NEW YORK (20 Sep 2003) -- Hurricane Isabel petered out over Canada last night, leaving a wide scar of destruction: nearly two dozen deaths, flooded cities in Virginia and Maryland, millions of people without power and tens of thousands of fallen trees that punctured roofs and blocked roads from North Carolina to New Jersey. As people on North Carolina's Outer Banks began cleaning up, residents of Baltimore were forced to flee the rising waters of a storm-swollen Chesapeake Bay. The waters reached six feet in places before receding yesterday afternoon, leaving neighborhoods looking like Venice as people used rafts and kayaks to maneuver the narrow streets. Waters from the Potomac River coursed into the streets of Alexandria, Va., flooding stores and homes in the historic Old Town district. Forecasters said heavy rains in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley yesterday morning would probably create flooding in parts of central and northern Virginia as well as in northern Maryland today as rivers crest. "I hesitate to say the worst is over," said Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "That's when most deaths occur, after the storm is gone." At least 23 deaths were attributed to the storm, including 14 in Virginia. Most were the result of traffic accidents during high winds and rain, or from trees toppling onto cars or houses. Two people in Virginia died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a poorly ventilated generator. At the request of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., President Bush declared Maryland a disaster area, making residents in Baltimore and more than two dozen counties eligible for federal assistance. Mr. Bush had already designated North Carolina and Virginia disaster areas. Much of the region remained dark last night as more than 10,000 electrical workers scrambled to remove trees that had knocked down power lines. Officials said more than 3 million homes and businesses still had no electricity, including 1.5 million in Virginia, 353,000 in North Carolina and 1.1 million in Maryland. Power company officials warned that it could take a week or longer to restore power in some places. Though government officials said it was too early to estimate the damage, an industry group projected $1 billion in property losses covered by private insurance. By comparison, Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused more than $2 billion in insured losses, said the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit group financed by the industry. The estimate does not include damage from flooding, which is covered by federal flood insurance. Though winds reached 100 m.p.h. over North Carolina on Thursday, Hurricane Floyd covered a bigger area and moved much slower, lingering long enough to leave heavier rains and cause worse flooding, experts said. "We're lucky Isabel moved as quickly as she did," said Michael A. Sager, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pa. "It means we got less rain." Eleven inches of rain fell on the central Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia, and four to six inches soaked eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia, the National Weather Service said. The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday night. Churning winds also caused a tidal surge of 11.3 feet in the Potomac River near Washington, eclipsing a record set in 1933 by more than two inches, the weather service said. The nation's capital was quiet today, with the federal government shut down for the second day. Many major intersections were blocked by downed trees and much of the city was without power. By the time the storm reached Pennsylvania and West Virginia on Thursday night, it had weakened so much that only one to three inches of rain fell. But tens of thousands of people lost power in the two states, and there were reports of flash floods in West Virginia. | | In the hardest-hit areas of North Carolina and Virginia, clear skies and 80-degree weather made it easy today to forget the howling winds and horizontal rain of Thursday, until one surveyed the damage. In North Carolina's historic Edenton, picture-perfect Victorian houses had been smashed by falling trees. Scores of roads remained blocked by trees. A new inlet was carved in Cape Hatteras, and the remains of a house floated in Pamlico Sound. Damage was severe enough that officials maintained curfews in Norfolk, Va., as well as Manteo, N.C., and other towns on the Outer Banks. Many roads on Cape Hatteras remained impassable, and the police told people leaving Roanoke Island for the mainland that they could not return. In Pamlico County on the central North Carolina coast, officials opened an extra shelter today in the expectation that many returning evacuees would find their homes uninhabitable. "I have a feeling some of them will get to their homes and when they see the flooding, they will end up coming back," said David Spruill, Pamlico County's emergency manager. Along Virginia Beach's boardwalk, high winds tore holes in several hotels, ripped 30 feet off the 15th Street fishing pier and pushed sand over a five-foot-high flood wall. But many residents said the damage was less severe than they had expected. "I'm elated," said Betty Lachman, co-owner of Ocean Eddie's Seafood Restaurant on the pier, which sustained minimal damage. "We plan to open tomorrow." Several blocks away in the upscale Bay Colony area, where scores of towering pine and oak trees toppled, Carolyn Kelsey raked up limbs from a splintered tree that had just missed her daughter's bedroom. As she worked, an electrical worker stopped by to give her a grim assessment of the area's lack of power. "It's not pretty," he said. "Our crews won't get here today, and we won't get here tomorrow. What can you expect when we've got 1,500 sites to fix?" In Chesapeake, a Virginia city on the North Carolina border, residents used chain saws to clear rural roads clogged with dozens of fallen pecan, cedar and gum trees. "We've lived in this area for 40 years, and this is the worst storm we've seen," said Nettie Grandy, 59. Experts said Baltimore was hit by a dual punch. At the same time the storm's winds were pushing water in the Chesapeake Bay northward, inland rivers that had been swollen by heavy rains earlier this week were pushing water south into the bay. The rising waters met in Baltimore. The result was flooding in the city's Fell's Point, Inner Harbor and Canton districts, as well as in the eastern part of Baltimore County and in Annapolis. "I've been here since 1985 and seen Hurricane Hugo, Gloria and Andrew," said Doug Woods, whose bar, the Admiral's Cup, was flooded with six feet of water. "Those were class three, four hurricanes and the water was never as high as this tropical storm." The Baltimore Museum of Industry, next to the harbor, had its pier washed away and a basement archive room flooded with six feet of water. The museum's collection of National Bohemian Beer artifacts and antique printing presses was under water. Elsewhere, cars were submerged, destroying their engines and interiors. Basements of businesses and homes were flooded, ruining antique pool tables, electronic equipment and sushi-grade tuna. But the waters also brought out the community. Neighborhood bars opened in the morning and crowds toasted the watery spectacle until the health department shut them down for operating without electricity. |
