Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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September 17, 1999 Serving t he Caroli na Community since 1Q08 .GAMECOCK.SC.EDU UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COLUMBIA, S.C. Hurricane Season (99 Minimal damage as Floyd spares S.C. / • by Brock Vergakis News Editor Charleston - Coastal residents reluming to their homes Thurs day morning were greeted with scattered debris from trees and power outages from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head. Myrtle Beach suffered massive flooding problems, receiv ing more than a foot of rain, as the center of the storm hit just north at Bald Head Island outside of Wilmington, N.C. Horry County resident Cathy Williams evacuated to Co lumbia and said that she couldn’t return to her home until the flood waters receded. "I talked to my husband today, and he said I’d have to stay with my friends here a while longer until the roads get better," Williams said. To the south in Charleston, it was the wind that caused ma jor problems. An estimated 90,000 people lost power beginning as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday. Despite strong winds, damage was reported to be minimal on Folly Beach. "We have not found any major structural damage,” Folly Beach Police Chief George Tittle said. “I think the good man upstairs was on our side." Authorities said that for the next couple of days, only resi dents showing some kind of identification with a Folly Beach address would be let back into town. Folly Beach public safety officer Bob Maciariello said that about 40 houses had damage, and they were mainly missing shingles. "It wasn’t that big, considering all the hoopla about it all," Maciariello said. Maciariello said the beach was lucky, consid ering that 15-fool waves were pounding the shoreline. On James Island, officers set up roadblocks around downed power lines with live wires. Most of the damage on James Is land comprised downed street signs and marquees from gaso line stations and restaurants. In downtown Charleston, Lenny Piccirillo was waiting to reopen his bar, A.C.’s Bar and Grill, on King Street. "It’s the first time I’ve had to close down since Hugo. We stay open 365 days a year," Piccirillo said. Piccirrillo kept the restaurant open until Wednesday night. '’It was a safe haven for a little while, but last night, we weren’t going to mess with it," he said. "Now, I’m just waiting for the power to come on so I can reopen." Most of the shops and restaurants on King Street escaped major damage. Bricks from one abandoned building fell on a pickup truck and a few windows shattered, but the most visible sign of damage were fallen awnings from stores. Jon Taie stayed through the’ storm and reopened Clara’s Cof fee and Cafe. "It was pitch black last night,” he said. “We lost power here at 4 p.m. yesterday before it was even bad. Everything’s still boarded up, though, with no damage. No trees or anything com ing down." Damage was so minimal that kids were riding their bikes under the clear blue sky through the empty streets of Charleston as emergency vehicles began clearing out. One couple even de cided to take wedding pictures at Riverfront Park. In Beaufort, trees fell on power lines, taking out all elec tricity downtown by 3 p.m. Wednesday. When residents began returning early Thursday morning, city traffic lights were still out, and emeigency officials were denying access onto Saint Helena, Lady and Fripp islands until the county curfew was lifted at 8 a.m. * . Sean Rayford photo editor Waves crash Into the floating docks at Port Royal Marina near Beaufort Most boats were taken Into open water, for safety purposes, In anticipation of Hurricane-Floyd. Seven dead in Texas shooting by Megan Stack Associated Press Fort Worth, Tex. — Police on Thurs day searched the trashed home of a man who spewed anti-Baplist rhetoric as he fired on a church service, finding con crete-laden toilets and tattered family pho tos, but no clues to what drove him to his deadly rampage. Seven people were fatally shot Wednesday night before 47-year-old Lar ry Gene Ashbrook killed himself in a pew at the Wedgwood Baptist Church. Seven others were wounded, three seriously. Ashbrook was carrying a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and a .380-cal iber handgun, pausing during Wednes day night’s attack to reload, police Chief Ralph Mendoza said. Ashbrook used three clips in all, and invesligalors found six loaded 9mni clips in his jacket pocket. Ashbrook also rolled a pipe bomb down an aisle, but it exploded