THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607130292
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CLARISSA THOMASSON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: 56 lines
Time hangs heavy for refugees in Rocky Mount.
Books, board games and cable television become coveted commodities.
Games of catch with rubber balls on a hotel's front lawn draw crowds that would delight Little League teams. A motel's shallow outdoor pool and patio are filled with swimmers who had hoped to be surfing.
And conversation in every corner centers on what's going on back at the Outer Banks, where they left homes or rental cottages when Hurricane Bertha headed up the Atlantic coast.
``Has it hit there yet?'' guests asked each other in lobbies, between breaks of marathon sessions watching television for storm news.
``How bad do you think it'll get? When do you think we'll be able to return?''
Three hours west of the Outer Banks oceanfront, 150 miles inland from the path meteorologists plotted for Big Bertha, hundreds of would-be vacationers waited out the hurricane in hotels whose staffs normally see highway travelers only for a night at a time.
The Holiday Inn at Dortches, off Interstate 95, had three vacant rooms Thursday night. By breakfast Friday, all 154 rooms were booked. Most people arrived Wednesday or Thursday and were planning to stay at least through today.
``The whole house is full of evacuees,'' said desk clerk Felicia Lyons, who had to turn several families away Friday - and couldn't find a room for them between Rocky Mount and Roanoke Rapids. ``But we don't have any upset people here, at least yet.''
Pam and Frank Kokomoor and their children had 10 days left of their two-week vacation in Nags Head when the cottage rental company manager called Thursday afternoon and told them they'd have to evacuate. So they did. Friday afternoon, they were still hoping to salvage some of their stay and return by Sunday.
``I don't want to have my birthday in the car,'' said Sarah Jane Kokomoor, who turns 8 today. ``I want to be back at the beach.''
Her brother Zack, 11, agreed. Zack was playing in the Holiday Inn pool Friday. But he said he really wanted to be swimming in the ocean, or taking windsurfing lessons on Roanoke Sound.
There's not much to do in Rocky Mount, most refugees said of the crossroads town that is normally a stopover on long trips through the state. A small strip mall bustled with people who couldn't buy beach souvenirs. And hotel restaurants and lounges were filled most of Friday.
Peggy Arnold had planned to spend this week with her son Chuck and enjoy fine dining and sunny days on the Outer Banks.
Instead, she helped him nail plywood across the windows of his new Southern Shores home Thursday - then drove three hours west on U.S. 64 to a hotel far from the hurricane's projected path.
``Living in the mountains, this is both exciting and scary,'' said Arnold, a Virginia Tech professor who lives in Blacksburg. ``But we're still hoping to go to Holden Beach when the storm passes.''
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA by CNB