THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602040043
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Residents frozen out of their unheated homes Friday and Saturday by widespread ice-related power outages sought warm beds wherever they could: They bunked with friends and family, swamped motels and hotels, and trickled into hastily opened shelters in fire stations, churches, schools and even Norfolk's Scope arena.
Emergency workers throughout South Hampton Roads expected more people to seek public shelter Saturday night as their power remained off a second day and temperatures plunged further.
One cold night was enough for a Chesapeake family of four who sought refuge early Saturday at a city shelter set up in the Indian River High School cafeteria.
Chip W. Depue, Michele C. Rosenkranse and her two daughters, Cali, 8, and Rianna, 18 months, spent Friday night crammed together in the same bed, huddled beneath five blankets. They awoke Saturday morning to see their breath; it was 40 degrees in their Great Bridge home.
``It was a little warmer than outside, but too cold to stay,'' Rosenkranse said.
The family's power went out with a bang Friday evening, when a nearby transformer exploded in sparks and flame. They made a reservation at a nearby motel but hoped to wait a day or so to save their money for a planned move to Maryland in two weeks.
At the school, the family munched on ham biscuits, muffins, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate milk, juice and coffee in the cafeteria. While the adults read novels, Cali watched cartoons on a fuzzy school TV set and Rianna - still bundled in her coat and a blanket - dozed in a car seat on the floor.
The only other people at the shelter Saturday morning were a scared Hickory woman and a sleeping homeless man, both brought in that morning by police.
Depue planned to stop by his house to check on his dogs and pick up some videos for the kids. He expected to find more people at the school when he returned.
``Tonight, when it gets cold, they're going to go out and the hotels are going to be booked, and they're going to need someplace to go,'' he said.
The school opened its doors Friday night after about 70 cold, anxious people called city emergency officials, said H. Frank Brothers, a school administrator pressed into emergency duty at Indian River High. No one spent Friday night at the school, but Brothers expected that to change Saturday.
As at other area shelters, refugees from the cold needed to bring their own blankets and pillows. ``We don't provide anything but heat and a little coffee and a little biscuit,'' Brothers said, adding that the school would stay open ``until we deem we are no longer needed.''
No one was quite sure Saturday how long that would be.
By Saturday morning, some 120,000 customers from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach were without electricity. Most of the outages resulted from ice-heavy tree limbs falling on power lines. Extra repair crews from Northern and central Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia were called in to help, Virginia Power reported.
By midafternoon Saturday, Norfolk declared a ``local emergency'' and opened Scope as a shelter. Virginia Beach invited residents to go to any of its 17 fire stations.
Portsmouth's Wilson High School housed about five people Friday night, and was remaining open as needed. In Suffolk, the Red Cross established a shelter at the Nansemond-Suffolk Volunteer Rescue Squad at 408 Market St.
In northern Suffolk, members of the Driver Volunteer Fire Department used their own vehicles to hit the streets in areas where power was knocked out, rapping on doors and checking on residents.
``We've had people come down here and fill up water bottles and different things like that,'' said Assistant Chief Walter A. Schultz.
One resident they checked on was an appreciative Walter J. Price. The retired truck driver, his wife and their dog, however, were keeping warm and cooking food using power generated from their RV parked outside.
The shelters could expect more business as rooms quickly became scarce at area motels and hotels.
``We're sold out. . . . We've been swamped with phone calls all morning,'' said Keith D. Byrd, general manager of the 80-room Motel 6 in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake.
``Swamped'' meant 400 to 500 calls, he estimated, all asking if the motel still had its electricity - and its heat.
``Because of the weather, we haven't been able to get all our housekeepers in,'' the manager said. ``It's been an interesting day.''
A receptionist at the Holiday Inn Oceanside in Virginia Beach said she hardly had time to talk because of the ringing phones. ``We're just crazy,'' she said before hanging up.
The Ramada Limited in the Ocean View section of Norfolk is being renovated, so only 20 rooms were available Saturday. All were full, and desk clerk Robert J. Fowler had to set up a waiting list.
``I take a phone number and if a room comes available I call them and they pop right in,'' he said.
At Norfolk's Union Mission, normally closed until evening, the basement was open during the day Saturday, ``just to help people get off the street,'' said James H. Booton, desk clerk.
``There's been several people in and out all day,'' he said. ``They're being very orderly, because they want someplace to say.''
Other homeless shelters and churches also were working together to get people off streets, said Sandy L. Cameron, Red Cross public affairs coordinator.
The Red Cross was helping place people with special medical needs in hotel rooms.
``The majority of phone calls we have been getting have been from elderly people who have been without power a long time, and it's getting cold,'' Cameron said. ``They're starting to get a little nervous.''
The Red Cross urged people to stay put if they could. Families should gather in a central room with few windows, huddle close together and pile on the blankets. Use only fireplaces or other indoor heaters known to be safe. Watch children around burning candles.
``Even if you have to bunk out like you're camping - get out the sleeping bags,'' Cameron said. ``Try to make it a fun time, if you can.''
People who think they're too cold have to weigh the danger of staying home against the danger of traveling on icy roads, Cameron said.
Rosenkranse and her daughters in the Indian River High shelter had traveled from New York a few weeks ago to visit Depue before their joint move but decided to stay because of 3-foot snows at home.
``Me and the girls came down to see him and get away from winter,'' Rosenkranse said with a laugh.
``It's an adventure.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
SEEKING REFUGE: Phil Park of Chesapeake checked into the Motel 6 in
the Greenbrier section of the city on Saturday. He and his wife had
lost the electricity at their home. The motel's manager said all 80
rooms were booked.
Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
May Briton makes a careful, cold trek back home on Redgate Avenue in
Norfolk on Saturday. With roads coated with ice, then a dusting of
snow, driving was treacherous at times. Walking wasn't much easier.
by CNB