:
High school sports, curt^i'
visit, will resume tonight
When South and West
meet in football.
' •' 11
Mv
jy) ;
September^,
Volume 69, Number 4
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilotssouthport
Published every Wednesday in Southport, N. C.
iLdj»i neaui unve was a oewuuermg signi m uaK lsiana visitors early lhursday as scores ot crushed, crumpled and standing-dead houses met their view. (Photos by Jim Harper)
Damage $20 million
Floyd flattens
OI beachfront
By Richard Nubel
Stall Writer
When the Oak Island bridge was
iwpeiied at 2 p.m. Thursday, residents
Ivgitn it slow and often painful return to
their battered town.
"Our town is a disaster area," said a flyer
distributed over the signatures of co-may
i ns Dot Kelly and Joan Altman. "A state of
emergency has been declared ;uid will
remain in effect as long as necessary. The
town is doing everything possible to pro
tect damaged property and to restore ser
vices to damaged areas."
But. restoration may take months.
Saturday, public works director John
Olansen executed a two-month contract
with a firm to haul construction debris
from the Oak Island beachfront, the pride
'of Oak Island that was most often
described at week's end as resembling a
war zone. Public safety departments from
across the state were being asked to send
officers to spell Oak Island Public Safety
Department officers who teamed, with tire
and rescue personnel to restrict access 24
See Beach, page 11
On the
inside...
Damage
A town-by-town assess
ment, plus reports from
jphools, hospitals and
county government
Impact
Losses from Floyd extend
beyond the cost
of reconstruction
Recovery
Nearly 300 Oak Island
homes may or may not
be recovered, depending
on where CAM A draws
the line
Brunswick County
Inland floods take a toll
By Terry Pope
Stair Writer
Differences in how Hurricane Floyd has affected county res
idents puzzle most everyone now dealing w ith its aftermath.
By Monday afternoon, tourists were renting beach cottages
once again at Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach. Just 20 miles
inland, a crisis was growing worse by the hour.
Homes an^J weary residents yielded to flood waters from the
WUccamaw River, and sheriff 's deputies carried out the task of
guarding victims from yet another prey — looters who were
using boats to recover property and valuables left behind.
“The people in Waceamaw are under a greater state of emer
gency than at any time in the history of this county,” said
Brunswick County sheriff Ronald Hewett.
Rising water front Hurricane Floyd's 19 inches of rainfall
inland has finally made its way to the coast, along the
Waccantaw and Cape Fear rivers. Earlier, homes in the Town
Creek and Lockwood Folly River areas also were flooded by
the storm.
At the beach the weather was nice, the sun was shining and
See Floods, page 5