|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edouard Skims New England's Harried CoastBy John M. GoshkoWashington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 3 1996; Page A03 © The Washington Post
Thousands of beachgoers had fled Cape Cod and the island communities off its shores earlier this weekend, causing massive traffic jams, when it appeared that Edouard might make a direct hit here. But today, the hurricane dodged land once again, leaving mostly minor damage in its wake and causing little more than a rainy, windy day at the beach. Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld lifted a state of emergency, and stores and restaurants began to reopen. But store owners said the hurricane had already ruined one of the most important weekends in the tourism-dependent region. Edouard, once with winds of 140 mph, was downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph at 11 p.m. It was about 195 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. But Hurricane Fran was looming, strengthening as it headed toward the Bahamas and the southeastern United States. At 11 p.m., it was about 495 miles east of Nassau, Bahamas, with top sustained winds near 80 mph. "It could be off the coast of Florida or bearing down on Florida in the next 72 hours or so," meteorologist Brian Maher at the National Hurricane Center in Miami told the Associated Press today. But along the Northeast coast that Edouard had threatened this week, the weather was summery. Rhode Island and points south of here reopened their beaches to swimmers as the hurricane-inspired surf calmed down. In North Carolina, huge swells were a thing of the past and sunbathers flocked to a warm, lazy day at the shore. "It's a good final day of summer," Ed Lore, manager of the Surf City Pier, told AP. On this island, most people seemed at least relieved that the hurricane had fallen far short of its advance notice of the gales of 100 mph or more that have rolled up from the Caribbean in the past to cause major damage along the New England coast. There were no fatalities, and police said the only apparent injury was a man banged up by rough surf on Sunday. The biggest disruption was a series of power failures that kept Martha's Vineyard without electricity for long periods throughout the day. There also were large power outages on the cape. Normally, close to 90,000 people are crammed onto this island on Labor Day weekend to mark the end of the summer season. But as Edouard moved ominously up the coast, an exodus began Saturday and continued until the ferries and airplane flights to the mainland shut down Sunday. Still, thousands were left stranded in long lines, with no option other than to wait out the storm in the island's many small inns and bed-and-breakfast operations. After almost 500 guests from four hotels near the water were evacuated as a safety precaution, all remaining hotels were filled to capacity, forcing those without a room or reservation to spend the night on cots at a local high school that was hastily turned into an emergency shelter. "We came for the weekend, and we're here for the weekend whether we like it or not," said Robert Withers of Pelham, N.Y., who with his wife and two daughters, age 5 and 1, were among those who were ordered to leave their waterside hotel and then couldn't get onto one of the last packed ferries out. "We were lucky to get in here," Withers said as he watched the wind and rain from the porch of the 16-room Governor Bradford Inn. "Now we're just watching the forces of nature play out." Michael Wagner, a former state senator from Anne Arundel County, Md., was scheduled to end a week-long vacation on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Carol, and son and daughter-in-law on Tuesday night and decided to wait things out. "We knew the storm was coming," Carol Wagner said, "but we figured that trying to change our plane reservations and our car drop-off plans would be just as aggravating as sticking to our original schedule, even with the storm." The rain that began slowly late Sunday was falling in pelting sheets early this morning, and officials banned all car traffic and ordered people to remain indoors. But by early afternoon, the rain largely had halted, and a few hours later people were venturing out over streets made slick and green by a sodden carpet of fallen leaves and branches. At the water's edge, the winds still were strong enough to keep people from venturing too far. As some stores and restaurants announced plans to reopen tonight and power came back on, telephone lines were jammed by vacationers trying to find out when the ferries and airlines would resume service.
|
