HURRICANE FRAN
Hundereds of Thousands without power still in the
State of NC. Please see WRAL-TV Hurricane
Page for current closings, reports, and info.
HEADLINE: 0121 9/8/96
We finally, after 48 hours, have regained power here at work in downtown Raleigh. Most areas are still without power however, including my home. Current status:
Since we finally have power here at work, I am now able to graphically
update my pages. However, it will be a bit sporadic until power returns
to my house. See below for a link to current Video and Still captures
by J of the Hurricane.
Current known status (this information is compiled by radio, television, ham radio reports, and my observations; there is no guarantee with this info. Just thought you'd like to know what I have heard and seen in Wake Co. today).:
The following areas I have observed today between work and home:
And that... is the current situation. Once again, this is J. Ferrell
reporting live on the internet from
Interpath Inc., in South Raleigh. I have much video to capture still
and
motion for upload to the 'net, however, we are still without power here
at Interpath and are running minimal power from a generator. If YOU have
any additional information appropriate to this page, or any stories,
pictures, or video from Hurricane Fran I would be glad to display it
(with full credit of course) on this page. Contact me for more information. When I
restore graphical use of the internet I will have much more to give you.
Still no power for the city of Raleigh. I guess
that I will head home soon and attempt to recharge my camcorder batteries
through the car. The wind has calmed down, finally. Many roads are
still closed in the area. It will likely be weeks before the area
recovers. I will next talk to you when power is restored at home.
I finally returned home last night, although there wer even trees on
the beltline. Got home about 3am, took a nap until 7am, at which
point I got up to fix a flat tire and attempt to come to work. Most of
the major roads were still either closed or impassable, and there was no
power anywhere. A half mile of Glenwood Avenue, including the famous
Crabtree Valley Mall, was under water. U-Hauls had been tossed around,
gathering on a corner of Capital Avenue. Trees were everywhere. As best
as I could see, there are only two blocks in the city (and probably the
entire county) which DO have power. Upon arriving at work, I found that,
although we are between NC State Univ. and Downtown Raleigh, our building
at work was not one of the lucky ones. This was what I was hinging on,
as I had used up two camcorder batteries thus far taping the hurricane
and the damage; I was hoping to get a recharge. But on a generator that
would last at best 72 hours, power conservation was a must at the
internet service provider where I work. And that brings us up to now:
about 10:00 am, I sit here in South Raleigh. They say that it will be
several days before power is restored to the city. This damage is
equal to that of Hurricane Hugo's inland damage. Repeating: Eastern
North Carolina is without power and there is extensive damage from
the piedmont to the coast. I doubt anyone locally can read this, as
power and phones are out, but for the rest of you, that is the
current situation.
I am stuck here at work in South Raleigh. Things are very bad. We lost
power to most of the city at midnight. Outside now there are
semi-constant generator flashes as the lines come down and explode.
Water has leaked into all areas of our building here and threatens our
makeshift power-set-up. There are many trees down. I attempted to go
back to my apartment at 1am, only to find that All major roads in
Raleigh are closed at this time. I tried to go home by the main
road, but a tree fell in front of my car and the police were blocking the
road. I asked how to get back to Millbrook at which point they explained
that all roads were closed and that was not possible. So here I am, I
can't even get home to check on my house or belongings. The wind and
rain here is equal to or greater than Hugo's inland damage. Although all
we have here is a 'vt' terminal, I caught a glimpse of a recent radar
that shows that the Triangle area will go through some VERY heavy rains
and winds for about another hour, then it should calm down.
Just returned from a trip down south to survey the weather. It was not apparent to me at first how much stronger this storm was than Hurricane Bertha. In the end, Fran took Bertha's path and came ashore in Wilmington. It continues to the north as of last statement. The current situation is thus:
