Waves wash ashore in Myrtle Beach, SC as Hurricane Fran prepares to come ashore.Digital Photo by Bob Rives/Staff

The north wall of Fran's 25-mile wide eye made landfall over Cape Fear

Web-posted Sept. 5, 1996 at 10 p.m.

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The Associated Press

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - Hurricane Fran came ashore at Cape Fear, N.C., on Thursday, battering the Carolinas with 115 mph winds, ripping apart trees and blowing rain sideways as thousands of people scrambled for safety.

The last-minute jog, however, spared South Carolina from serious damage, much like Hurricane Bertha gave the state a glancing blow in July.

``We can count our blessing in many ways, because this storm could have been so much worse,'' Gov. David Beasley said. ``Yesterday, the entire hurricane was looking at nothing but South Carolina.''

Fran accelerated and veered slightly to the east before the north wall of its 25-mile wide eye passed over Cape Fear just before 8 p.m. and moved north toward Wilmington, N.C., the National Weather Service said.

Gusts as high as 120 mph were reported in North Carolina as the brunt of the storm moved north. In Myrtle Beach, the gusts reached 87 mph.

``It is pounding and pounding and pounding,'' said Mary Wasson, riding out the storm with her daughter in their house in Wilmington, N.C., about 45 miles up the Cape Fear River. Their house narrowly missed being hit by a falling sycamore tree.

``The top 35 feet snapped off and did a somersault in the air over part of our house. It did a 180 in the air,'' Ms. Wasson said. ``It is just windy as the Dickens.''

More than a half-million tourists and residents were ordered to evacuate the coast in North Carolina and South Carolina as Fran drew near, leaving a string of deserted beach towns. Almost 50,000 electric customers were without power in South Carolina, including some shelters where people fled to escape the storm.

``Believe you me, we wanted to get out of there,'' said Audrey Landers, who fled her townhouse about a block from the ocean with her neighbors and their children, taking shelter at Conway High School, about 15 miles inland.

A pier in Myrtle Beach, SC is buffeted by strong waves driven by Hurricane Fran.Digital Photo by Bob Rives/Staff

More than 8,600 people spent the night in more than 100 shelters in South Carolina.

One storm-related death was reported, that of an unidentified 66-year-old Conway woman killed in a traffic accident on U.S. 378 west of town. Her car hit a tree after skidding on water on the road, the Highway Patrol said.

Winds snapped off the steeple of the Sandy Grove Church a block from the Myrtle Beach police station. Other damage was scattered, mostly blown-down signs and snapped tree limbs, some blocking roads.

The Highway Patrol office in Conway was flooded, and there was scattered flooding elsewhere. However, South Carolina would escape any storm surge, said state meteorologist Paul Witt.

In North Topsail Beach, N.C., one of the beach towns hardest hit by Bertha, a double-wide mobile home housing the town hall and police station either washed or was blown away.

People living as far inland as West Virginia were warned to expect tropical storm-force winds and 5 to 10 inches of rain.

By mid-afternoon, waves crashed 10 feet high along the shore at Myrtle Beach. The usually bustling Ocean Boulevard was deserted and driving was all but impossible with sheets of rain blown horizontal.

In Calabash, N.C., just over the state line, most of Thomas Wynn's neighbors obeyed a mandatory evacuation order, but the 72-year-old World War II veteran rode out the storm in his single-story wood frame house. He said he wasn't worried - ``I've been under fire before.''

Wind driven rain batters a building after its windows were blown out in Wilmington, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 5, 1996, as Hurricane Fran heads for the Carolina coast. (AP Photo/Bob Jordan)

He could hardly see through the driving rain Thursday afternoon, but said his house about four miles inland had been through worse. ``It's withstood them before and I assume it will withstand them again,'' he said.

But Lynn High, owner of Calabash Marina and Storage, pulled boats out of the water, put plywood over windows and then took off - with memories of Hurricane Hugo on her mind.

That huge storm caused almost $8 billion in damage, mostly in South Carolina, and killed 35 people as it tore through the Caribbean and up the East Coast with 135 mph winds in 1989.

``I'm more worried about this one,'' High said. ``We're in a little cove here, but I think we'll have a lot more wind and water than even during Hugo.'' Fran was slightly less powerful than Hugo, but just as large - hurricane-strength winds of 74 mph or more swirled 145 miles out from the eye.

The Horry County rural electric cooperative reported about 20,000 customers without power in the Myrtle Beach area. Crews probably would not begin restoring service until early Friday, spokesman David Todd said. Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility, said it had about 25,000 customers without power.

Carolina Power & Light reported about 4,000 out and South Carolina Electric & Gas said it had scattered outages.

Shelters in Aynor, Loris and Socastee were without power, officials said.

Officials worried that people would be complacent after Bertha's glancing blow, but they appeared to be taking no chances with Fran.

Businesses closed early, buses stopped running at noon, boat owners pulled their prizes out of the water and Amtrak trains and commercial flights were suspended.

If someone refused to leave, ``we ask for next of kin,'' said Georgetown County Sheriff's Maj. Mike Schwartz.

More than 3,000 South Carolina National Guard troops were in place, and governors of both states declared emergencies.

But as the storm moved north, Beasley lifted his mandatory evacuation order for the state's southernmost counties and state tourism officials quickly made their pitch that most of the state was unaffected.

``There's a lot of people we're afraid are not coming,'' said Lou Fontana, spokesman for the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department. ``We're talking about $5 million a day in business for Charleston and Hilton Head Island.''

The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent crews to the Southeast in preparation for the storm, and agency Director James Lee Witt said six tractor-trailers loaded with cots, tents, generators, blankets and other supplies were ready to go. The Agriculture Department stockpiled food and eight medical teams were on alert.

In Georgetown, about midway between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, merchants hastened earlier Thursday to empty their downtown storefronts, where Hugo left 6 feet of water.

``We're taking everything we can take out,'' said Billy Johnson, the owner of the Pink Magnolia Cafe, as he and other employees loaded chairs, glass tabletops and furniture into a rental truck.

They would park the truck in a nearby cemetery where there were no trees that could fall on it, he said.