THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602070152
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
LENGTH: Long : 240 lines
FOR MANY, IT was the stuff of childhood dreams.
Six inches of white fluff blanketed the terrain. Sparkling ice dripped from trees and utility poles. Giggling gangs of kids waited in ambush with fists full of snow aimed at unwary passers-by.
Briefly, the second blizzard of 1996 stopped the racing clock and allowed folks to ease back to a more carefree time.
But for some other Chesapeake residents, last weekend's winter storm was more of a headache than a welcome diversion.
City emergency services officials reported that 15,000 Chesapeake customers lost electricity after the onset of the storm last Friday. Transmission lines were snapped by falling, ice-laden trees and branches. Power outages averaged from 32 to 48 hours, despite Virginia Power crews working around the clock to restore service.
By Monday, nearly 1,000 households in scattered parts of the city were still in the dark.
City officials opened a shelter Friday night at Indian River High School for those whose power loss left them without heat, but closed it early Sunday morning because of lack of demand. Only 15 people had stopped in.
Luckily, none of the four storm-related deaths reported in Virginia as of Monday were in Chesapeake or anywhere else in South Hampton Roads.
``I think a lot of people wanted to stay in their homes because they had alternative heat sources, and they probably thought this (power problem) was going to be a short-term event,'' said Patricia D. Chappell, a supervisor in Chesapeake's fire prevention and emergency services office.
Maury B. Brickhouse, a Chesapeake resident and chairman of the School Board, was among those who chose to stick it out at home, despite a 38-hour loss of power and heat. He borrowed a propane heater and a small generator from his parents and closeted his family in one room.
Brickhouse, his wife and their three children ``got to know each other again,'' by playing games and talking, he said. ``We had a big pajama party, so to speak.''
It wasn't all fun and adventure. Brickhouse's water pump malfunctioned when he tried to plug it into the generator, which was too small to handle the load. And the fan on his heat pump, for some reason, has not worked properly since the power was restored to his home.
As head of the School Board, he'll have another concern soon.
Schools were closed Monday and Tuesday, which means the board will have to find a way to make up the class days, as required by state law. City schools already are faced with losing a couple of holidays to make up two school days missed during a winter storm last month.
School system spokesman Tom Cupitt said Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols and the board likely will consider adding the days onto the end of the school year.
``That's not cast in stone,'' Cupitt said. ``But I think that was something to look at, if we needed more days.''
Still, schoolchildren are unlikely to regret their impromptu vacation.
And even disgruntled power customers, cursing the snow and ice that disrupted their weekends, will come away with some pretty tall tales.
Here's how the rest of Chesapeake coped with the blizzard of 1996, take two: Cold storage
``I feel like a popsicle,'' said Carole King, early Monday afternoon from the Chesapeake Central Library.
The assistant director of the Chesapeake Public Libraries wasn't talking about conditions outside the Cedar Road main branch; she was talking about how it felt inside the facility.
King spoke from her office in the state-of-the-art Central Library, considered a crown jewel among area libraries with its high ceilings, spacious interior, comfortable reading chairs, huge and growing book collection and computer book catalogs.
All the amenities were little comfort this week, when the building's heating system went on the fritz.
King said maintenance crews from the Department of Parks and Recreation had been working on the heating system since the problem was discovered Monday morning.
The building then was closed to the public. But the staff stayed.
``All of the temperatures in here are well below 50 degrees,'' she said. ``But nothing has exploded, and this cold shouldn't hurt our book collection. We don't know how it has affected our computers yet. But it's cold in here, and it's hard to type wearing gloves.''
To keep warm in her office, King said she was wearing gloves and an overcoat, and she had a small rug folded on her lap.
By afternoon, most of the other staff members at the facility had either left to work at other branches or had taken the remainder of the day off. King said she also would head home soon.
``Everybody here's been a real trouper,'' King said about her chilly staff. ``Hopefully, we'll have the heat back on today.''
The heating system was back in operation Tuesday, and library was open to the public. Cold cash
Not everyone in Chesapeake lamented the ice and snow.
While other stores closed during the ice storm or suffered diminished business, the city's video rental shops experienced an avalanche of trade.
It seems cabin-bound Chesapeake residents had to do something, and watching videos was the recreation of choice.
``Everybody told me the only thing to do was watch movies or go down to Mt. Trashmore and get hurt,'' said Harry Gier, owner of two Movie Times shops in Chesapeake. Gier was referring to the crowds of people who visited Mt. Trashmore park in Virginia Beach to go sledding.
``We did very well,'' said Deborah McLaughlin, manager of Moovies Inc. (formerly Video Stars) on South Military Highway. ``Friday night was one of the best nights we've had. We did triple our normal business.
``Our parking lot was pretty lousy, but our business was just fine.''
Customers came in cars or walked, ready to rent anything just to keep entertained.
``We've had a great weekend,'' said Mario L. Merlo, manager of the Moovies Inc. in Deep Creek. ``They all came in and grabbed everything off of our shelves. Our shelves were almost bare. Everything was rented, from the latest releases to classic movies.''
Big hits were snapped up quicker than thermal underwear. Sought-after titles included ``Nine Months,'' ``Waterworld,'' ``Desperado,'' ``The Net,'' ``Apollo 13'' and ``Judge Dredd.''
Family films went quickly, too.
