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Isabel screams through Pamlico
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By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE News Editor
Trees, power lines, shingles and vinyl siding fell victim to Hurricane Isabel's wind Thursday as the storm screamed through Beaufort County.
As Isabel's center passed over the area and the wind turned from northeast to southwest, the waters of the Pamlico River were once again forced onto normally dry land, leaving homes and businesses in jeopardy.
The trouble with wind started before the water made its presence known.
One by one, reports of power outages began trickling in early Wednesday night as the storm headed toward the Outer Banks.
Though Isabel's outer fringes had barely skirted the coast by nightfall Wednesday, the storm's size and strength were already being experienced.
One of the first power-outage reports to reach the Daily News was recorded about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
At 5 p.m., the outage affected an area between Bath and Belhaven, the report indicated. A tree limb was the likely culprit, said Heidi Smith, a spokeswoman for Tideland Electric Membership Corp.
Crews were working to restore power to the affected area, Smith said.
Outage reports, followed by statements about downed trees, continued to roll in as the night wore on.
By mid-morning Thursday, the reports were too numerous to count.
The scanner was filled with talk of falling trees, downed power lines and gusty wind.
Even county officials had a difficult time weathering the storm.
As the wind picked up early Thursday morning, reaching a sustained speed of 24 mph and occasionally gusting to 35 mph, a door leading to the Beaufort County emergency operations center was forced open by wind.
The center, housed temporarily at the courthouse annex on Second Street in Washington, was unaffected, but the battered door was left dangling, with its top hinge separate from the door jamb.
Inside the center, county officials were taking calls from worried residents inquiring about shelters and other disaster-related matters.
The county's three shelters -- Northside, Southside and Washington high schools -- opened at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Early Thursday, power at Southside was cut by a falling tree on N.C. Highway 33, said County Manager Paul Spruill. Power was partially restored by a generator, Spruill said.
Later, power would fail at Washington High School, and some residents housed in the shelter would step outside to escape the stifling air in the halls.
Down, not out
The county seemed to be faring well, Spruill said early Thursday, before the worst of the wind and water arrived.
"I think we're in good shape," he said, adding that more bad weather was on the way.
The shelters accommodated about 607 residents, Spruill said. Southside housed about 30; Northside about 311; and Washington High about 267.
"Northside got a lot of Hyde County folks," Spruill related.
Ocracoke Island and mainland Hyde County were evacuated.
Despite the worsening weather, several stores were open Thursday morning to serve people seeking last-minute supplies.
Wal-Mart of Washington was open, though staffed by a skeleton crew, said Jackie Thompson, manager. The store's windows had been boarded up before Isabel arrived.
At around 8 a.m., dozens of residents were shopping for milk, bread, water and batteries.
"We're going to stay open as long as we've got power," Thompson said, adding that emergency generators were two hours away and could be delivered if the lights went out.
Thompson, who's from Myrtle Beach, S.C., was on the beach when Hurricane Hugo came through in 1989, but Isabel was his first major hurricane in Washington.
"Just hope everyone's got what they need and they stay inside and not try to get out in this mess," he said.
At about 10:29 a.m., the National Weather Service reported a gust of 68 mph that occurred at 8 a.m. on Cape Lookout.
Conditions got worse in Washington after 11 a.m., when the automated weather system at Warren Field Airport reported a wind of 28 mph, gusting to 44 mph. A little after noon, the weather system reported a gust of 52 mph.
Downtown, power flickered, but didn't go out.
At about 12:17 p.m., a tree fell on the home of Ashley Stephenson, who lives in Pamlico Village off River Road, taking out the home's power box.
Another tree seemed to be in danger of falling, said Stephenson, who called the Daily News.
Power in that community had been knocked out earlier, but was restored before the storm's core passed by. Later, power again failed in spots along River Road.
Isabel plows onshore
Around 12:20 p.m., the eye of Isabel began making landfall on the Outer Banks between Morehead City and Cape Hatteras, National Weather Service radar showed.
At the airport in Washington, the wind was gusting to near 58 mph by about 1:30 p.m. A scanner report said a tree had fallen on a power line at 15th Street and Holloman Street.
Off Market Street, a large pecan tree near the county tax administration building began bowing in the northeast wind. No major tree damage was seen at that time in the downtown area.
