THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609080044
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: 123 lines
Fran's toll rose Saturday to 22 dead and more than $1.5 billion in damage - and the numbers could yet rise.
In North Carolina, where 16 were killed, residents of wrecked coastal communities began to get their first look at what is left of their homes. Some are finding little, their neighborhoods wiped out.
Inland, in Raleigh and surrounding Wake County, 4,000 homes were uninhabitable.
Statewide, more than 840,000 utility customers were still without service Saturday morning, and utility companies warned that it could take up to a week for everyone to get power again. At least three entire counties, and a number of cities and towns, lacked power.
Residents in one oceanside county suffered a critical shortage of water, and inland, dams were weakening and risked being breached by floodwaters.
In Surf City, homeowner Marvin Terrell talked to his daughter over his cellular phone as he eased his four-wheel-drive truck over the wreckage. ``It's just so bad you can't imagine it,'' he told her. ``I'm one street away from the beach and the first row of houses are all gone.''
Along one stretch of the barrier island community, 20 oceanfront houses in a row were obliterated. Streets were covered with so much water that fish were jumping in them.
The same area was hit by Bertha in mid-July, but it has become clear that Bertha was nothing compared to Fran.
Bertha moved up the coast while Fran plowed deep inland, knocking down trees and power lines in Raleigh, the capital, and dumping up to 14.5 inches of rain, causing flash flooding.
The Insurance Information Institute estimated losses to insured private property owners at $625 million, but the overall total was sure to be much higher. In Raleigh and Wake County alone, losses will exceed $930 million, said a county emergency management spokesman, Frank Cope.
Richard Erickson, a spokesman for the USAA insurance company - the nation's fourth-largest home insurer - said that by 3 p.m. Saturday the company had already received 5,600 property claims and 650 auto damage claims. The majority were from the Wilmington, Jacksonville and Raleigh areas.
In comparison, ``We had fewer than 5,000 total claims for Bertha,'' said Erickson. The company paid out $18.9 million for Bertha but expects to write a lot more checks this time.
In Virginia, the death toll remained one. Two people were killed in South Carolina and two in West Virginia.
Along the hard-hit coast, Topsail Island town officials estimated 90 to 95 percent of oceanfront property was destroyed or heavily damaged. The figures were similar in Surf City. ``We haven't even been able to finish the assessment on Bertha, it was such a short time ago,'' said Doug Medlin, a Surf City town councilman. ``That will be in the millions. This will be a lot of millions.''
One of the handful of the mostly seasonal residents who refused to evacuate was Ed Bradshaw, a charter boat captain.
``It was a lot of wind that went on for hours, throwing a lot of ocean on us,'' said Bradshaw. ``I was in the Navy and I rode out three of them at sea, but I've never seen so much water from one.''
After an hour of allowing residents back to their homes, police and soldiers set up roadblocks and made people walk because so many vehicles had become mired in sand and muck.
Leslie Telford, 24, who recently moved here from Fairfax County, Va., peered from the second floor of her home two blocks from the sea.
``I'm in shock,'' she said as she looked at a stretch of beach where 20 homes were reduced to broken pilings. ``Now we have an oceanfront view.''
Carolina Power & Light said Saturday that some 4,000 utility poles were destroyed and about 1,000 miles of downed power lines have to be replaced or repaired.
With no electricity, people couldn't pump water from wells or gasoline from service station tanks.
``People are getting a little testy,'' said Neil Brennecke, who waited 20 minutes to fill his truck with gas in Raleigh.
In rural areas, people turned to backyard grills to cook the contents of their freezers before the food went bad.
Some damage summaries as of Saturday afternoon, according to the North Carolina Office of Emergency Management:
Alamance: One death when a tree fell on a house; Old Stoney Creek dam at the Burlington City reservoir overflowed, sides of the dam eroding; 60,000 people, including the entire town of Mebane, without power.
Beaufort: Standing water in Belhaven; 350 homes, 50 businesses flooded.
Bertie: Half the county is without power.
Bladen: Entire county blacked out. Most roads in Bladenboro blocked and impassable; downtown business district flooded.
Carteret: Highway 24 between Morehead City and Cape Carteret is impassable; severe water damage reported at Atlantic Beach; entire county blacked out.
Dare: Little damage; most power restored; ferries are running from Hatteras to Ocracoke.
Granville: Interstate 85 closed at mile marker 217.
Guilford: 30,000 people without power in High Point. Trees and power lines down over many roads.
Halifax: City of Weldon without power.
Harnett: 33 homes and one business destroyed; 353 homes and 25 businesses with major damage.
Henderson: U.S. 64 and 74 covered by a mudslide, isolating Bat Cave and Gerton; 1,000 people without power; U.S. 64 east of the Continental Divide closed by flooding.
Johnston: I-40 East is closed at the 312-mile marker because of flooding; dam at Panther Lake is weakening.
Martin: 90 percent of county without power.
New Hanover: Catastrophic damage to entire county; road and beach bridges closed; Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach are expected to be closed four to seven days; high water reported on I-40 at county line.
Onslow: Power outages throughout the county; critical water shortage; heavy flooding in Jacksonville area; North Topsail Beach destroyed.
Pender: Dusk-to-dawn curfew; structural damage reported throughout the county; nearly every road blocked by debris; access to Topsail Beach and Surf City will be allowed in a few days, but restricted to property owners with four-wheel drive vehicles.
Wake: Four people killed, 130 hurt; 4,000 homes uninhabitable, 250 homes or apartments isolated and about 375 industries and businesses report damage; numerous roads closed. Silver Lake Dam at Lake Wheeler breached; Bass Lake Dam breached and emptied into Sunset Lake; Sunset Lake in imminent damage of breaching. MEMO: Staff writer Steve Stone contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In North Topsail Beach, N.C., a bicyclist still could ride along the
water Saturday. But, as the shorn pilings of this home show, North
Topsail Beach was destroyed.
KEYWORDS: NORTH CAROLINA HURRICANES HURRICANE FRAN
AFTERMATH by CNB