``We rented a lot of animated stuff and a lot of Disney titles,'' Merlo said. ``People said they didn't care if they lost power or not; they rented what they could. Even people who lost power were renting videos. They told me they'd continue to watch when it was restored.'' Icy silence
Thanks to the storm, old, reliable WFOS-FM 88.7, wasn't on the air to help.
Whenever Chesapeake is hit with a hurricane, ice storm or any major weather happening, most folks in the city, especially those with school-age children, turn to WFOS for school closings and road safety information.
Usually when bad weather rolls into the area, station manager Dennis McCurdy and his staff are at the station by 5 a.m., broadcasting information.
This time, though, the station was off the air from Friday until Tuesday.
Blame it on ice, McCurdy said.
``Ice formed on the heating elements of our main transmission tower,'' he said. ``They just froze up, and when that happens you have to reduce power. But we couldn't reduce our power any more, so we had to shut down.''
McCurdy hopes the station will be able to get some more powerful and efficient heating elements for its tower to prevent any future shut downs, especially when the station is most needed.
Monday's sunny day helped melt the majority of ice that formed on the tower, allowing the station to get back on the air at 5 a.m. Tuesday.
``All day long on Monday our phone rang off the hook with people calling to find about school closing, weather reports and how bad the roads are,'' McCurdy said. Swimmin' in snow
Jaimie Gorman, 14, Keanu Delgado, 2, and a host of other Las Gaviotas children and teens rounded up boogie boards and swim tubes and headed for the local golf course to celebrate their day off from school.
The boards and tubes usually used for summer swim fun provided just the right transportation to sled and slide down the fairway hills.
Even a friendly retriever joined the slippery, romping action of the snow revelers for his turn down Great Bridge's ``Great Ridge.'' Digging out
Perry Dunbar usually builds houses. But on Monday, Dunbar was scraping, shoveling and salting on the job site.
Dunbar is the construction superintendent for Wellspring, a new home community in the Knell's Ridge area of Chesapeake.
``We are already running about three weeks behind our construction schedule because of weather-related delays,'' Dunbar said.
Leon Weast, the assistant shoveler, was the only other crewman who showed up for work. He and Dunbar spent the morning clearing the sidewalks in front of the model homes in case any new home buyers stopped by to browse.
It wasn't the first weather-related task Dunbar had performed that day. Earlier that morning, he had made a trip to Norfolk to rescue a family trapped in their home because of fallen tree limbs. He had heard about the family's plight from a friend.
Dunbar said the family was without electrical power, but couldn't leave their house to find other accommodations because large tree limbs had fallen across their driveway and cut off their escape route.
``They sure were glad to see me and my chain saw,'' Dunbar said.
Barbara Vaughan of Cedar Lakes in Chesapeake also put in her time with a snow shovel Monday.
Vaughan, originally from Pittsburgh, said that this winter's snow and ice was the first she had seen in two years.
``And I think I've seen enough now for two more years,'' Vaughan said as she chopped through the ice to clear her walkway. Snowed under
Scott Lane was one busy tree-trimmer Monday.
Lane owns Scott Lane's Tree Service in Great Bridge. His services were in such demand that he couldn't fit another house call for tree or limb removal into his schedule.
``By Monday morning, I think everyone in Chesapeake wanted their pine trees removed or trimmed back,'' Lane said.
Melissa Turpin stood on her porch, watched and sometimes directed as Lane removed dangling pine boughs and snapped limbs from her yard.
Turpin said she and the rest of her block had been without power from Friday evening until early Sunday morning.
``I have the best neighbors in the entire world,'' Turpin said. ``Everyone kept coming over, checking on me and making sure I was all right.''
Turpin spent Saturday night with friends, but was eager to return to her home Sunday morning.
Turpin, a heart patient, said she made sure she had plenty of her medication on hand. She got by fine on soup, coffee and the attention and concern of her friends. Cold lunch
Earl Jenkins wasn't so lucky. Jenkins was on his way home for lunch Monday when he and his car ended up head first in a ditch off Waters Road.
Jenkins was wearing his seat belt and wasn't hurt; he was only surprised at how fast the action happened. He said he had cautiously taken the curve near his house about 50 times during the icy winter weather. Monday, though, the wheels lost their grip on the road.
``When my car started slipping and sliding,'' Jenkins said, ``I knew it was all over for me.''
Jenkins spent the rest of his lunchtime waiting for a tow truck to arrive. MEMO: Staff writers Eric Feber, Susan Smith and Elizabeth Thiel contributed to
this report.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
CHILLS AND SPILLS
Staff photo MORT FRYMAN
Earl Jenkins, far right, driver of this Pontiac Trans Am that ended
up in a ditch off Water's Road, waits for a tow truck to pull the
car out.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
First ice and then snow turned Hampton Roads into a winter
wonderland overnight on Friday. While the blizzard was welcomed by
kids, many adults encountered the woes of going to work.
Leon West shovels the snow in front of his home in the Knells Ridge
community.
Scott Lane, of Scott Lane's Tree Service, wrestles with a broken
tree branch in the Great Bridge area.
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Keith Byrd, general manager of the Motel 6, tried to save this baby
bird that fell from a tree on the property.
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Jaimie Gorman, 14, launches Keanu Delgado, 2 1/2 years old, off a
small hill on the golf course at Las Gaviotas off Cedar Road.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM by CNB