CAPE COD VACATIONERS HEAD HOME AS HURRICANE EDOUARD APPROACHES.Byline: Carolyn Thompson Carolyn Thompson is a former Texas Tech basketball player, playing from 1980-1984. She was born in Hobbs, New Mexico. With a career total of 2,655 points, Thompson is the all-time leading scorer for the Texas Tech Lady Raiders and is ranked second in points per game with 21. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Vacationers fled the beaches of Cape Cod Cape Cod, narrow peninsula of glacial origin, 399 sq mi (1,033 sq km), SE Mass., extending 65 mi (105 km) E and N into the Atlantic Ocean. It is generally flat, with sand dunes, low hills, and numerous lakes. and its neighboring islands Sunday as Hurricane Edouard The name Edouard has been used for four tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean.
Outbound traffic was backed up 18 miles on Cape Cod - roughly half the length of the peninsula - as outer bands of rain from the storm began falling by evening. ``It's a concern with the additional people on the Cape. It's the end of summer, people are closing their summer houses,'' said state emergency services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' director Peter LaPorte. ``We need people to show patience and heed the proper warnings. . . . That's a very strong hurricane.'' Massachusetts Gov. William Weld declared a state of emergency, the American Red Cross American Red Cross: see Red Cross. set up shelters throughout the region, and batteries and groceries were quickly emptying from coastal stores. ``People are checking out of the hotel and canceling reservations,'' said Jane Currie-Silva, owner of The Galley on the island of Nantucket. ``We took down the awning and boarded up the entire property. . . . We've closed up as if for the season.'' On Martha's Vineyard, departing vacationers filled ferries, and commuter flights headed for the mainland. More than 100 people were on standby for available ferry seats, as officials said they were uncertain how long the boats would run. A hurricane warning was in effect from Watch Hill, R.I., to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts, a region including Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block Island. By 5 p.m., Edouard was centered about 215 miles south of Nantucket, which sits 27 miles south of Cape Cod, and was plowing northward at near 14 mph, a course that could take its center across Nantucket at about daybreak today. The storm's top winds had weakened to 100 mph, down from as high as 140 mph late last week, and forecasters said more weakening is expected as Edouard moves over cooler water. Edouard already had been blamed for two deaths in the pounding waves along the New Jersey shore, where a third person suffered a broken neck while surfing. Swimming also was banned at most beaches along the southern shore of New York's Long Island, and heavy waves off that coastline interrupted the work of recovering wreckage of TWA TWA Time-weighted average, see there Flight 800. Mattapoisett's village center, normally busy on a holiday weekend, was almost deserted, but Brownell Boat Yard on the harbor was busy as owners had their boats hauled ashore. And bicyclists, dog-walkers and strollers watched the sea under the leaden sky. |
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