Preparations
By four days before Isabel made landfall, most computer models predicted Isabel to make landfall between North Carolina and New Jersey. Initially, forecasters predicted it to move along the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay, though as the hurricane neared land the predicted track was much closer to where it ultimately was. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch from the North Carolina/Virginia border to Chincoteague near its border with Maryland about 50 hours before Isabel struck land, including the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay. 18 hours before the hurricane made landfall, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the watch to a hurricane warning for the entire coastline. Additionally, inland hurricane and tropical storm warnings were issued for south-central Virginia. The Wakefield National Weather Service office issued three tornado warnings for four counties, though none became tornadoes. The office also issued two county-wide flood warnings and 43 flood warnings and flood statements for various river basins.
The Virginia Emergency Management Agency was activated on September 15, about three days prior to Isabel making landfall and entering the state. Officials in Hampton issued the first mandatory evacuation in the state on September 17, about 35 hours prior to landfall. 11 hours later, a mandatory evacuation was issued for some residents in Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, with a recommended evacuation for some residents in the city of Suffolk and Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Richmond, and York counties. Later on September 17 Governor Mark Warner provided authorization for all recommended evacuations to become mandatory. By the time Isabel entered Virginia late on September 18, evacuations were also issued for Accomack County, Chincoteague, Gloucester County, Lancaster County, Mathews County, Newport News, Poquoson, Portsmouth, and Westmoreland County. The zones ordered to evacuate included residents along waterfronts, in areas prone to flooding, potentially affected by storm surge from a Category 2 hurricane, low-lying areas, health care facilities, or islands. The tools officials used to determine the evacuation zones included shelter locations, the SLOSH storm surge model, evacuation maps, and clearance times.
Despite the orders, a relatively small number of people evacuated for the hurricane. According to a telephone survey conducted by the United States Department of Commerce, the highest participation rate was for residents in the Northern Neck in areas potentially affected by the storm surge from a Category 2 hurricane, of which 41% in the survey stated they left their houses for a safer location. In Surry, only 9% of those in a Category 2 hurricane storm surge zone left. 30% who participated in the survey along the Eastern Shore left. The primary reasons for the choice whether to evacuate or not were due to the track of Isabel, its strength, or influence from the media. Most participants in the survey stated they did not hear any sort of evacuation notice from public officials in their location, however. Of those who evacuated, about 64% left for the house of a friend or a relative, with about 24% evacuating to a hotel or a motel. Most of those in Hampton and Norfolk left for elsewhere in the state, while the majority of those in the Northern Neck evacuated to destinations in their own neighborhood or community. The evacuation destinations on the Eastern Shore of Virginia were varied, with 23% leaving for Maryland and 46% staying in their own neighborhood or community. The length of the evacuation process varied between a few hours to two days, with the worst evacuation problems being closed or flooded roads. The Virginia Army National Guard and State Police troopers assisted in the evacuations. In all, more than 160,000 residents in southeastern Virginia were told to evacuate, including 11,000 in vulnerable locations along the Chesapeake Bay and all residents in mobile home parks in Chesapeake and Newport News. A total of about 16,325 people evacuated to 67 shelters. Some of the reported problems were shortages of supplies, unanticipated medical issues, overcrowding, and lack of security.
United States Navy officials in Norfolk ordered more than 40 destroyers, frigates, and amphibious ships out to sea to avoid any potential damage from the hurricane. Officials at the Langley Air Force Base in Hampton ordered about 6,000 workers to evacuate elsewhere, due to its vulnerability to flooding. About 350 National Guard workers assisted boat owners in the southeastern portion of the state. In Mathews County, two boat owners experienced fatal heart attacks as they worked to protect their boats. Officials distributed sandbags throughout the state for residents in flood-prone areas, including about 10,000 in the city of Alexandria. Prior to the arrival of the hurricane, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was closed, as were all campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the primary parkway in Roanoke. In Chincoteague, the famous Chincoteague Ponies were moved by volunteer firefighters to grounds of about 20 feet (6.1 m) higher. Officials closed schools, government offices, and businesses across the eastern portion of the state, leaving usually heavily congested roads as empty streets. Additionally, officials canceled trains along the Washington Metro, the Virginia Railway Express, and Amtrak lines, and several flights in and out of the Richmond International Airport.
Read more about this topic: Effects Of Hurricane Isabel In Virginia
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)