By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 27, 1998; Page A01

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C., Aug. 26—Hurricane Bonnie invaded the North Carolina coast with destructive fury today, moving slowly inland with 115-mph winds and lashing rains, downing trees and power lines and threatening residents with a two-day assault.

The long-awaited hurricane hit the shore at Cape Fear and, slowing its forward motion markedly, passed through Wilmington and on toward Jacksonville another 60 miles up the coast. Howling winds also pummeled other coastal communities, including this vacation town of 7,500, as the storm powered its way in a northeasterly arc.

The Wilmington area turned into a disaster zone, although no serious injuries were reported in the first hours. Water pushed up by the winds flooded highways. Uprooted trees lay across roads and fallen power lines crackled. Rain fell in almost horizontal sheets, and the few people who were out looked as if they were about to blow away, bracing themselves against vehicles as their clothes billowed around them.

With power out in more than 300,000 homes, authorities imposed night-long curfews in Wilmington, Morehead City and as far inland as Greenville, where flooding was reported.

As the night progressed, gusts of 95 mph were recorded in Jacksonville, several tornadoes were reported to have touched down and the dunes at Topsail Beach, midway between Wilmington and Jacksonville, suffered extensive damage from the wind and surf.

Specialists predicted Bonnie will continue its swath from Cape Fear near the southern end of the state to Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks, continuing toward the Virginia border, then perhaps barreling out to sea -- but not before late Thursday and perhaps even Friday. The long hang time, more of it over land than originally forecast, raised chances of extensive damage from high tides, flooding and rain, they warned. Rainfall levels of as much as 20 inches were expected up and down the coast, storm surges of 9 to 10 feet threatened water damage, and other twisters spinning off the storm were possible in eastern North Carolina and extreme southeastern Virginia.

Residents of Virginia's Tidewater region and, to a lesser degree, Maryland's Eastern Shore braced for the rain that moved in front of Bonnie. Officials in southeastern Virginia again urged that low-lying coastal areas susceptible to flooding be evacuated. As Carolinians did before them, Tidewater homeowners nailed plywood over windows, while grocery stores did a brisk business in batteries and food supplies.

Nearly half a million residents and vacationers from 17 North Carolina coastal counties were evacuated, according to state emergency management officials, leaving low-lying areas almost deserted. Another 200,000 were ordered Tuesday to leave Horry and Georgetown counties and other flood-prone areas in South Carolina, but that region apparently escaped the brunt of the storm.

True to its unpredictable nature, Bonnie, a Category 3 hurricane with the potential for extensive damage, continued to defy forecasts, slowing up as it approached the mainland and turned slightly northward, missing its projected landfall by several hours. Weather forecasters, emergency officials and residents expected the worst from the storm -- which measured nearly 400 miles across and threatened communities far from its eye -- as they waited and watched throughout the long day.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol had hoped to send planes over affected areas at the first light of dawn Thursday to assess damage but had to call off the survey because the storm moved so little during the night, said spokesman Jeff Winstead.

Dan Petersen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center near Miami, said Bonnie's slower movement, at a pace of about 10 mph, meant that the hurricane-force winds, those exceeding 75 mph, will "last a little longer." But, he added, the hurricane could weaken gradually as it continues overland. Still, with those hurricane-force winds extending 115 miles on each side of the storm's center, Bonnie brought a bad night to the Carolina coast.

An area of particular concern was the Outer Banks' vulnerable barrier islands, which faced a possible double whammy from the storm, expected in that area early Thursday. About 220,000 people were ordered off the islands Tuesday, and, it turned out, for good reason.

Dare County Emergency Services officials said they were concerned that rotating winds of the hurricane would pile up water in the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and nearby rivers, just west of the Outer Banks, and that once the storm passed, the water would come rushing back in a surge and inundate homes on the western side of the islands.

That phenomenon, coupled with high offshore winds and an Atlantic storm surge, seemed to ensure not only a two-flank assault on the narrow islands -- which residents said they had not seen in years -- but also was expected to pose danger to beachfront homeowners lulled into a false sense of security by moving toward the sound side.

Moreover, Bonnie's approach coincided with two high tides -- one occurring on south-facing beaches below Ocracoke Island, and another on east-facing beaches further north -- thereby compounding the effects of the storm surges and dramatically raising the water levels both in the Atlantic Ocean and the sounds.

Many residents remained on the islands, having refused to leave, then lost their chance to change their minds with the coming storm.

Local authorities estimated about 10,000 of the Outer Banks' approximately 27,000 permanent residents have stayed, although virtually all of the more than 200,000 vacationers heeded the mandatory evacuation order and left. Officials said they do not have the manpower to enforce mandatory evacuation orders.

Emergency coordinators said residents who have not fled should "hunker down" and not try to leave, because of the danger of encountering flash floods while driving. Bridges linking the Outer Banks to the mainland cross sounds that have had dangerous rises in water levels.

Forty-seven people who stayed on Bald Head Island, which includes Cape Fear, took refuge in the Old Baldy Lighthouse as the storm closed in, Andy James, a spokesman for the State Emergency Response Team, told the Associated Press.

Five municipalities on the Outer Banks declared a state of emergency, which allows them to impose curfews and prohibit the sale of alcohol and firearms if they decide such restrictions are needed. In Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, police issued an order against swimming and wading in the increasingly rough ocean. A few surfers were ticketed for violating the order, but for the most part, the beaches were deserted as dark, low clouds and heavy fog moved in.

On Atlantic Beach, just south of Morehead City, Fire Chief Jimmy Leonard estimated that 95 percent of the town's estimated 8,000 residents obeyed the order to leave their homes. "We're getting some right good gusts," Leonard said this afternoon. "It's raining harder, then slacking up, and then raining hard. Our wind gauge is broke, so we don't know what the wind is." The gauge broke sometime today because of the force of the gusts, he added.

Along U.S. 70 here, nonworking traffic lights flapped in the wind, and trees were bent but not uprooted -- yet. A tornado was spotted about 5 p.m. between Jacksonville and Richlands, and a warning was issued.

Bill Furney, a spokesman for the state emergency response team, based in Raleigh, said that the dual assaults from Hurricanes Bertha and Fran two years ago alerted residents to the dangerous power of hurricanes. Fran, the last major storm to hit the Wilmington area, in September 1996, plowed through the middle of the state instead of taking an expected northern turn, causing $5.2 billion in damages and 24 deaths. Bertha was a lesser storm.

"Until Fran and Bertha hit, it had been so long since we had gotten creamed that people were complacent," Furney said. "There had been close calls, near-misses. But after Fran, people started to take these things seriously."

Another hurricane building strength deep in the Atlantic, taking much the same path as Bonnie, did not escape notice. Hurricane Danielle, with winds of 105 mph, was days away from being a threat to the U.S. mainland, and National Hurricane Center forecasters could not predict yet what it might do.

"I guess that's part of living on the coast, the threat of hurricanes," Furney sighed. "There had been a lull, but now they are back."

At the First Baptist Church here, hurricane campers -- church members who decided the building was safer than their homes -- were trying to make the best of things. "We're kind of having a hurricane party," said minister of music Jeff Allred. "We're also praying a lot. I can't say a hurricane is a beautiful thing, but it's an awe-inspiring thing. You get to see the power of God through nature."

Allred had his limits, however. "I'll stay for a Category 3," he said, "but if it's a 4, I'm hitting the road."

Staff writers William Claiborne in Nags Head, Edward Walsh in Morehead City and Dan Eggen in Virginia Beach contributed to this report.

Storm Categories

The first major hurricane of the season, Bonnie has reached Category 3 status by packing 115-mph winds.

1

Winds: 74-95 mph

Example: Florence (1988)

Effects: Damage to mobile homes, trees and piers. Some coastal road flooding.

2

Winds: 96-110 mph

Example: Bob (1991)

Effects: Roof and window damage. Considerable damage to vegetation, mobile homes and piers. Coastal roads cut off by flooding.

3

Winds: 111-130 mph

Example: Alicia (1983)

Effects: Structural damage to small buildings. Mobile homes destroyed. Terrain lower than five feet above sea level may be flooded inland eight miles or more.

4

Winds: 131-155 mph

Example: Andrew (1992)

Effects: Roofs destroyed. Major beach erosion. Terrain lower than 10 feet may be flooded. Evacuations as far as six miles inland.

5

Winds: Above 155 mph

Example: Camille (1969)

Effects: Buildings destroyed. Evacuations within five to 10 miles of shore.

SOURCE: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration