Tropical Storm Hanna Drenches Washington Region

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Sights and Sounds of Tropical Storm Hanna

Despite Tropical Storm Hanna's downpour, locals and tourists tried to go about their day in Washington, D.C. The situation was worse in the Huntington area of Fairfax County, where 114 homes were evacuated because of flooding.

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Many rain gauges in the Northern Virginia area gave readings of six and seven inches.

Hanna made landfall around 3:15 a.m. near the North Carolina-South Carolina border, downing trees, cutting power and swelling the surf along the region's coastline. By 6 a.m., the fast-moving storm was already dumping rain on southern Virginia, with emergency officials braced for flooding, wind damage and possible tornadoes.

Hanna lashed the Carolinas with winds about 50 mph and heavy rains as it came ashore overnight, but it moved quickly enough that it caused little damage beyond isolated flooding and power outages.

"Right now we're just keeping an eye on things and making sure we stay ahead of the eight-ball," said Moore County, N.C., public safety director Carlton Cole. "It's nowhere near as bad as it could have been."

In preparing for the storm, the American Red Cross said it had 2,300 volunteers mobilized in Virginia, along with 9,600 cots and blankets, and similar preparations have been made in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, said Armond Mascelli, Red Cross vice president of disaster operations.

Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore were also prepared for the brunt of the storm. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) issued an expanded emergency declaration yesterday covering the entire state.

In Richmond, NASCAR lovers had hoped tonight's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 would roar on as planned, but it and another race Friday were postponed. Some fans, sensing the coming torrent, had rushed to unload tickets below face value.

Professional storm watchers tried to put Hanna in historical perspective.

"It's definitely not nice weather, but it shouldn't be compared to the weather we had with Hurricane Isabel," said Mark Hoekzema, chief meteorologist at WeatherBug. The 2003 storm battered parts of the region, closed the federal government, schools and business, and left more than 1 million residents without power.

Still, even more modest storms, such as Gaston a year later, as well as Hanna, can offer opportunities for bad decisions.

"Most deaths from these types of storms come from flooding, from people driving into floodwaters or falling into rivers . . . and just being careless and not respecting the power of moving water," Hoekzema said. People should "stay away from streams that are running very fast. Use common sense. That's just to stay inside when it's raining really hard. That would go a long way."

Staff writers Lena H. Sun, Nikita Stewart, Martin Weil, staff researcher Meg Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this report.