Outer Banks assesses damage as Earl moves off

Earl was lame. In a good way.

Local residents waking up to sunshine today will remember Friday's arrival like a bad date - uneventful and easily forgotten.

The hurricane that was once coming toward us as a Category 4 storm lost steam and moved away from the coast as it made its way past North Carolina and Virginia.

The National Weather Service in Wakefield reported peak gusts of 40 mph at Norfolk International Airport at 6:30 a.m. Friday. Rain totals were barely a quarter of an inch, while Elizabeth City, N.C. saw about an inch fall.

Meteorologist Mike Rusnak said the storm did as predicted and kept most of its fuss off the coast.

A total of 8,449 customers lost power, a little more than half of them on the Outer Banks and in Elizabeth City, said Chuck Penn, a spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power. The rest were mostly in Virginia Beach, with a few outages sprinkled throughout the area. Penn expected service to be restored by 6 p.m. Friday.

"We expected the storm to be a lot more severe than it turned out to be," Penn said.

The Navy said its Virginia bases and ships sustained

no damage. Officials with the Coast Guard's Hampton Roads sector announced around 3:30 p.m. Friday that the port had re opened to all traffic. Authorities had closed the port Thursday morning to all vessels without specific permission to enter.

"We were expecting pretty minimal damage," Lt. j.g. Scott McBride said. "And we didn't even get that."

In North Carolina, Coast Guard crews also contended with far less fallout than they'd feared, especially on the Outer Banks.

As of late Friday, there had been no reports of major damage or injury on the barrier islands. Even the long-abandoned and vulnerable Frisco Pier survived the storm - although it was in pieces. The mandatory evacuation issued for Hatteras Island was to be lifted at 7 a.m. today.

Earl's most significant impact was flooding from Pamlico Sound. Water got inside homes in Avon, Frisco and Hatteras Village, according to officials. In Buxton, the storm ripped off part of the Sandbar & Grille's roof, destroying much of the insulation and carpeting inside. The restaurant incurred greater damage from previous hurricanes.

Hatteras Village - on the island's southern tip - saw some of the worst flooding. Even there, residents seemed unimpressed by Earl. Haley Nash of Frisco said she slept through most of it. "I didn't think it was bad at all."

The Pelican Marina on the causeway between Camden County and Elizabeth City usually floods during major storms. Black lines on the side of the checkout counter tell the story:

At 27 inches - Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

At 24 inches - Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

When dockmaster and general manager Josh Owens opened the doors Friday morning, there was no need to grab a marker.

"We've had thunderstorms this summer that were much, much worse," he said.

Little happened in Hampton Roads. Virginia Beach closed its Emergency Operations Center at noon Friday and reported virtually no damage. The Fire Department fielded about a dozen Earl-related calls, one for a fallen tree and the rest for downed power lines and minor transformer fires, Battalion Chief Michael Barakey said. There was no flooding, according to a news release from the city.

Labor Day weekend is big at the Beach for the tourism industry, and despite Earl, it should be a good one, said Nancy Marscheider Perry, executive director of the Virginia Beach Hotel-Motel Association.

"I heard a couple of people say that they had a few cancellations, but that's it," she said. "We're looking forward to a great Labor Day weekend.... The weather's going to be perfect, and the entertainment lineup couldn't be better."

At the Log Cabin Pancake House on Atlantic Avenue, Michelle Kostyn and Keith Baca of Ocean Lakes enjoyed coffee and scrambled eggs on Friday morning. They'd come to the Oceanfront hoping to catch some good photos of Earl in action but didn't find much.

"We're very disappointed," Kostyn said. "We were hoping for something more."

Although the storm had a minimal impact on Virginia Beach, residents should remain prepared for the rest of the season, Barakey said. Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30, and he worries about people becoming complacent because of Earl.

"The behavior of the storm could've been different," he said.

Sunny skies are forecast through the Labor Day weekend, with highs around 80.

Pilot writers Kathy Adams, Jeff Hampton, Erin James, Corinne Reilly, Carolyn Shapiro and Lee Tolliver contributed to this report.

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com