Thousands lose power as Isabel comes ashore
The large eye of a weakened Hurricane Isabel crossed the coastal islands off North Carolina today as the storm pounded the coast.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were blacked out, and air travel was disrupted across the United States’ eastern coast.
Most of the Outer Banks islands were nearly empty as rain flew at a 45-degree angle, driven by 96kph (60mph) wind gusts. Sea swells up to 10 meters (33 feet) were reported off the coast of Virginia.
The storm’s eye came ashore after noon along the southern Outer Banks, just south of Ocracoke Island, where about 100 of the more than 900 residents chose to ride out the storm, the hurricane centre said.
Isabel’s top sustained wind had eased to 160kph (100mph) as it neared land, and wind was measured at 128kph (80mph) before noon on Ocracoke Island, with a gust to 169kph (105mph), the National Hurricane Centre said. It was expected to continue weakening after hitting land.
A storm surge of 1.5 to 1.8 meters (five to six feet) was reported at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the hurricane centre said. There was a threat of isolated tornadoes in parts of North Carolina, Virginia and south-eastern Maryland, meteorologists said.
“This is still a very powerful storm,” hurricane centre director Max Mayfield said after the eye came ashore. ”This is a very large hurricane and very well defined.”
At 1800 GMT, the centre of Isabel’s “very large eye” was over Pamlico Sound, between the mainland and the Outer Banks, or 104km (65 miles) east-south-east of Greenville, North Carolina, the hurricane centre said. It had picked up speed, moving north-west at around 29kph (18mph). It was expected to stay at a similar strength and could spawn isolated tornadoes in eastern North Carolina and south-eastern Virginia.
Forecasters said Isabel was expected to maintain its status as a hurricane, with sustained wind of at least 119kph (74mph), for about 12 hours after landfall. It was expected to move north across North Carolina and Virginia and then take a path through western Pennsylvania and western New York state before dissipating in Canada by Saturday.
More than 638,000 customers had lost power by early afternoon in south-eastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina, power companies said.
More than 300,000 people in the two states had been urged to move to higher ground.
But a few thousand people ignored evacuation orders. Virginia Beach police suggested they write their names in permanent marker on their forearms so they can be identified if they are injured or killed.
Governors of several states, including West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, declared emergencies.
The federal government shut down in Washington. Train services were halted south of the capital, and the Washington-area Metro system shut down all subway and bus service.
Well over 1,500 flights were cancelled for airports in the major eastern cities, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travellers Association. As the storm moved northward, all flights to and from the Washington metropolitan area’s airports were likely to be cancelled, he said.
Three British airline companies – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and british midland – cancelled flights from Britain to Washington, DC and Baltimore. Other flights from Europe appeared to be largely unaffected.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed air traffic control tower in Norfolk, Virginia, and in New Bern and Kinston, North Carolina, the FAA said.
At Virginia Beach, Virginia, huge waves destroyed a small piece of a 120-meter (400-foot) long pier, officials said.
Numerous schools closed throughout the area.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina to the Virginia-Maryland line. A tropical storm warning extended northward to New York’s Long Island, including parts of New York City.
Up to 30cm (one foot) of rain was possible in West Virginia’s hilly Eastern Panhandle and 15 to 23cm (six to nine inches) of rain was forecast for parts of Pennsylvania.
Because of the already wet soil from a rainy summer, the US Geological Survey said there was a potential of landslides in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
