THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996              TAG: 9603130561
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Short :   34 lines

COASTAL STORM WAS COMING, BUT A GOOD WAY OFFSHORE SHE BLOWS

The nasty coastal storm, which hammered eastern Florida and was expected to brush the Virginia and North Carolina coasts, drifted out to sea early Tuesday, but not before causing some beach erosion.

Though the threat of extensive erosion was expected to lessen by today, parts of the Sandbridge section were affected, said Phillip Roehrs, a city coastal engineer.

However, Roehrs said, there was no reported structural damage in the beach community, which has been hard-hit by previous storms.

``It looks like we came out OK,'' he said. ``But there was some significant erosion.''

It's impossible to tell exactly how much of the beach has been lost until engineers can survey the coast - hopefully by the end of the month, Roehrs said. But, he said, the surf washed away about three feet of sand in some places.

Tuesday's weather was a departure from the predicted path of the storm.

``The storm system moved further off shore than we thought it would,'' said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wakefield. ``It's weakened quite a bit.''

Instead of a gloomy, gray day residents Tuesday enjoyed a rather pleasant mixture of clouds, bright sunshine and temperatures in the 40s. It remained very windy, however. by CNB