People flee homes as hurricane closes in
About 100,000 people had been urged to evacuate before the storm hit land along the Outer Banks, where rough surf was already pounding the thin, 120-mile-long chain of islands.
Isabel was a strong Category 2 storm yesterday on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, with sustained wind near 110mph. Forecasters predicted little change in strength before landfall for Isabel, the biggest storm to hit the region since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
The evacuation had been steady and orderly but authorities said that was because many people were biding their time, waiting to see the latest forecasts before heading out.
A seven to 11-foot storm surge was expected near the area where the centre strikes the coast, the National Hurricane Centre said. A surge of up to seven feet was likely inside southern Chesapeake Bay, forecasters said.
About 180 miles up the coast, people were busy boarding up windows on Virginia's Chincoteague Island.
"I love storms, and people are just freaking out," said Carol Patton, manager of Don's Seafood Restaurant. "They're panicking, saying we're going to get it really bad. I've never seen the town boarded up like it is today."
Others were less concerned. With Isabel weakened, Joe Hardison said he would stay aboard his 35ft houseboat on Bogue Sound at Morehead City, west of Cape Lookout, and ride it out as he did earlier storms over the years.
"If (the boat) breaks loose, it's going to run aground somewhere. If it does, I'll step off," said the 59-year-old, who had stocked his vessel with 120 pounds of ice, 50 gallons of water and a half gallon of rum.
Governors of North Carolina and Maryland have declared states of emergency.
In addition to the civilian evacuations, about 6,000 military personnel and their families on or near Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, were ordered to leave. Colleges and universities in eastern Virginia, including the College of William and Mary, said they would close yesterday and ordered their students to leave.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina northward to the Virginia-Maryland state line, including most of Chesapeake Bay. Tropical storm watches extended northward to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and southward along the South Carolina coast.
"People still need to understand this is a very formidable hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami. "Its track has been very consistent."
He said Floyd was only a Category 2 storm but caused up to $4.6 billion in damage and 56 deaths in the US.
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