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Water, power still in short supply after IsabelBush to visit Virginia for damage survey
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia (CNN) -- About 1.2 million customers still didn't have power Monday in areas hit by Hurricane Isabel, a storm that changed the landscape of North Carolina's Outer Banks and pushed tidal waters up to 9 feet deep into waterside towns. At least 36 deaths were blamed on the storm, which crashed ashore Thursday afternoon near Hatteras Island, North Carolina, and roared up the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, eventually falling apart over Ohio. The loss of power and human tolls were highest in Virginia. At least 19 of the reported deaths took place there, including two attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide poisoning was also the cause of death of two of seven people who died in Maryland, where two out-of-state utility workers died while helping restore power. Isabel also killed three people in North Carolina, two in New Jersey and one each in Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania. President Bush traveled Monday to Richmond, Virginia, for a briefing on damage and recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Isabel and tour an emergency operations center. Mayor accuses FEMA of indifferenceJoe Frank, mayor of Newport News, Virginia, was critical of the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and said the agency told him it was "working on it" when he asked for help. "I've told them that I can't feed people while they're working on it," Frank said. "I've told them we can't relieve the police officers from their traffic-management responsibilities while they're working on it. I've told them I can't provide ice to preserve food while they're working on it." Frank said he needed "dates when we can expect something to happen so we can plan. "And they said, 'We appreciate that, and we're working on it,' " he said. FEMA Director Michael Brown told CNN that he found it hard to believe the agency hadn't responded efficiently. "We are meeting every request that we get from the state," Brown said on CNN's "Late Edition." "I just find it difficult to believe that we're not meeting a need if that need has been articulated to us. ... I think that must be getting lost in the chain of command there." Major disaster areasBush has declared major disaster areas in Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware and Washington, D.C., making those areas eligible for federal disaster-relief funds. Everywhere that power was out, long lines snaked around corners and through parking lots when word came down that ice, water or a hot meal was available. A Newport News grocery store handed out free bags of ice Sunday morning, with hundreds waiting to come to the head of the line -- many staking a spot before the 7 a.m. curfew was lifted. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was carrying truckloads of water and ice to distribution centers. On Hatteras Island, ice and other supplies arrived by boat because Isabel buried parts of the only road that connects it to the mainland with as much as three feet of sand.
The storm also breached the island entirely at some points, washing away Highway 12 and slicing new inlets between the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound. In southeastern Virginia, where Isabel uprooted trees, knocked over power poles and wrecked houses, residents swallowed hard and got to work. One woman, standing next to her ruined childhood home in Poquoson, told CNN that her family had regularly kept a running tally of the hurricanes they'd survived. "This one got us," she said. Poquoson City Manager Charlie Burgess said his community was holding together well despite the devastation. "This is a community that's always prided itself on its community involvement and community spirit and such," he said. "And it's even taken it to a new level in the past couple of days." CNN correspondent Kris Osborn contributed to this report.
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