THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508180144
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 282 lines
Tuesday, Aug. 17
3 p.m. - Virginia Beach Fishing Center, Winston-Salem Avenue on Rudee Inlet.
Sheryl Nosay and Alice Caffee are behind the counter of the fishing center store fielding queries about the approaching hurricane.
``All these boats will be out of here by tonight,'' said Nosay, motioning over her shoulder to a half-dozen head boats and charter boats still tied up at the pier.
``We've canceled all fishing trips 'til Saturday, when the weather's supposed to get better.''
Meanwhile every boat in Rudee Inlet will be headed for safe harbor in Little Creek Cove, Lynnhaven Bay or the Intracoastal Waterway that passes through Great Bridge in Chesapeake, she says.
``Some of 'em are even headed to the York River,'' adds Caffee.
- Bill Reed
3:10 p.m. - Virginia Beach Fishing Pier at Rudee Inlet.
Bernie and Lisa Simmons arrived in Virginia Beach Monday afternoon, settled into their Oceanfront hotel and were ready to enjoy a week of sun, surf and sand.
But Felix's pending arrival is about to spoil their fun.
Nevertheless, the Simmonses say they'll remain where they are for a while. Despite dire warnings on television and the radio, the sky above them holds evidence of impending doom. A few wispy clouds float in an expanse of cobalt blue and a light inland breeze tugs at their white T-shirts.
``We're going to ride it out and probably leave at the last possible minute,'' says Bernie Simmons, a construction foreman.
- Bill Reed
3:30 p.m. - Lynnhaven Municipal Marina.
Ralph Hitt gingerly steps from his 40-foot Pacemaker, a deep sea fishing boat that he's docked at the city marina for two years.
Lite beer in hand, he surveys the surrounding calm water.
``I don't have particular concerns until tomorrow,'' said Hitt, whose boat is named De Neice. ``We'll be concerned tomorrow evening when we can't do anything about it.
``Actually, I am more concerned about my cottage in Nags Head, at Milepost 21,'' said Hitt, his expression turning serious. ``My nephew's there now. They might have to come home, I don't know. They're as stubborn as I am.''
- Lori A. Denney
3:30 p.m. - Rack & Sack at the Collins Square Shopping Center on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Inside the cavernous food warehouse every imaginable item is available, from charcoal briquettes to French bread. But along the aisle where bottled water is sold, there's nothing but empty shelves. Only a sign remains, telling customers that a delivery truck is on its way with more water and should arrive sometime this evening.
Jill Young, store supervisor, says the water has been gone since at least 2 p.m.
``Our business has been pretty normal until now, but I assume it's not going to be that way tonight,'' she says.
- Tom Holden
4:15 p.m. - Independence Square Apartments, Independence Boulevard and Onondaga Road.
Herb Nash, maintenance manager, thumbs through a thick stack of work orders.
Asked about hurricane preparations, Nash appears calm.
``Looks a little early to panic - so far,'' he says, gazing at the clear blue sky.
``We'll secure the pool furniture, anything that might blow away. The tenants tape their own windows.''
That's exactly what Kate Wilcox is doing. The wife of a Navy enlisted man, Wilcox is hopping in her car with a neighbor to go shopping for masking tape.
``John left at 8 this morning,'' she says. ``His ship is going out and sail around the hurricane and come back in.
``I wish he was here, but that's what they had to do.''
Gary Edwards
4:30 p.m. - Farm Fresh at Laskin Road and Baltic Avenue.
The parking lot is brimming Tuesday afternoon and motorists are cruising frantically, searching for any spot to park. Some get a little too anxious, swerving into slots without looking or caring who may be in their path.
Mail carrier Dick Bonelli, an ex-Marine who was wounded in combat during the Korean War 45 years ago, steps under the store canopy near the entrance, shaking his head.
``I almost got run over,'' he says and proceeds inside, where the action is just as frantic.
Men and women of all ages are cramming grocery carts with food and drink - cans of meat, loaves of bread, bottles of water, wine and beer. They jostle one another for a place in line at one of five open cashier's counters.
- Bill Reed
4:30 p.m. - HQ store at Princess Anne Plaza.
Senior sales manager George Cashwell scurries about the front of the huge store.
``We've sold three pallets of batteries,'' he says at 4:30 p.m. ``We sold out 120 floating lanterns in about 45 minutes and four truckloads of 1/2-inch plywood.
