Felix's Antics are hurting business

August 17, 1995 -- 6:30 p.m.

KILL DEVIL'S HILL, N.C. (CNN) -- Early today, the Filipowicz family and pets returned to their Outer Banks home saying Felix no longer scared them and it was time to return. "Because there's no place like home. Really. I needed to be with the house, the kids needed to be home. I think we'll be OK," says Gaylynn Filipowicz.

What is not returning so far is the tourist trade and that means big losses for businesses that depend on the dollars of visitors who enjoy the beaches. Particularly affected is Sea Scan Dive Shop.

"August is the biggest month. We do more this month than any other. And we're just a 3-4 month operation so when you lose a week or so like we will from this storm, then it makes a tremendous impact on any business that has anything to do with the water," says Jim Bunch, the owner.

At a fishing pier, however, shop owners say they can at least be comforted that Felix has stayed offshore..

"When they said mandatory evacuation, that meant we lost income. To lose income and then to lose part of the pier, that would have been disastrous," says Tim Lehman, a local businessman.

Hotels have been hit hard by the lack of tourists. Employees at this Kill Devil Hills establishment estimates losses at $20,000 to $30,000 just over the past two days.

And they anticipate future losses, too.

"People are calling the hotel about their reservations for the weekend and canceling them and people who have reservations for next week are quite anxious about whether they should come or not and some of them even want to cancel," says Wayland Johnson, hotel clerk.

Though what's left of Felix still lingers offshore, crews are hard at work moving tons of sand that washed onto streets on the Outer Banks islands. But there will be no replacing the tons that washed out to sea. Officials say it is still too early to know how badly the beaches were eroded.

Despite the financial losses at the height of the tourist season, many residents and business owners say they feel fortunate Hurricane Felix, at least so far, has spared them serious property damage. That, they say, would cripple them until well into next year.

Related stories

• August 15- August 17 Hurricane Felix update

Related sites

• The Palm Beach Post Storm Watch - http://www.pbpost.com/storm95
• SIMS Hurricane Watch 1995 - http://www.sims.net/links/hurricane.html
• National Hurricane Center Tropical Storm Advisory - http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/htbin/wx/ts-advisory
• The Florida Tech Weather Page - http://sci-ed.fit.edu/wx.html
• University of Hawaii meteorology - http://lumahai.soest.hawaii.edu/Tropical_Weather/tropical.shtml
• National Weather Service - http://gopher.cominfo.nws.noaa.gov/

For more information, see selected articles from the LEXIS®-NEXIS® Information Service.

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