THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607130298
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 89 lines
They honored Bertha with expensive drinks in downtown Norfolk, and a new Ben & Jerry's in Virginia Beach was jammed with ice-cream lovers. Mostly, as the storm chewed up the Outer Banks Friday night, South Hampton Roads residents seemed fairly nonchalant.
Few people took the storm seriously enough to board up windows, and certainly not enough to go into city shelters.
In Sandbridge, where houses cling precariously to land coveted by the Atlantic Ocean, the waves again began to tear at the shoreline during the afternoon and evening. One house looked in danger of falling into the surf. However, there was little flooding as darkness fell.
Off Great Neck Road, business at the new Ben & Jerry's wasn't suffering Friday night. Jim and Marie Gerdes, from nearby Great Neck Point, stopped in with their two children, Michael and Julie.
``We were bored,'' said Marie Gerdes. The family had already stocked up on groceries and batteries. ``We figured we were going to be in for a long time, so we had to get out for a bit now.''
In fact, Bertha was something of a tourist attraction: Norfolk and Virginia Beach were dotted with people from out of town who were actually looking for the storm.
``I'm hoping there are some crazy people out there who want to go out and have a good time during this natural disaster,'' said Alan Parker, manager at the Bait Shack in Waterside, where ``Hurricanes'' - the drink - were going for $3.25. They were $4.25 at the appropriately named Stormy's in the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel.
In the Ocean View section of Norfolk, two carloads of French-Canadian windsurfers were delighting in the churning Chesapeake Bay waters off the foot of 15th View Street.
``We wanted to get to Hatteras,'' said Memmanuel Cartailler, of Washington, D.C. ``But we heard the access was cut off. So we'll go until dark here, then head back to D.C., watch the news, then figure out where to go tomorrow. We'll just follow it up the coast.''
His friends, Thomas Bouvart and Godefory Dorion, had driven 15 hours from Quebec, linked up with Cartailler in Washington, then headed into the teeth of the storm.
``It's not as good as I hoped,'' said Bouvart, as the wind slackened a bit at 7 p.m. ``But it's picking up again.''
Dorion was waiting it out in the car, his first sail into the storm being more than he could handle. ``It was too strong for me,'' he said, sharing a Marlboro with Bouvart. ``I'm not as good as these guys.''
``Not as stupid, you mean,'' Bouvart said, as he and Cartailler hauled their sails back up over the dune for a final run.
As darkness fell at the Oceanfront, Mike Palese, Nicole Meese, and Brian Wilt stood under a dripping awning by a hotel window and tried to think of spectacular descriptions to take home to Northern Virginia.
``We'll say there were 150 mph winds, and we were right in the middle of it,'' Wilt said. The three, in bare feet and shorts, burst into laughter as rain dribbled off the awning onto their already soaked T-shirts.
People who really wanted to be scared could always go to the Haunted Fun House at Atlantic Avenue and 25th Street.
John Weeks, an employee, stood in the lobby as taped screams emanated from the back. Just then, a piercing shriek came from the back, breaking through the authentic howl of the wind and the fake screams.
``That's a customer. I'm used to the sound, I don't even notice it anymore,'' Weeks said. But he admitted, ``I'm nervous about driving home tonight.''
Sandbridge restaurants taunted Bertha. A sign at the Sandbridge Restaurant and Raw Bar said, ``Bertha Go Blow Somewhere Else.'' The last ``e'' was askew, perhaps because of the wind.
A sign at the Baja Restaurant and Grill said, ``Butt Out, Bertha, Because We Are Open.''
Josh Miller, 28, from Tucson, Ariz., and his sister Elizabeth Miller, 19, from Sacramento, Calif., walked through Sandbridge to enjoy the weather.
Earlier in the week, 13 family members occupied the cottage they rented on Sandfiddler Road, but the numbers dwindled to five as Bertha approached.
``We're just enjoying high tide,'' Josh Miller said. ``It's a lot of fun. Tonight we're just going to sit on the porch and watch.''
Later, Josh Miller said, ``It may just be ignorance, but I've been pretty calm about the whole thing. We're young, we're pretty sure we're immortal.'' MEMO: Dave Addis, Naomi Aoki, June Arney, Pat Dooley and Marie Joyce
contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: CANDICE C. CUSIC
The Virginian-Pilot
Bobby Wentz learns at a young age what it's like to get stuck on a
flooded street. The 4-year-old boy was playing with friends along
Dinwiddie Street in Portsmouth when he found himself stranded by
rising rainwater.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA by CNB