As the day wore on, Tideland said 99 percent of its customers in the area, including all of Hyde County, were in the dark due to the storm.
At 1:40 p.m., the emergency operations center in Beaufort County suspended all fire-rescue services until conditions improved enough to allow crews on the road.
From 2 p.m. until 4:20 p.m., power outages made it difficult for the Daily News to get reports. The newspaper's telephone service, which relies on an in-house electronic switchboard, was repeatedly disrupted and full power didn't return until nightfall.
Starting around 2 p.m. and for approximately 90 minutes Thursday afternoon, the wind made going outside a risky proposition. Still, aside from small tree limbs, no debris was seen on Market Street.
For several hours, wind reports from the airport and the Internet were not available due to the power cut. Though some flooding from stormwater runoff was evident on part of Stewart Parkway, the river hadn't flooded the parkway yet.
As the wind got stronger, a tree fell on an unoccupied mobile home at the Pungo Shores community on the Pungo River, according to a witness.
"I think the winds are shifting to the east," said Joel Raupe, the witness and a resident of the community.
The mobile home was an older home, he said.
"Looks like it crushed it right in half," said Raupe.
Raupe, whose home is near the river, could see rolling whitecaps smashing against a bulkhead and feel wind gusting mightily, he estimated.
"It's like standing up in the back of a pickup truck in a thunderstorm going down the interstate," he concluded.
An extended calm
Some Beaufort County residents who ventured out at around 3:30 p.m. experienced the relative calm of what appeared to be Isabel's eye.
The eye wasn't clear, though, having filled in with clouds.
Minor flooding began in Washington Park and a tree blocked River Road east of Pamlico Village.
A tree also blocked part of N.C. Highway 32 near the area known as the "Y."
At McCotter's Marina near the Washington Yacht & Country Club, a large portion of a boathouse roof had been taken off by a strong wind gust.
The roof, a tin top with wooden supports, had been peeled off in sections and smashed on top of several boats that were in slips under the shelter.
Russ Krainiack of 215 Hilltop Lane saw the roof blow off in a gust he said may have reached 100 mph. The gust removed a sizable section of the roof, and subsequent wind continued taking pieces off over a two-hour period, Krainiack said.
"I mean, it was incredible," he told a couple of reporters.
A few people who live near the marina drifted out during the calm to look at the damage.
Doug and Brenda Keller viewed the rising water from the shortening shore. Doug Keller pointed out a houseboat and a sailboat that had broken loose from their moorings.
As he pointed toward the freed vessels, the boats bumped against each other.
"We keep ours at the house," he said.
The couple lost power at about 1:30 p.m., he added.
The water continued to rise.
Hopes that the tidal surge would reach only 5 feet in the river appeared to dwindle.
At Washington High School, schools Superintendent Anthony Parker said most school facilities were, "For the most part, in pretty good shape." Some trees were down on school property and minor damage had taken place, Parker said.
School officials were deciding whether to cancel classes for Friday.
In one of the school's halls, Delores Johnson of Washington waited to return home. Johnson had been at the shelter since Wednesday night.
Conditions in the shelter were OK, she said, but, "I haven't been to sleep since I've been here."
Isabel turns
As Isabel accelerated to the northwest, its eyewall apparently raked Beaufort County. All morning, a northeast wind had been keeping the frothy Pamlico at bay, but by mid-afternoon, the wind had shifted direction with the passing of the eye.
The water began rising in Washington and points east.
At 4:45 p.m., the Pamlico had overtaken the parking lot at Havens Garden and the water was still rising. On the waterfront off Stewart Parkway, the river had made it to Water Street near the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce.
The water did its work quickly, reaching its peak and drifting back toward the river in less than three hours.
The water began receding around 6 p.m., but remained high for in places for hours.
With phone service still unreliable, information from outside Washington was hard to get. However, a dispatcher with the Belhaven Police Department said water there had risen higher than during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
The dispatcher declined to give her name.
Staff Writer Bill Sandifer contributed to this story.
More complete reports will be published as information is made available.
EDITOR'S NOTE: As Hurricane Isabel roared through Eastern North Carolina Thursday, the Daily News' staff kept track of events, fielding calls from residents and taking note of damage reports that could be confirmed. What follows is an early, mostly chronological report on some of the damage, based on the limited information available Thursday night.
