CNN - Hurricane Fran's wrath leaves costly toll behind

North Carolina, Virginia declared disaster areas

September 6, 1996
Web posted at: 9:20 p.m. EDT

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (CNN) -- North Carolina was declared a disaster area Friday after Hurricane Fran ripped up the state's coastline, triggering widespread flooding inland and tearing the roofs off beachfront homes. (4 sec. /51K AIFF or WAV sound)

President Clinton Friday also granted disaster status to Virginia, which escaped the brunt of the storm's raging winds but is plagued with major flooding. (1.4M QuickTime movie)

The declarations clear the way for federal assistance in cleanup efforts. As many as 17 deaths have been blamed on the hurricane, and 1.5 million households in North Carolina, alone, remained without electricity Friday night. (23 sec. /513 K AIFF or WAV sound)

The eye of the storm howled across Cape Fear and Wilmington, North Carolina, just after sunset Thursday, packing 115 mph (184 kph) winds and dragging a 12-foot (3.6-meter) storm surge behind it. That one-two punch socked beaches already washed out by Hurricane Bertha in July. (13 sec. /145K AIFF or WAV sound)

The storm toppled the Duplin County Courthouse's dome in Kenansville, North Carolina. By dawn Friday the broken shell was gone, spirited away in a police officer's pickup.

Although Fran was downgraded to a tropical depression Friday afternoon, it continued to run itself out from the mountains of Carolina into Virginia and Pennsylvania, dumping heavy rains throughout the northeastern region and causing widespread power outages.

Pricey damage

The full extent of the damage is not yet known. Initial estimates suggest the coastline suffered $625 million worth of damage, which would make Fran the sixth most expensive hurricane in U.S. history. The cost could rise once reports begin to come in from North Carolina's barrier islands.

Even without those, it is clear that Fran left a mess behind her. Throughout North Carolina and even in parts of South Carolina, which saw more rain than damage, power was cut when trees fell on power lines.

In coastal areas, trees in the hurricane's path snapped like twigs. Boats were lifted from the piers where they were moored and traveled wherever the waters took them -- to parking lots, next to trailer homes, next to highways. The entire town of Carolina Beach was 8 feet under water for a time -- swamping homes, hotels, and condos.

Wilmington saw its share of the storm as well. Casualties could have been serious: Fran sheared the roof off a full motel, but the guests were safe. "We went back to bed after that and slept the night there. Nobody left," said motel guest E.M. Hollingsworth.

The most dramatic damage so far is in the town of Surf City, north of Wilmington, where Fran flattened beach houses by the dozen, reducing many to heaps of shattered lumber.

Some North Carolina residents have yet to find out what happened on their property. Police continue to turn people away from bridges leading to beach areas, leaving residents such as Phil and Charlie McGee frustrated.

"This just makes you sick to your stomach that everything you lived and you worked for all your life is sitting over there, and you don't know what's going on with it," Phil said.

Virginia floods

Though Virginia saw little of Fran's winds, several days of steady rain saturated the ground in parts of the state even before the tropical depression showed up, bringing as much as 10 inches of rain.

As a result, several hundred families were stranded by flooding. The Virginia Electric Power Company said nearly half a million customers were without power.

The National Weather Service told CNN that several small tributaries feeding into the Shenendoah and Potomac rivers will crest Saturday morning, most at more than 10 feet above flood stage.

The Roanoke River is expected to flood later Friday night, the James River is expected to jump its banks by Sunday, and the Appamatox River may flood by Monday, according to officials at the Virginia Emergency Operation Center.

Correspondents Charles Zewe, John Holliman, and Brian Cabell contributed to this report.