 |
| ||||||
• 
Video
• 
Photo Gallery
Text Size 
• Email • Printer Friendly
Video
• Photo Gallery
Text Size • Email • Printer Friendly
|
Saturday, September 06, 2008 12:27 PM Hanna washes through Wilson By Rochelle Moore Daily Times Staff Writer Tropical Storm Hanna pushed through Wilson early Saturday leaving downed trees, some flooding and about 450 residents without electricity. A 95-foot oak tree clipped the corner of a Kenan Street resident's porch this morning and a driver smashed into a downed tree that covered most of Tarboro Street, across from Wilson Medical Center. "I had gone out to get the paper this morning when I saw it leaning," said Frank Martin, who lives at 1425 Kenan St. "Then, I was on the porch talking to my brother and looking out my window. I dropped the phone and yelled at my wife and said 'It's coming down.' She dropped her bowl of cereal. Ten feet the other way and it would have crushed our kitchen." Martin planned for the storm last night by moving cars from the driveway, a move he said this morning saved him even more damage. Earlier in the morning, between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., another large Pine tree toppled across Tarboro Street, causing some injury to a male driver who crashed into the tree, said Brian Bowman, public affairs manager for the city of Wilson. The driver was treated at Wilson Medical Center. "A man in a pickup truck accidentally drove into a tree," Bowman said. "I think he may have gotten banged up but it wasn't serious." Electric outages were reported by Wilson Energy this morning, affecting 400 residents in the Walstonburg area. The electricity was knocked out at 5 a.m. after a tree limb fell on a power line, Bowman said. Power was restored in about an hour. Another 50 Wilson Energy customers, located east of Wilson near Stantonsburg, also were without power this morning but crews were nearly finished restoring power at about 11 a.m., Bowman said. Some flash flooding was reported, with the worst found along the Hominy Swamp Canal, along Canal Street near Pinewood and Woodland Drive. Wilson police were also busy this morning but mainly due to business alarms, which are often tripped during storms, Bowman said. City workers also drove through the city this morning assessing any damage. Wilson County Emergency Management Director Gordon Deno remained at the county emergency operations center overnight but reported this morning that Wilson did not experience any significant damage from the storm. No emergency shelters were opened for any coastal evacuees, said Lynne White, branch manager of the Wilson-Green chapter of the American Red Cross. A handful of Greenlight cable customers experienced a disruption of service this morning but internet service was restored at 10:30 a.m. Time Warner Cable also reported 32,000 outages across the region, from the triangle to the coast, said Melissa Buscher, public affairs manager for TWC. Cable and internet connections were disrupted because of lost electricity in those areas, Buscher said. Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall near the North Carolina and South Carolina border at about 2:30 a.m. this morning, packing wind gusts of 60 miles per hour and pushing upward and east of Interstate 95, said Ron Humble, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. The storm traveled through Goldsboro, over Wilson and was north of Roanoke Rapids by 11 a.m. Wind gusts were as high as 30 mph at about 8 a.m. near the Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport, Humble said. Rainfall was also about 2.25 inches at the airport this morning, after the storm rolled through the area. "The Wilson area was really on the fringe of this," Humble said, where higher wind gusts and rainfall were west of Wilson. Some areas reported 4 to 5 inches of rainfall, he said. "The good news is we dodged the bullet," Bowman said. Weather should start improving by the afternoon and clearing this afternoon. "It looks like rain will be ending at about noon or 12:30-1 p.m.," Humble said. "We expect to see some sun before sunset so the day will end on a good note." Meanwhile, Hurricane Ike is still churning in the Atlantic Ocean, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane. At 4 a.m., the hurricane was 210 miles east of the Grand Turk Island moving west and southwest. "It is supposed to be raking the north coast of Cuba Monday night," Humble said. The hurricane is expected to continue its movement toward the Gulf Coast region and move over the western area of the Florida Keys Wednesday night. The hurricane could make landfall somewhere between Pensacola, Fla. to Galveston, Texas, Humble said. "They're going to get another hit somewhere in that area," Humble said. "It's not going to be a direct hit on the North Carolina coast. We may get some rainfall." |
| Add Comment: | |  | | (All comments must be approved) |
| View Comments: | | | | (0 comments) |
Most Popular
 |
 |
 |
