Evacuees jam East Coast highways as Floyd heads for Carolinas
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -- More coastal residents fled inland<br>today in the nation's biggest evacuation ever as Hurricane Floyd<br>thrashed along the southern Atlantic coast, pounding beaches with<br>heavy
Wednesday, September 15th 1999, 12:00 am
By: News On 6
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -- More coastal residents fled inland today in the nation's biggest evacuation ever as Hurricane Floyd thrashed along the southern Atlantic coast, pounding beaches with heavy surf and ripping down tree limbs and power lines.
Myrtle Beach and Jacksonville, Fla., were virtual ghost towns today as people fled or stayed indoors. Traffic jams clogged highways around Wilmington, N.C.
Some 2.6 million people had been urged to evacuate, said officials in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, and more people joined the exodus today in North Carolina.
It was the biggest evacuation in U.S. history, federal emergency officials said.
A shelter in a Wilmington school took in about 110 evacuees in less than an hour after opening today.
"They talk like this one is going to be pretty mean. It's got everybody shook up," said Terry Hurley, who went to the shelter with his wife and two young children.
Thousands of Florida residents were without power, but that state escaped the worst as Floyd swung northward.
The storm weakened today to a Category 3 hurricane, with sustained wind blowing at 120 mph instead of the peak of nearly 155 mph when it battered the Bahamas. The enormous storm spread rain along the coast from Florida to Connecticut, and heavy surf advisories were posted as far north as Massachusetts' Cape Cod.
Floyd is expected to make landfall about 5 to 6 a.m. Thursday between Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Wilmington, N.C., said meteorologist Todd Kimberlain at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm was gaining energy from the warm water of the Gulf Stream but its wind was not likely to reach Category 4's 131 mph.
After making landfall, the storm's wind and pouring rain were expected to weaken but make life miserable all the way up the coast toward Canada's New Brunswick.
A citywide curfew was set for 3 p.m. today in Myrtle Beach. Violators would get a warning, then a ticket, and would be arrested if they still disobeyed.
"We don't need to be worrying about them and we don't need them out in the weather," spokesman Mark Kruea said.
In Beaufort County, at South Carolina's southern tip, about 90 percent of the nearly 120,000 residents had cleared out. "It's like a tomb out here now," said Bud Boyne, the county's emergency operations center spokesman.
Jacksonville, Fla., a city of 1 million, also looked deserted today with funnel clouds visible and dark clouds circling overhead. Surf crashed onto city streets in Jacksonville Beach and nearby Flagler County closed a seaside highway because of waves.
Officials in North Carolina ordered evacuations for the barrier islands outside Wilmington and up the coast for the Outer Banks, the fragile islands that were battered by Hurricane Dennis last week.
Traffic ground to a halt in massive jams on Interstate 40 and other highways leading inland from Wilmington, where heavy rain flooded streets.
A tornado touched down in a rural area north of Wilmington today without causing damage.
Three years ago, Hurricane Fran caused about $6 billion in damage when it blew ashore at Wilmington and raced along Interstate 40 into Raleigh.
Although Floyd stayed off Florida's Atlantic coast during the night, parts of the state were raked by gusts to 76 mph at Cape Canaveral and 69 mph in Daytona Beach. Snapped tree limbs and power lines left more than 100,000 people without electricity today. A weather buoy more than 20 miles off Cape Canaveral measured a 54-foot wave as Floyd's eye passed over during the night.
Some 350 miles northeast of Jacksonville, eight people abandoned a sinking tugboat today, but it was not clear if the weather was directly responsible for the ship taking on water. "Floyd did not help the situation," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer John Ware in Miami.
No significant damage was reported at the Kennedy Space Center. The complex was deserted except for 102 volunteers who stayed to ride out Floyd, which NASA feared could destroy launch pads and the hangars where the space shuttles are kept.
At 3 p.m. EDT, the storm's center was about 200 miles south of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Floyd was moving almost due northward at 15 mph, and that motion was expected to continue today with a gradual turn toward the north-northeast on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.
A hurricane warning was in effect from near the Florida-Georgia state line to the North Carolina-Virginia line. A hurricane watch continued from there to Chincoteague, Va., and a tropical storm watch was extended to the eastern tip of New York's Long Island.
Floyd's expected track would take its wind and rain across Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the New York City area, and into Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces by Saturday night.
Floyd could still have 52 mph wind when it hits the Bangor, Maine, area, forecasters said.
On the south side of New York's Long Island, authorities asked people to get off Fire Island by Thursday morning because high wind might halt ferry service.
Hundreds of airline flights in and out of Florida and Georgia had been canceled, and all Amtrak service had been suspended south of Washington.
Walt Disney World remained closed today after shutting down Tuesday for the first time in its 28-year history. But SeaWorld was reopening today and planned an evening "Farewell to Floyd" fireworks show.
Get The Daily Update!
Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!