision and quirkiness made it worse.
Felix was supposed to hit on Wednesday, and the people were ready. But then it didn't come, and didn't come. A slow torture. Surviving a hurricane must be like removing a Band-Aid - it's better to yank it off and put up with a few seconds of pain than to pull it off slowly and hurt longer.
The weather did get very ominous mid-afternoon on Wednesday. It looked and felt like something was going to happen.
Outside, it was eerie. There were no people around. The wind whipped. When you went out on the beach, you came back looking like you had been sandblasted. All in all, it didn't rain all that much, except whenever we went outside.
The only fairly exciting thing that happened might even not have happened. There was an unconfirmed report that a guy broke into a shop on Wednesday night and stole a safe. Remember - there was no way on or off the island, and - so the story goes - the police knew the would-be robber's name.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB