THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609070181
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 55 lines
Clear blue skies and raging torrents of flood water were left behind Friday as Hurricane Fran rapidly weakened as it moved deep inland into West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Meanwhile, forecasters are tracking another tropical depression in the Atlantic that, they say, could soon become Tropical Storm Hortense.
By 5 p.m., Fran's top sustained winds had dropped from a peak of 115 mph at landfall Thursday night to 35 mph. It was centered about 40 miles southeast of Elkins, W.Va., moving north near 14 mph. A gradual turn toward the north-northeast and deceleration are expected today.
Rain bands around the storm reached far ahead of its center, however, and the depression was bringing rain to a wide area from northern Virginia to western New York and southern Canada.
And the storm continued to prove a potent rain maker as it slid up against the Appalachian Mountains where the heightened terrain served to squeeze out huge amounts of moisture.
Forecasts that the remnants of the storm would slow were not good news for people in its path, said John Hope, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel in Atlanta.
``The slower it goes, the more rain will fall,'' he said Friday. ``Those mountains will squeeze a little more water out of it than we ordinarily would get.''
Rainfall totals of 6 to 8 inches are possible near the path of the depression, said Ed Rappaport, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. ``And there is the potential for floods.''
By late afternoon, heavy rain had spread over western and central Pennsylvania and flash flood watches were in effect through today for most of Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
And the storm was still kicking up some strong gusts of winds that were uprooting trees in western Pennsylvania, the National Weather Service said.
``Mountain tops can see gusts to 65 or 70 mph while lower elevations would see 55 or 60 mph gusts,'' the Weather Service office in Pittsburgh said Friday night. ``Power outages and more downed trees along with other property damage is likely. Drivers of high profile vehicles should prepare for strong cross winds.''
As Fran blew into history, meteorologists were tracking Tropical Depression 8 as it neared the central Lesser Antilles.
At 5 p.m., it was about 250 miles east of the islands, moving west near 12 mph. That motion was expected to continue through this morning.
``This is going to bear watching,'' said Weather Channel meteorologist Terri Smith. ``We are expecting this to continue to strengthen. We can see a pretty well-defined center of circulation and it seems to be getting a little better organized.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Tracker's Guide
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