``And this is mostly to builders, contractors. The retail customers will probably start coming in tonight.''
Cashwell and some co-workers set up a table for emergency items in anticipation of the expected rush.
``These D batteries are our most popular,'' Cashwell adds. ``There was a rush about 2. Some women were pushing carts out to the parking lot with five or six sheets of plywood at a time.''
Customer Mary Flora doesn't have plywood, but her shopping basket does contain batteries and masking tape, and a 26-gallon Rubbermaid trash can. She also has a hurricane preparedness checklist that the store is offering.
``My husband's working at the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier,'' she says. ``When he gets home, we'll get in our motor home and drive out. I can throw the essentials in this trash can.
``The fishermen are still out there fishing, of course,'' she says, shaking her head.
- Gary Edwards
4:45 p.m. - Revco Drugstore at Princess Anne Plaza.
Pharmacist Mike Evans fills prescriptions and chats with co-workers.
``I went surfing at Croatan yesterday in 10-foot swells,'' he says. ``It was crowded and the undertow was pretty bad. I got carried out about 50 yards.''
Evans lives in the Croatan area and says that he has taken in lawn furniture and children's toys.
``We will be open unless the store blows down,'' Evans says. ``We can't close unless the district manager calls and tells us to.''
The store will receive 30 cases of bottled water in the morning, a co-worker reminds Evans.
Customer Jim Staton has found everything that his family needs - except lamp oil for their lantern. His wife and children wait outside in the car. When he tells them, they appear to head for another possible supplier.
- Gary Edwards
5:15 p.m. - Fairfield Shopping Center.
A regular customer stops by the Peking Duck restaurant to order carry-out for dinner. She and the hostess chat about the approaching storm.
``I'm going to pick up some bottled water on my way home,'' the hostess says.
``You may be too late,'' the customer tells her. ``One of my friends tried to buy some at lunchtime and the store was already out.''
``Maybe I'd better go now,'' the hostess says as she totals the tab and hands the order back to the kitchen.
The customer leaves to do other shopping, returning a few minutes later. The hostess is nowhere to be found.
``Gone to buy water like you told her to,'' says the manager, now filling the host position.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
5:15 p.m. - Sandfiddler Road in Sandbridge.
For three years, Bill McCoy has called his little cottage home and for as long as he can remember he has watched storms pass through the area. But this time, McCoy, a 68-year-old retired auto dealer, senses something ominous about Felix.
``I've been feeling it for a week now,'' McCoy says of his storm anxiety while packing his possessions. ``I've had a funny feeling ever since they started talking about Felix. I said, `If it hits Bermuda and bounces east we're going to be OK, but if it goes northwest we'll be in trouble.' And sure enough it's going northwest.''
McCoy and his wife call their cottage the ``Reel McCoy.''
``I've had my plywood out on the deck but I'm getting a little older now and I can't get to that second story to board up the windows.''
Across the street, Lynchburg attorney Robert Wetzel is securing luggage atop his Mercedes station wagon, preparing to leave an oceanfront cottage he's been renting this week.
For 11 years, Wetzel has brought his family to Sandbridge to swim, but this is the first time they've left because of threatening weather.
``Frankly I'm worried about the storm,'' he says.
- Tom Holden
5:30 p.m. - Marina Shores, Great Neck Road.
Dominick Beatrice and Christine Jackson tape the windows of the Norfolk Marine Co. and listen to the marine radio updating Felix's position.
``All our boats are inside,'' says Beatrice, a salesman. ``Some owners picked up their boats earlier.
``We started taping this morning and just finished.''
Jackson listens to the radio, learns that Felix is now about 400 miles off the Carolina coast.
``We won't get off until after 6,'' she says. ``Or later.''
Two doors down, Rusty Malbon, general manager of the Marina Shores operation, scrambles to make ready if Felix should strike.
``We secured the parking lot first,'' he says. Then we brought the smaller boats in. Some of the larger boats left to go up the Intracoastal Waterway to Atlantic (Yacht Basin in Great Bridge).''
The huge marina shed will hold 450 boats, Malbon says, as workmen with lifts fill the floor space with boats from outside. Boats are already stored in all the spaces, five rows high to the ceiling.
The 169 slips on the water are quickly being vacated. The doors of the storage building will be chained and bolted.
``We'll double-tie any boats left in the water. It'll take us a day or two to untangle the mess if the storm hits.
``And I have a waiting list of people from Bay Island who want us to do something with their boats,'' Malbon adds.
- Gary Edwards
5:30 p.m. - Sandfiddler Road in Sandbridge.
Harris Rosenblatt, 45, is sitting on the steps of a boarded-up beach house.
Only moments before, a construction crew had finished nailing several pieces of plywood to the east windows, and Rosenblatt was left with a request from the owner to evacuate. The problem is, 18 people are staying in the house and the families have been unable so far to find a vacant hotel room in Virginia Beach.
``We arrived Saturday and we would have liked to have stayed until this Saturday, but we don't want to get stuck in the traffic,'' says the Hood, Va., resident. ``But we were told if we wait until the last minute, it could take 28 hours to get to Williamsburg.
``The people behind us are leaving and so are the people next door.''
Like many others, Rosenblatt says he is tempted to stay because he has never seen a hurricane, but he recognizes the risks in doing so.
His 12-year-old daughter, Spring, sums up Rosenblatt's feelings:
``I want to stay because I want to see it,'' she says, ``but it really scares me.'' Her friend, Melissa Ziganti, 10, of Boulder Creek, Calif., is also frightened. ``I've never been in a storm like this before,'' she says.
As the children stand around with nothing to do, the parents are busy packing up the house and preparing to move inland.
Rosenblatt says they'll try to find a city shelter.
- Tom Holden
5:45 p.m. - Food Lion Store, Great Neck Road and Shore Drive.
The parking lot is full, the lines stretch down the food aisles, but the mood is generally relaxed.
``We're not right on the water,'' says Dianne Hollenbach, who lives in a nearby condominium. ``Most of the time I wish we were - except for times like this.''
She is making a ``scheduled trip'' to the store, she says. ``We've got containers of water saved. We brought things in off the deck and taped the windows. We're not going to evacuate, as far as we know.''
Across Shore Drive, Debbie Cortjens of Atlanta and Valerie MacLeod of Louisville, Ky., seem to be enjoying their stay at the Virginia Beach Resort and Conference Center. They and 14 associates are in town for a sales meeting. Neither is familiar with hurricanes.
``We're getting Diet Coke in case the hotel runs out of water,'' says Cortjens.
``I guess we can eat at the hotel,'' says MacLeod.
``Yes, we'll be here until Friday,'' adds Cortjens. ``We've got an oceanfront view from the balcony.''
Actually, it's a Chesapeake Bay view, but Cortjens, from the hill country of Atlanta, seems determined to enjoy the view in spite of Felix.
- Gary Edwards
6 p.m. - Birchwood Road in Diamond Springs neighborhood.
Al Hutchinson had to leave town on business Tuesday afternoon, but he wasn't about to leave his house and wife, Dottie, to chance. That's why his three-bedroom ranch is the first and only one on the block to have its windows covered in plywood.
Dottie Hutchinson is sitting in her living room explaining to a neighbor why they have taken the extra precautions after hearing TV news reports that a hurricane warning has been issued.
The couple taped their windows during Hurricane Gloria in 1985, but it was a real mess, she explains. She's not putting up with that again so her husband had the wood delivered Tuesday morning and boarded up eight windows before he left for Raleigh.
- Patty Jenkins
6 p.m. - Baja Restaurant & Grill in Sandbridge.
Through nor'easters and near misses from hurricanes, the Baja has weathered all manner of insults from Mother Nature. Though its owner, Doug Wilkins, has sat through his share of storms, this time he's not sticking around.
``It's coming,'' Wilkins intones. ``We'll stay as long as we can but only if it's prudent. We're going when Mother Nature tells us it's time to and not a minute too late.''
From Wilkins' storefront, the ocean is but 50 yards away, a dramatic difference from when he first arrived and the sea was more like 100 yards away. He is wary that this storm might inflict damage that has been anticipated for more than two decades.
He looks at the thin strip of sand dune and says, ``We're on a bubble right here. It could burst from a protracted nor'easter. Hell, we could get seriously hurt with a 25 mph wind. But a hurricane is something else altogether.''
Bartender George Rakowski, a native of the Aragona area, says he has all his important possessions packed and ready to go.
``When it's time to leave, it's time. I'm not one of those macho guys who wants to sit here through the storm. I'll just come back when it's over.''
- Tom Holden ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DAVID HOLLINGSWORTH
This ``double feature'' at Pembroke may win an Oscar for best
picture.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB