Damage minimal in Pamlico County as Hanna skirts area

BAYBORO --- Tropical storm Hanna's calling card to Pamlico County early Saturday was several thousand residents losing electricity.

Otherwise, the storm caused minimal damage, according to county emergency officials.

"If this is our one storm for the year, we'll take it," said County Manager Tim Buck around noon Saturday at the county courthouse, where he and other county leaders had spent the night in the Emergency Operations Center.

There were no reports of flooding, even in low areas such as Hodges Street in Oriental, which is next to Oriental harbor and often gathers water during storms.

"Our (fire) departments reported just minor stuff, some trees down, relatively minor things in yards," Buck said.

The power outages were spread throughout the county, he said, including the courthouse, which went to an emergency generator. However, the Pamlico Sheriff's Department next door never lost power.

Emergency Management Director David Spruill said the county was spared with the storm moving to the west.

Early Saturday, one driver escaped injury when a transformer fell on his car. Spruill said the accident happened as the driver was turning his car around on the Arapahoe end of Kershaw Road. The driver was not identified.

Buck said 66 people left their homes Friday night and stayed at the county shelter at Pamlico Community College.

Artis Jenkins was asleep in his home at Stonewall about 6:30 a.m. Saturday when a thundering noise awoke him. He looked out to see that a pecan tree that was over a hundred years old had snapped near its base. The tree fell and narrowly missed two vehicles parked between his house and that of his sister, Myrtle Jenkins, next door.

"That's an old, old tree. It was large when I was a little boy," said Jenkins, who is 72 years old. "It's a miracle it didn't fall on anything."

Oriental was quiet Saturday morning, except for a few people riding bicycles and others watching the waves lap the riprap at Lou Mac Park.

John Boone of Efland, north of Chapel Hill, came to Oriental Friday to secure his sailboat at Whitaker Creek. He said other boat owners came from as far as Durham and Charlotte.

He said they took down the sails and tied the boats securely. Various boat owners checked on the vessels periodically through the night.

While the storm did little damage, Boone, who has lived in Florida, noted, "All are worthy of respect. Tropical storms kill people, too."

He said boat owners he talked with who had wind gauges on their masts reported high steady gusts at about 50 feet up.

"It was consistently 45 to 60 knots, which is about 70 mph," he said. "We were lucky that the storm went inland early."

On the town's new pier at Lou Mac Park, James Miller of Philadelphia was watching the water and wondering if he was a storm magnet.

Miller, who works with the faith-based storm recovery group St. Rose De Lima from Bay St. Louis, Miss., left that area last week, part of the Hurricane Gustav evacuation.

He decided to spend a few days with his brother Frank in Oriental.

"I meandered my way here, and now we have Hanna," he said.

His next destination is back to Philadelphia, although the unknown path of Hurricane Ike could have him returning to Mississippi soon.