Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993 TAG: 9308310243
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and Landmark News Service
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ Emergency planners huddled in Virginia and North Carolina late Monday as Hurricane Emily moved slowly toward the coast.
The National Weather Service said Emily was expected to hit near Cape Hatteras this evening, then track north across the Hampton Roads cities by Wednesday morning. The storm then was expected to head northeast across the Chesapeake Bay to Maryland's Eastern Shore.
At 11 p.m., The hurricane's maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph, up from 85 mph six hours earlier, and additional strengthening was likely. Its center was about 225 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, near latitude 32.5 degrees north and longitude 73.5 degrees west.
"It looks like it will strengthen even more than we originally thought," said Bob Sheets, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. He said Emily could build to a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 115 mph.
The entire Virginia coast and the Chesapeake Bay were under a hurricane watch Monday night.
As a precaution, Gov. Douglas Wilder declared a state of emergency. Under the order signed Monday evening, Wilder placed the Virginia National Guard on alert should it be needed.
"We're not evacuating anyone right now because the storm's progress is really slow," said Teresa Lazar, an emergency planner in Virginia Beach. But she said Virginia Beach officials and their counterparts in other Hampton Roads cities were contacting trailer parks and campgrounds where people probably would need shelter.
Early wind from the storm, up to about 20 mph, began to blow over the Outer Banks on Monday evening. Ocean swells along the coast had grown to 10 feet.
"I'm taking this seriously after Hugo and Andrew," said Hatteras Island native Janice Spake, 43.
Though Emily was unlikely to approach the ferocity of those hurricanes of recent years, it was expected to continue strengthening today, with top sustained winds possibly exceeding 110 mph.
There also was the question of timing - whether the storm would hit near high tides at 8:15 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Wednesday. A full moon will make the tides even higher.
Emily's slow, unpredictable dance up the coast made planning difficult. "It's like playing checkers," said Troy Lapetina, Norfolk's emergency services coordinator. "We wait for the storm to make a move, and then we make ours."
The Hampton Roads area's million-plus population, blessed by years of near-misses and light brushes, has grown a bit blase about hurricane forecasts. But the memories of Hugo and Andrew had local, state and federal officials preparing for the worst.
Officials in Charleston, S.C., expressed gratitude that Emily apparently had spared the city a second destructive blow in four years.
"This community is breathing a huge sigh of relief," said Mayor Joseph Riley, who recalled Hurricane Hugo's direct hit just north of the city with 135 mph winds and a tidal surge of as much as 17 feet.
by CNB