THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 6, 1996 TAG: 9609060612
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY AND TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: HATTERAS VILLAGE LENGTH: 85 lines
Hurricane Fran left people watchful in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks Thursday, but few were making preparations for anything more than a rainy, blustery night, or maybe a power outage.
At the Food Lion on Sandbridge road, bookkeeper Melissa A. Hinzpeter said she had seen a heavier volume of business than normal for September when tourist season is over.
``We're seeing lots of people buy water, buy tuna fish, toilet tissue, paper plates, napkins, forks, that sort of thing, and a lot of ice cream, believe it or not. Normally when you say storm down here, people shop like crazy.''
Not everybody was taking the storm seriously partly because they had worried needlessly so many times before.
Chantel Vogel and her daughter Laura, 8, stood in the checkout line with a small assortment of items.
``The smart thing may be to evacuate later,'' she said.
``We have been stuck in the past with lots of leftover food we didn't need, so we're not doing anything this time.''
Down at the Sandbridge Market, the center of the beach community along the Atlantic, Debra A. Poff, who runs the deli, noticed little change in business.
``It's been really slow because of the weather. I don't think a lot of the people are really nervous anymore. People are getting tired of packing up and leaving only to have nothing happen. Everyone has cried wolf so many times that they are not taking it seriously anymore.''
She admitted, however, that vigilance is a wiser approach.
``You just can't tell what they are going to do, and, of course, the one time that we don't do anything we're going to get it and get it good.''
Most residents of the Outer Banks stayed put, riding out the third hurricane to threaten the islands in less than two months.
Ferry operator Bonnie Brickhouse said she waited out Hurricane Emily in waist-deep water when it slashed across Hatteras Island three years ago, and wasn't about to flee from Fran.
``Everyone's getting kind of antsy, sure,'' she said. ``But we're still pretty confident, waiting to see what'll happen.''
Frisco fisherman Spurgeon agreed. But he wasn't taking any chances with his 72-foot charter boat, ``Miss Hatteras.'' He moved the vessel - the largest sports fishing boat on Hatteras Island - from its Oden's Dock berth into a wider space at the state ferry docks Thursday.
The ocean was expected to rise up to 10 feet above normal tide levels, with waves cresting as high as 15 feet. By 6 p.m. Thursday, swells already had swept above the sand dunes on the north end of Ocracoke and south end of Hatteras Island - spilling a half-foot of saltwater across the highway. Ferry operators had to suspend service to Ocracoke Island because the roads at either end of the inlet were impassible.
With the storm heading for a landfall to the south, officials decided not to order an evacuation of Hatteras Island, Nags Head or northern Dare County beach towns Thursday.
But Ocracoke visitors and residents were ordered off that island at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
By the time ferry service stopped Thursday evening, 678 people had left Ocracoke - including almost all of the visitors and about half of the 800 year-round residents.
Few people from Rodanthe through Hatteras Village seemed to be battening down. The Food Lion grocery store in Avon was boarded up. And some businesses had barred their plate glass windows.
But fewer than 50 houses on Hatteras Island had been shuttered eight hours before the storm was expected to strike near North Carolina's southern border. Ray Williams of Buxton was an exception.
``I boarded mine up last week for Edouard and left it. With this storm twirling right behind it, no sense in taking all the stuff down,'' Williams said, securing plywood pieces over the windows of his mother's house Thursday. Although she evacuated the island last week for Edouard, the 88-year-old woman refused to go for this storm. So her son wanted to make sure her home was secure.
``This house is 100 years old - and it's withstood some storms,'' Williams said from about halfway up a ladder propped against the two-story white cottage. ``Emily kind of leaned her a bit. But I don't think ol' Fran will hit us this time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Ray Williams boards up the windows of his mother's Buxton home on
Thursday. He was an exception - fewer than 50 houses on Hatteras
Island had been protected by mid-afternoon. His mother was refusing
to leave, and he wanted to be sure the house was secure.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FRAN HURRICANES AFTERMATH by CNB