As Isabel's center passed over the area and the wind turned from northeast to southwest, the waters of the Pamlico River were once again forced onto normally dry land, leaving homes and businesses in jeopardy.
The trouble with wind started before the water made its presence known.
One by one, reports of power outages began trickling in early Wednesday night as the storm headed toward the Outer Banks.
Though Isabel's outer fringes had barely skirted the coast by nightfall Wednesday, the storm's size and strength were already being experienced.
One of the first power-outage reports to reach the Daily News was recorded about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
At 5 p.m., the outage affected an area between Bath and Belhaven, the report indicated. A tree limb was the likely culprit, said Heidi Smith, a spokeswoman for Tideland Electric Membership Corp.
Crews were working to restore power to the affected area, Smith said.
Outage reports, followed by statements about downed trees, continued to roll in as the night wore on.
By mid-morning Thursday, the reports were too numerous to count.
The scanner was filled with talk of falling trees, downed power lines and gusty wind.
Even county officials had a difficult time weathering the storm.
As the wind picked up early Thursday morning, reaching a sustained speed of 24 mph and occasionally gusting to 35 mph, a door leading to the Beaufort County emergency operations center was forced open by wind.
The center, housed temporarily at the courthouse annex on Second Street in Washington, was unaffected, but the battered door was left dangling, with its top hinge separate from the door jamb.
Inside the center, county officials were taking calls from worried residents inquiring about shelters and other disaster-related matters.
The county's three shelters -- Northside, Southside and Washington high schools -- opened at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Early Thursday, power at Southside was cut by a falling tree on N.C. Highway 33, said County Manager Paul Spruill. Power was partially restored by a generator, Spruill said.
Later, power would fail at Washington High School, and some residents housed in the shelter would step outside to escape the stifling air in the halls.
Down, not out
The county seemed to be faring well, Spruill said early Thursday, before the worst of the wind and water arrived.
"I think we're in good shape," he said, adding that more bad weather was on the way.
The shelters accommodated about 607 residents, Spruill said. Southside housed about 30; Northside about 311; and Washington High about 267.
"Northside got a lot of Hyde County folks," Spruill related.
Ocracoke Island and mainland Hyde County were evacuated.
Despite the worsening weather, several stores were open Thursday morning to serve people seeking last-minute supplies.
Wal-Mart of Washington was open, though staffed by a skeleton crew, said Jackie Thompson, manager. The store's windows had been boarded up before Isabel arrived.
At around 8 a.m., dozens of residents were shopping for milk, bread, water and batteries.
"We're going to stay open as long as we've got power," Thompson said, adding that emergency generators were two hours away and could be delivered if the lights went out.
Thompson, who's from Myrtle Beach, S.C., was on the beach when Hurricane Hugo came through in 1989, but Isabel was his first major hurricane in Washington.
"Just hope everyone's got what they need and they stay inside and not try to get out in this mess," he said.
At about 10:29 a.m., the National Weather Service reported a gust of 68 mph that occurred at 8 a.m. on Cape Lookout.
Conditions got worse in Washington after 11 a.m., when the automated weather system at Warren Field Airport reported a wind of 28 mph, gusting to 44 mph. A little after noon, the weather system reported a gust of 52 mph.
Downtown, power flickered, but didn't go out.
At about 12:17 p.m., a tree fell on the home of Ashley Stephenson, who lives in Pamlico Village off River Road, taking out the home's power box.
Another tree seemed to be in danger of falling, said Stephenson, who called the Daily News.
Power in that community had been knocked out earlier, but was restored before the storm's core passed by. Later, power again failed in spots along River Road.
Isabel plows onshore
Around 12:20 p.m., the eye of Isabel began making landfall on the Outer Banks between Morehead City and Cape Hatteras, National Weather Service radar showed.
At the airport in Washington, the wind was gusting to near 58 mph by about 1:30 p.m. A scanner report said a tree had fallen on a power line at 15th Street and Holloman Street.
Off Market Street, a large pecan tree near the county tax administration building began bowing in the northeast wind. No major tree damage was seen at that time in the downtown area.
As the day wore on, Tideland said 99 percent of its customers in the area, including all of Hyde County, were in the dark due to the storm.
