Millions without power as Isabel sweeps north
Isabel claims at least 4 lives
Friday, September 19, 2003 Posted: 7:17 AM EDT (1117 GMT)
Pedestrians battle Isabel's winds in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(CNN) -- Isabel weakened Friday after crashing into the eastern United States, knocking out power to more than 3.5 million customers in six states and claiming at least four lives as it swept north, emergency officials said early Friday.
Downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, Isabel was still packing maximum sustained winds of up 50 mph (80 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
Flooding is a major concern across the region this morning, forecasters said.
Storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels are still possible in the Chesapeake Bay and the nearby rivers.
At 5 a.m. EDT, the storm's center was about 80 miles south of Johnston, Pennsylvania -- near Pittsburgh -- and was moving to the north-northwest at 21 mph (33 kph). Tropical storm force winds extend 345 miles from the storm's center.
Streets in Alexandria, Virginia, were underwater early Friday as the Potomac River rose far above its banks. Portions of Reagan National Airport were also effected. The Hurricane Center said the storm surge was equal to, or exceeded the 1933 hurricane in the Washington area.
U.S. government offices in Washington will remain closed Friday, officials from the Office of Personnel Management announced Thursday evening. (Full story)
The Hurricane Center canceled all hurricane warnings and issued a tropical storm warning north of Currituck Beach Light, North Carolina, to Moriches Inlet, New York, including Chesapeake Bay, the tidal Potomac River and Delaware Bay.
Isabel knocked out electricity to more than 1,500,000 million Virginia customers, according to emergency officials.
In North Carolina, authorities said about 669,000 customers were without power. In Maryland, about 1,037,000 customers had no electricity, according to a emergency officials. In Pennsylvania -- 225,000, New Jersey -- 125,000 and West Virginia --13,000 customers were without electricity.
President Bush signed an emergency disaster declaration covering 26 counties in eastern North Carolina, and 18 counties and 13 cities in Virginia. The governors of Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had previously declared states of emergency.
In a news conference late Thursday, Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. said schools and state government offices will be closed Friday.
"Flash floods will be our number one fear over the course of the weekend," Ehrlich said. "To the extent folks can stay off our roads, they will help our local police, our state police -- all of our police agencies."
According to the governor, efforts to restore electricity will begin in earnest once the storm has passed and its safe for repair crews to work.
As many as 2,000 airline flights were canceled Thursday, and hundreds more were rerouted around or over the hurricane. The Federal Aviation Administration said Washington's two main airports, Reagan National and Dulles International were closed Thursday. Also shut down were Virginia's Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport, FAA officials said. (Full story)
The Baltimore-Washington International Airport closed briefly and reopened early Friday after Tropical Storm Isabel knocked out electricity and forced the airport to use a backup generator, a BWI spokeswoman said.
There were no overnight flights into the airport, so the outage did not cause any diversions, she said.
4 deaths blamed on IsabelPennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Maria Smith in Harrisburg said "brutal winds" were raking the state overnight. She said the state had recorded one storm-related death when a tree fell on a car in Lancaster County.
Three other deaths have been attributed to the storm. A motorist died on Interstate 95 north of Richmond, Virginia, after a vehicle hydroplaned in heavy rain, according to state emergency officials. Virginia officials at the state's emergency operations center are checking reports of other storm-related deaths.
An electrical worker, Harold Anderson Jr., was electrocuted after attempting to make repairs at a substation in Morehead City, North Carolina. He died at a hospital.
North of Annapolis, Maryland, one person was killed when a tree or power line pole fell on a car, a state emergency spokesman said.
At least 16,000 residents had sought safety from the storm in Virginia shelters, the officials said.
On Pea Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, three emergency workers who were sent to rescue three stranded men trapped on the roof of their vehicle became stranded themselves, a Coast Guard spokesman said. All six men are now safe, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Buddy Dye said. Officials said the life-threatening situation could have been avoided if people had followed days-old warnings to evacuate the barrier islands.
CNN's Patty Davis, Jeff Flock, Kathleen Koch, Beth Lewandowski, Bryan Long, Barbara Starr and Gary Tuchman contributed to this report.
