U.S. East Coast gears up for Isabel
Bjorn Viaene
U.S. East Coast gears up for Isabel
Bases, ports prepared to evacuate if storm approaches
(CNN) -- With Hurricane Isabel threatening the U.S. East Coast, residents,
businesses, government agencies and even the military are taking precautions
in preparation for the powerful storm.
In the first movement of military assets out of the storm's projected path,
21 F-15E aircraft are scheduled Tuesday to fly from their home base at
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina to Tinker Air Force Base in
Oklahoma.
The U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet has placed on standby its ships in the Norfolk,
Virginia, area, ordering them to be ready to deploy within 24 hours, Navy
officials said.
The current track projects the storm to hit the Middle Atlantic area
Thursday.
Isabel is about 740 miles (1190 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape
Hatteras, North Carolina, and about 470 miles (755 kilometers) east of
Nassau, Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center's latest
advisory.
The advisory, issued at 5 p.m. EDT Monday, rated Isabel as a Category 3
hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of near 125 mph (205 km/h), about 30
mph (48 km/h) slower than they were late Sunday.
Isabel has slowed its forward speed to 8 mph (13 km/h) and appeared to be
beginning an expected turn to the northwest after maintaining a relatively
steady track to the west-northwest for several days.
That northwest turn would aim the storm at the U.S. coast, most likely
making landfall near North Carolina's Outer Banks, where residents are
making preparations.
Burwell Evans of Ace Hardware in Manteo, North Carolina, said business was
up 25 percent Monday, with folks buying items such as batteries, flashlights
and kerosene lamps. He said they are "selling batteries like crazy. ...
Anything that goes with emergencies."
Evans, 80, has lived in the area for 53 years. He said he has been through
many hurricanes and he will not leave.
He also said he will not board his home or business. He noted that some
businesses in the area are taping windows.
U.S. Navy and Air Force commanders are considering activating hurricane
evacuation plans for military ships and aircraft as Isabel approaches.
Hundreds of Navy and Air Force fighter jets, transport planes and
helicopters could be ordered to evacuate to bases inland. Air Force bases at
Langley, Virginia.; Charleston and Shaw, South Carolina; and Pope, North
Carolina, may be the first to order evacuation of their aircraft.
Military officials said that the storm is too strong to risk leaving ships
in port or aircraft tied down at coastal bases and that it would be safer to
move them out. Military weather forecasters are watching the track of the
storm so they can advise commanders about possible evacuations.
Along with the military, local governments are readying for the storm. Some
are meeting to set up possible strategies.
James Talbot, deputy coordinator of emergency management for the city of
Norfolk, said officials are in watch mode. He said major decisions will be
made within the next 12 to 24 hours.
Should the storm hit, he said the city would work with other jurisdictions
to evacuate and get residents to shelters.
"It's a little too early to know whether we're going to have a direct hit on
the Eastern U.S., but it's increasingly likely that the area from the
Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast will be affected by Isabel," said Ed
Rappaport, the National Hurricane Center's deputy director.
The hurricane has twice reached the Category 5 threshold of 156 mph (250
km/h), but forecasters said the storm likely would experience a gradual
weakening before landfall. Category 5 is the most powerful hurricane rating
on the Saffir-Simpson scale of strength.
Forecasters said the storm could be a Category 3, with winds as high as 130
mph (208 km/h) when it comes ashore, and was unlikely to be much less
powerful.
Category 3 storms are capable of doing structural damage to homes and
buildings and blowing down large trees. Low-lying escape routes are cut by
rising water at least three hours before the eye of the hurricane hits.
But Rappaport said that minor fluctuations in strength would make little
difference in Isabel's effects.
"Once you get to a Category 3 or higher, you can expect extensive damage and
adding 5 mph or taking away 5 mph is not going to change that," he said.
"This will be one of the strongest storms seen in the landfall area in the
last several decades."
The hurricane center warned that large ocean swells and dangerous surf
conditions were likely over parts of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the
Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas over the next several days. Those
surf conditions also were predicted to affect the Southeastern U.S. coast.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this article.
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Viaene Björn
http://users.telenet.be/weathersite
mailto:bjorn....@pandora.be
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