What Hurricane Isabel did to Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks 20 years ago

This story is part of a weather partnership with WTKR News 3.

Two decades ago, a veil of uneasiness hung over Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks as Hurricane Isabel made her way to landfall.

The exact path had been unknown for the few days before it reached the shore, but residents of both areas already had begun boarding up windows, buying supplies and planning how to weather the storm. One resident had called it “a dark cloud or an ax” over his head. Another was worried if he and his family evacuated from Salem Lakes, there would be no house to come back to.

Isabel was a Category 2 storm when it made her debut in the Outer Banks near Drum Inlet around 1 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2003. For thousands in Hampton Roads, Isabel didn’t really end until weeks later, when the repairs were made or the fallen trees were removed or the lights came back on.

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Sept. 7, 2003: 11 days before landfall

Isabel, then a tropical storm, is first mentioned in The Virginian-Pilot. Much of the attention had been glued on Hurricane Fabian, which was moving north fairly quickly, but would soon lose momentum as it hit cooler water. Tropical Depression Henri was about 80 miles from Daytona, Florida, moving east at about 17 mph. Isabel was 725 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. The storm was moving west, and warm waters ahead of it would likely make it stronger.

Within two days, she was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, with wind speeds reaching 125 mph. At this point, a meteorologist told The Pilot it was too early to tell if the storm would threaten the U.S. .

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Sept. 14, 2003: Four days before landfall

It was still unknown where Isabel may hit, but the storm was a Category 4. It was moving toward the west-northwest at about 12 mph, and hurricane-force winds extended up to 90 miles from its center.

“I don’t see how the mid-Atlantic region, including Hampton Roads, is going to avoid getting some effects… So now is the time is for people to review their hurricane preparedness plans and get ready,” Hugh Cobb of the National Hurricane Center told The Pilot.

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Sept. 17, 2003: One day before landfall

Across the Peninsula, Southside and Outer Banks, businesses had already begun preparing. At the Virginia Zoo, more than 300 animals were taken off display into various parts of the zoo built to withstand floods. Staff had already begun filling large containers with clean water.

More than 100,000 people in North Carolina were under mandatory evacuations, and the Navy has asked all “non-essential” personnel to leave the area.

In Portsmouth, grocery store shelves were picked over. Tree service companies had been out from dawn until dark removing weak or vulnerable trees. By the end of the storm, hundreds will be downed by Isabel, leaving millions of people without power. For some, that stretched for days and weeks.

Nearly 500 National Guard troops had been authorized to provide emergency assistance. Traffic jams of evacuating residents were reported, and more than 300 patients of the Veterans Affair Medical Center already had been evacuated as well.

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Sept. 18, 2003: Landfall

In those first hours, 94% of homes in Hampton Roads were without power.

“We’re in uncharted territory right now,” Dominion spokesperson Dan Genest told the Daily Press. Crews were already out assessing damages and trying to get power back, but it would likely take days.

The Elizabeth River swelled quickly. Water surged into the Midtown Tunnel at 4 p.m., leaving it under 3 feet of water and cutting off travel from Norfolk to Portsmouth. Workers attempted to close the gate but were knocked off their feet by the rushing water, a VDOT administrator told The Pilot. By that point, the tunnel had been closed to traffic, and no one was injured.

Harrison’s Fishing Pier, which had weathered storms in Ocean View for more than 50 years, was gone.

“Experts knew that even a moderate wind storm would be trouble,” Pilot reporter Tony Germanotta wrote. “The summer was a soggy one, and the soil had been soaked just a few days before Isabel arrived. That left many trees rooted in a sodden mess, without the anchors needed to ride out a hurricane.”

According to the official report on Isabel from the National Hurricane Center, a tornado was spotted by law enforcement in Ocean View later in the day. There was never a Fujita scale rating assigned to it, mainly because it was impossible to determine what damage was caused by the tornado versus the hurricane.

By 11 p.m., Isabel had been downgraded to a tropical storm as its eye passed west of Richmond.

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Sept. 19, 2003: First day after the storm

According to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Isabel produced storm surges of 6 to 8 feet above normal tide levels near the point of landfall along the North Carolina coast. Storm surge values ranged from 4 to 6 feet along the Virginia coast.

In York County, authorities said at least 95 homes were damaged by falling trees. Another 80 trees struck houses in Williamsburg. Probably more than 100 buildings were damaged in Smithfield. In Newport News, rescue workers evacuated 30 people from a downtown apartment building when winds ripped open a wall of the building. Hampton had 80 houses and an apartment complex damaged, with more than 1,000 trees down.

The top wind speed recorded on the Peninsula was 71 mph, and storm surge combined with the afternoon high tide caused water to rise 8 feet above normal levels in some areas.

On the Southside, Isabel’s winds and tides lashed the area, peeling roofs, collapsing homes, toppling trees and snapping power poles.

“This is some of the worst devastation I’ve seen anywhere in the state so far,” then-Gov. Mark Warner, now a U.S. senator, said of the Pinecroft neighborhood in Portsmouth.

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One week after the storm

Much of the area remained in the dark. Despite power outages, water and sewage services never failed.

In the meantime, many took to grilling with neighbors to cook dinners. However, the fun did not last long.

“Three days after Hurricane Isabel struck, people are losing their cool,” reporter Steve Stone wrote. “Staples like ice and gas are scarce, and most are stuck in warm, stale homes without power.”

Thousands of pounds of ice were given away by Dominion Energy, but hundreds of people still waited in long lines to no avail.

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One month after the storm

Local therapists report seeing people for anxiety, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, concentration problems, memory lapses and depression. Some storm victims are fighting with spouses and other family members.

Others are physically run down, with colds, headaches and tense muscles. FEMA offered counseling resources, and Riverside Behavioral Health Center saw a small increase in patients.

Norfolk Botanical Garden lost 400 trees and had severe damage to its gardens.

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Isabel’s impacts

Across several states, Isabel caused about $5.5 billion in total damage, and the storm was directly responsible for 17 deaths, mainly through drowning or people being hit by falling trees or limbs. Within hours, the storm became the baseline of comparison for all modern tropical cyclones affecting Hampton Roads and the mid-Atlantic. Much of Isabel’s impacts were reminiscent of a massive storm that hit the area 70 years earlier.Isabel.”]

“Given the strength of Isabel and the fact that our coastal zones were to the right of its track, the storm surge was the worst the area had seen since the 1933 Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane,” a report from the National Weather Service in Wakefield reads. “In some cases, the storm surge on the main stem rivers exceeded the 1933 storm surge.”

North Carolina Highway 12 and Hatteras Island were reopened to public access about two months after Isabel passed. It took about a month before traffic was able to flow through the Midtown Tunnel again. Eight fatalities were attributed to the hurricane in the coverage area for the National Weather Service in Wakefield.

Outages during Isabel have prompted new messaging from the weather services, mainly regarding generator safety.

“Considering some went without power for days to weeks, the increased accessibility of generators was a benefit for many,” the report states. “However, generators come with the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning if they are not placed in well-ventilated areas.

“Despite warning labels on the equipment and safety fliers distributed at the point of sale, carbon monoxide poisoning led to 3 fatalities in Virginia in the aftermath of Isabel. Since then, a ‘call to action’ statement about the dangers of carbon monoxide has been developed for cases where extended power outages are possible.”

Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com