THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 22, 1994 TAG: 9412220542
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
What Hurricane Gordon started, a nameless northeaster could finish.
As many as 15 homes in Sandbridge - at risk after Gordon's high tides caused $2.5 million in damage a month ago - could be destroyed by what forecasters view as this winter's first big coastal storm.
``There are some homes, a half-dozen or less, that are in serious straits, and another eight to 10 that could take some additional damage if we get a severe nor'easter,'' said Thomas E. Fraim, a longtime Sandbridge resident and chairman of the city's erosion commission.
And a heavy blow is in store, according to the National Weather Service, which has raised a coastal flood watch for tonight and Friday morning in Virginia and North Carolina. Winds out of the northeast are forecast to hit 25 to 35 mph overnight, possibly higher.
Travelers planning to drive north or west for the holidays could run into a snowstorm.
The storm developed off the Florida coast Wednesday - as winter began - and is expected to be just east of Cape Hatteras tonight before moving over the Delmarva Peninsula on Friday and heading toward New England.
``The storm will likely produce coastal flooding and severe beach erosion,'' said Dewey Walston, a meteorologist with the weather service in Washington.
Rain is expected to spread over the region today and continue through Saturday.
``There are indications,'' Walston said, ``that enough cold air could be pulled in on the back side of the storm to cause . . . snow over the higher elevations of western Maryland, eastern West Virginia and western Virginia.''
A high pressure system to the north will interact with the storm system's circulation. That will push strong winds and heavy seas against Sandbridge, a fragile stretch of land that has lost a good portion of its manmade protection.
Homeowners, often acting in groups, built the bulkheads - a few fashioned of wood, most of steel - in the past decade as the natural beach eroded away.
Last month, however, tides stirred up by Hurricane Gordon damaged 48 bulkheads, practically flattening some. Seas washed in, eating away huge chunks of beach from under and around several homes.
Mark C. Marchbank, deputy coordinator of emergency management, said 11 homes were condemned because septic systems were washed out. Two more were condemned for structural damage, he said.
The damage to bulkheads alone was set at $1.9 million, Marchbank said - little, if any, of that covered by insurance. Still, residents argued, the bulkheads did their job: No homes were lost.
But none of the damaged bulkheads has been repaired or replaced. There is nothing to stop a renewed assault by the ocean.
``I was just down there yesterday, up and down the beach,'' Marchbank said.
``I was sort of struck that a lot more homes appear to be vulnerable this time around.''
Fraim said there simply hasn't been enough time since the last storm to make repairs.
``There are some homes that really can't take much more punishment at this point,'' Fraim said.
The City Council has approved a sand-replenishment program to start in 1997. The question now is how to stave off destruction until then.
Fraim said residents may seek emergency help, ``to get us through to spring 1997.''
That would entail winning support from the City Council, the governor and the federal government.
In the meantime, Fraim said, all residents can do is ``keep our fingers crossed.'' by CNB