At 1:40 p.m., the emergency operations center in Beaufort County suspended all fire-rescue services until conditions improved enough to allow crews on the road.
From 2 p.m. until 4:20 p.m., power outages made it difficult for the Daily News to get reports. The newspaper's telephone service, which relies on an in-house electronic switchboard, was repeatedly disrupted and full power didn't return until nightfall.
Starting around 2 p.m. and for approximately 90 minutes Thursday afternoon, the wind made going outside a risky proposition. Still, aside from small tree limbs, no debris was seen on Market Street.
For several hours, wind reports from the airport and the Internet were not available due to the power cut. Though some flooding from stormwater runoff was evident on part of Stewart Parkway, the river hadn't flooded the parkway yet.
As the wind got stronger, a tree fell on an unoccupied mobile home at the Pungo Shores community on the Pungo River, according to a witness.
"I think the winds are shifting to the east," said Joel Raupe, the witness and a resident of the community.
The mobile home was an older home, he said.
"Looks like it crushed it right in half," said Raupe.
Raupe, whose home is near the river, could see rolling whitecaps smashing against a bulkhead and feel wind gusting mightily, he estimated.
"It's like standing up in the back of a pickup truck in a thunderstorm going down the interstate," he concluded.
An extended calm
Some Beaufort County residents who ventured out at around 3:30 p.m. experienced the relative calm of what appeared to be Isabel's eye.
The eye wasn't clear, though, having filled in with clouds.
Minor flooding began in Washington Park and a tree blocked River Road east of Pamlico Village.
A tree also blocked part of N.C. Highway 32 near the area known as the "Y."
At McCotter's Marina near the Washington Yacht & Country Club, a large portion of a boathouse roof had been taken off by a strong wind gust.
The roof, a tin top with wooden supports, had been peeled off in sections and smashed on top of several boats that were in slips under the shelter.
Russ Krainiack of 215 Hilltop Lane saw the roof blow off in a gust he said may have reached 100 mph. The gust removed a sizable section of the roof, and subsequent wind continued taking pieces off over a two-hour period, Krainiack said.
"I mean, it was incredible," he told a couple of reporters.
A few people who live near the marina drifted out during the calm to look at the damage.
Doug and Brenda Keller viewed the rising water from the shortening shore. Doug Keller pointed out a houseboat and a sailboat that had broken loose from their moorings.
As he pointed toward the freed vessels, the boats bumped against each other.
"We keep ours at the house," he said.
The couple lost power at about 1:30 p.m., he added.
The water continued to rise.
Hopes that the tidal surge would reach only 5 feet in the river appeared to dwindle.
At Washington High School, schools Superintendent Anthony Parker said most school facilities were, "For the most part, in pretty good shape." Some trees were down on school property and minor damage had taken place, Parker said.
School officials were deciding whether to cancel classes for Friday.
In one of the school's halls, Delores Johnson of Washington waited to return home. Johnson had been at the shelter since Wednesday night.
Conditions in the shelter were OK, she said, but, "I haven't been to sleep since I've been here."
Isabel turns
As Isabel accelerated to the northwest, its eyewall apparently raked Beaufort County. All morning, a northeast wind had been keeping the frothy Pamlico at bay, but by mid-afternoon, the wind had shifted direction with the passing of the eye.
The water began rising in Washington and points east.
At 4:45 p.m., the Pamlico had overtaken the parking lot at Havens Garden and the water was still rising. On the waterfront off Stewart Parkway, the river had made it to Water Street near the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce.
The water did its work quickly, reaching its peak and drifting back toward the river in less than three hours.
The water began receding around 6 p.m., but remained high for in places for hours.
With phone service still unreliable, information from outside Washington was hard to get. However, a dispatcher with the Belhaven Police Department said water there had risen higher than during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
The dispatcher declined to give her name.
Staff Writer Bill Sandifer contributed to this story.
More complete reports will be published as information is made available.
EDITOR'S NOTE: As Hurricane Isabel roared through Eastern North Carolina Thursday, the Daily News' staff kept track of events, fielding calls from residents and taking note of damage reports that could be confirmed. What follows is an early, mostly chronological report on some of the damage, based on the limited information available Thursday night.
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| A note from the general manager |