without in juring anyone. “It looked like a skit, it looked like something out of a movie,” said Bethany Williams, 16, her eyes red with tears and her green crocheted purse splat tered with blood. “And I thought it was a fake gun making fake noises.” Ashbrook had no known police record. He acted alone, and there was no indica tion that he knew anyone at the Southern Baptist church, Mendoza said. No note explaining the shooting was found on Ashbrook or at his home, about a 10-minute drive from the church. Nor were any clues found in several yeare-old journals discovered in the house, which Ashbrook had shared with his fa ther until the older man’s death in July, said the FBI’s Robert Garrity. Shooting see page 2 1 Shops and buildings stand empty at dawn on Bay Street in Beaufort. • oEAN nAtFORD PHOTO EDITOR Many towns, like Beaufort, turned Into ghost towns as Hurricane Floyd approached the east coast of the United States. More than 2.6 million people were evacuated from the southern coast In the largest peacetime evacuation In U.S. history. Hodges under fire Residents, officials question evacuation of traffic on 1-26 by Brock Vergakis News Editor Charleston - Coastal residents complying with Gov. Jim Hopes’ mandatory evacuation Tues day afternoon were met with bumper-lo-bumper traffic into the early morning hours Wednes day. 1-26 westbound from Charleston began back ing up by 10 a.m„ according to motorists, before Hodges called for the evacuation. At 8 p.m., Hodges ordered state law en forcement agencies to close 1-26 to easlbound traffic between Columbia and Bowman, near I 95, so that evacuees could use all lanes. How ever, the lanes weren’t fully available until close to 10 p.m. Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley was highly critical of what he called Hodges’ inability to prepare for the largest evacuation in South Carolina history. “It was just terrible,” Riley said at a news Traffic see page 2 Floyd projected to make landfall on eastern Long Island by Scott Mooneyham Associated Press WlmngtoNj MC.—Hurricuie Floyd roared ashore Thursday near Cape Fear with 110 mph wind, flood ing the coasts of the Carolinas and Vnginia with more than a fool of rain and sending tens of thou sands of people to huddle in shelters. The eye of the huge storm hit the mainland at about 3 a.m., preceded by hours of violent weath er that included several tornadoes. Floyd then weakened rapidly as it headed across the southeastern comer of Vnginia on its way back lo Ihe ocean. Some 1.3 million utility customers in the Carolinas and Virginia lost power, and 125,000 still had no power today in Florida. Flooding and power failures combined to shut down Portsmouth, Va.’s, water supply system, which serves 110,000 customers. At least seven deaths were blamed on Floyd. • “I’ve never been in nothing like this before,” said Norma Childers, 62, a retired Rustburg, Va., nurse who came to North Carolina on vacation and was in a Wilmington motel when it lost power this morning. At 11 a.m„ the storm was centered at the coast near Virginia Beach, Va„ and moving north northeast at about 24 mph. The top sustained wind around its center had slowed to about 80 mph. The next targets after Virginia were expected to be the coasts of Maryland, Delaware and New Jer sey, then New York’s Long Island early today. Dis aster preparations were under way in New York City, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and along the coast of Maine. Hurricane warnings were posted as far north as Plymouth, Mass. Public schools were closed in Washington, Baltimore, all of New Jersey, Philadel phia and New York City. New Jersey and New York City each have 1 million students. The wind set a Ferris wheel spinning on its own at Ocean City, Md. Virginia closed the 18-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and New York City shut down the exposed upper deck of the Vfemwino Narrows Bridge. Authorities had urged more than 2.6 million people along the southern Atlantic coast to leave Floyd’s path — the biggest evacuation in U.S. his tory — and more people were urged to evacuate to day in parts of Virginia, Maryland and Long Island. Weather Inside Datebook Online Poll Today 82 56 Saturday 80 52 Palms thanks students, faculty. Page 5 Today • Classes resume. • Volleyball vs. Michi gan, 7 p.m.. Volleyball Competition Facility. Saturday • Football vs. ECU, 7 p.m., Williams-Brice Stadium. • Great Gamecock Tail gate Party, 3 p.m., S.C. State Fair grounds Will Hurricane Floyd propel the Gamecocks to victory? ^ Go lo www.ganiccock.sc.edu to vote in this v|eck’s poll. j