THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120470
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, LANE DEGREGORY AND CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF
WRITERS
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 117 lines
The sun was shining. Skies were blue. Temperatures stayed comfortably in the 80s.
Thursday was a picture-perfect summer day to spend at the beach.
But judging by the number of people on the Outer Banks, it might as well have been December.
Even before Dare County emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of areas from Nags Head through Duck at 1 p.m., thousands of visitors had fled the barrier islands, putting distance between themselves and the approaching Hurricane Bertha.
After news spread of the evacuation order, thousands more emptied food from the refrigerators in their rental cottages, stuffed their suitcases full of swimsuits, shorts and souvenirs, and crammed their kids and coolers into cars.
Exact numbers of evacuees were not available. But an examination of the roads, rental cottages and hotels revealed that more than 75,000 people had abandoned the Outer Banks between 8 a.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Thursday.
Most vacationers heeded warnings of impending disastrous weather - and hoped to leave before the storm's arrival.
And, unlike evacuations of earlier years, backups along the two bridges off the islands didn't pose a problem for people interrupting their vacations.
``This is better because they evacuated Hatteras and Ocracoke so early that traffic is not bottling into one lane,'' said State Trooper D.J. Cianfarra, stationed near the Wright Memorial Bridge in Kitty Hawk Thursday afternoon to keep the exodus flowing smoothly. He didn't have to work hard. Motorists kept moving on their own, in a slow stream of vehicles heading west or north.
Officials cleared out Ocracoke and Hatteras islands Wednesday - a full day before they asked people north of Oregon Inlet to leave. Some folks criticized the early evacuation. But others praised the decision, saying it kept traffic from snarling.
``If you look back to Wednesday with 20/20 vision, it certainly looks premature,'' Dare County Control Group Chairman Clarence Skinner said. ``But based on the information we had, we had a limited window of opportunity to evacuate people. We anticipated flooding on N.C. 12 coming off Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Our concern was getting people off the island prior to being trapped. But Mother Nature stepped in and made us look like fools.''
The flooding never happened, but Hatteras and Ocracoke looked like ghost towns Thursday, with cottages boarded up and nearly every business shut down. A few convenience shops remained open to sell batteries, beer and bottled water. But only locals remained to ring up sales.
On the northern beaches, where ``No swimming'' signs were posted at public accesses and red warning flags flew every few feet, a handful of people walked along the ocean. A lone surfer paddled through the foam at Avalon Pier. But no one was swimming - or even wading.
``All my lifeguards are out,'' said Lifeguard Beach Services President Bob Gabriel, whose crews patrol areas from Kill Devil Hills through Duck. ``But all they're guarding is the sea gulls and the waves.''
All National Park attractions, from the Wright Brothers National Monument in Kill Devil Hills to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, closed by noon Thursday. Campgrounds emptied out even earlier. And actors from ``The Lost Colony'' outdoor drama, which generally runs six nights a week on Roanoke Island, drove to Greenville - and canceled their Thursday and Friday night productions.
People who decided to stay - primarily year-round residents and longtime locals - were too busy tying up their boats and bringing belongings indoors to enjoy any amusement activities anyway.
``We're just trying to secure our stuff. We been working at it since yesterday,'' said Earl Booth, a 47-year-old crabber who was knotting boat lines at a Kitty Hawk Village dock. ``It's a lot of work, getting ready for something like this.''
``We bring our boats into ditches, try to put 'em in more secluded spots,'' Booth said. ``A lot of guys pull their crab pots up, too. If that storm comes up the sound, pots will move 10 or 15 miles. Then you gotta just go out there and look for 'em. Most of 'em, you never find. Even these boats might not be here tomorrow if we get a good tide surge.
``I haven't seen a storm yet that didn't cost us a heap of money. Gear gets damaged. Boats get bashed around,'' said Booth, who has been a commercial fisherman for 18 years.''
Like Booth, many residents of the Outer Banks said that in a worst-case scenario the storm would travel up the sound, hitting the barrier islands from the west. On the ocean, at least, hurricanes have somewhere to veer into after striking land. If they get trapped between islands and the mainland, destruction can be worse.
Most oceanfront structures are primarily rental cottages, second homes or insured businesses. Those along the sound side are mainly permanent homes. And most of the charter, commercial and private boats are docked along the sounds - more susceptible to damage than they would be from a storm that swept up the sea.
Everyone who could find an inland dock space, it seemed, steered their vessels away from open waters Thursday and anchored them along more-protected creeks and harbors.
``My brother-in-law brought his boat up from the water onto the yard. But other than that, I haven't seen anybody doing anything around here,'' said Carol Hayes, 57, who lives in the commercial fishing village of Wanchese on Roanoke Island.
``What scares me most is the winds. I'm scared this old house'll blow right down,'' Hayes said from her weathered home. ``Water don't bother me. We've had plenty of that before.''
Robin Sawyer, a teacher who lives in Manteo on the northeast end of Roanoke Island, had other fears. ``I don't think anybody here is too worried about the blowing,'' she said. ``Most of us figure the biggest danger is water.''
Sawyer's husband, Dock, runs an automobile dealership. He's learned from bad experiences with past storms, she said. On Thursday, he moved the cars from his Manteo lot to higher ground near the county airport.
After Hurricane Donna in the 1960s, Robin Sawyer said, one business owner could see only six inches of his vehicle's hood above the salty sound water that had flooded the island. ``That's the kind of water people who are born and raised here worry about,'' she said.
Weather reports and constantly changing predictions kept everyone guessing about Bertha's intentions Thursday. Some people who decided to stay scoffed when wind speeds dropped from 110 mph to 90 mph by dark. Others said 80 mph was enough to keep them on their guard.
Buck Thornton, owner of TimBuck II shopping center in Corolla, has lived in Duck 14 years and seen several hurricanes.
``I don't consider them fun,'' Thornton said. ``They're a nuisance.
``But, quite frankly, it's part of the mystique of the Outer Banks.'' MEMO: Staff writer Jennifer McMenamin contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA OUTER BANKS by CNB