Hurricane Loses its Punch in Sweep Up the East Coast : Winds Under 100 M.P.H. Only Tow Deaths Reported

Highly touted Hurricane Gloria dealt a glancing blow to the East Coast today, ripping up power lines and buckling boardwalks but causing less damage than expected before it rapidly weakened over New England. Half a million people had fled what was once one of the most dangerous Atlantic storms on record.

By 2 p.m. EDT, the National Weather Service said the storm’s center was breaking up over land and winds were below 100 m.p.h.

Two people were reported killed in Connecticut in traffic accidents blamed on the storm, the first deaths linked to Gloria since it crashed into North Carolina before dawn with 130-m.p.h. winds.

Gloria had been one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, but as it moved up the East Coast its destruction appeared to be limited to splintered trees, downed piers and boardwalks and some minor damage to buildings.

Some low-lying areas were flooded, and more than 700,000 customers lost electrical power from North Carolina to Connecticut.

Several motorists suffered minor injuries in Philadelphia when cars were disabled by flooding on Interstate 95. A truck driver was rescued when his truck went off the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River north of New York City; police said wet pavement, excessive speed and high wind were factors.

500,000 Sought Safety

More than 500,000 people from North Carolina to New Hampshire sought safety as the storm moved slowly north.

Trees went down all over New York’s Long Island as the eye of the storm passed over at midday, and Islip police evacuated their offices on Sunrise Highway because the roof blew off.

As the storm’s eye, an area of calm amid its highest winds, hit the southern shore of densely populated Long Island, children ventured out to play in flooded streets at Island Park.

In Manhattan, tens of thousands stayed home from work and streets were flooded by rain. But Mayor Edward Koch told reporters, “We scared the hell out of the hurricane, and it went elsewhere.”

Some people stayed put and had storm parties, but others changed their minds.

‘It Was Suicidal’

“We just got out of there for our own health,” David Burns said of his house about half a mile from Great South Bay on Long Island. “We tried to ride it out at the house but there was no way. It was suicidal.”

National Guardsmen were put on alert in New York and Connecticut, where Northeast Utilities shut down its Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant at Haddam Neck and the Millstone 1 and 2 plants in coastal Waterford.

Swells 10 to 12 feet above normal cut off many roads to New Jersey’s barrier islands as the eye of the storm passed at mid-morning, and police blockaded all other roads to the islands.

Waves crashed onto the Boardwalk along the beach at Atlantic City, N.J., where casinos were closed Thursday night, and three major utilities said about 24,000 people lost power. But by late morning the sky cleared at Atlantic City.

The storm also had lashed resort towns to the south on barrier islands in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, with waves up to 30 feet crashing onto the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Moving North-Northeast

By early afternoon, the storm was moving north-northeast at 30 to 40 m.p.h. after crossing Long Island.

A hurricane warning extended from Chincoteague, Va., to Eastport, Me., with storm warnings in parts of Canada’s New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and flood warnings spread from New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania across New York and over New England.

More than 280,000 people along the Eastern Seaboard as far north as Massachusetts fled inland as the storm approached.

States of emergency were declared in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Ahead of the storm, torrential rain fell well inland, up to 6 inches in the southern Poconos in northeastern Pennsylvania, where small rivers rose, and 2 to 4 inches of rain by mid-morning in New York’s Catskills and Adirondacks. Southern New Jersey’s Cumberland County had more than 6 inches of rain.

Bridges Ordered Closed

In Stamford, Conn., the Army Corps of Engineers raised a 35-foot-high steel storm barrier in the harbor to protect low-lying homes and boats. Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete ordered several bridges closed.

New York City’s Mayor Koch today urged residents of Staten Island, Coney Island and the Rockaways near John F. Kennedy Airport on Long Island to evacuate to higher ground. The city set up 15 shelters for refugees.

Classes were canceled today in North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts as schools were turned into shelters. Hundreds of military planes and helicopters and dozens of ships were moved from their home bases to protect them from the storm. Smaller craft were hauled into dry dock.

In New York, the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center were ordered closed, along with several other tall office buildings, and trash cans were taken off the streets to keep them from turning into wind-blown missiles.

The hurricane swept across the Outer Banks, the fragile chain of islands rimming the North Carolina shore, shortly after 1 a.m., at the villages of Avon and Buxton on Cape Hatteras.

‘Extremely Heavy Rain’

“We’ve had winds in excess of 100 m.p.h., extremely heavy rain,” Dare County Sheriff Bert Austin said after the eye passed Hatteras Village near the cape.

A wind gust of up to 120 m.p.h. was clocked at Diamond Shoals, N.C., off the coast of Cape Hatteras, the National Weather Service said.

Eight- to 12-foot waves lashed 3,000-pound sandbags surrounding the 114-year-old lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. Parts of three piers were washed out in Atlantic Beach to the south, police Officer Cathy Long said.

In Manteo, on Roanoke Island, trees were bent almost to the ground and winds screamed as torrents of rain pelted deserted roads. Electricity was knocked out along the Barrier Islands as power lines were toppled, and the weather service reported beach erosion.

At Nags Head, officials said 116 nursing home residents who had refused evacuation and changed their minds too late to be taken to the mainland weathered the storm.

“We did beautifully,” said Juanita Harvey, nurse consultant at the Britthaven of Outer Banks. “The patients did fine. They’re getting up, fixing to have breakfast. Our power went out, but we’re still on emergency generators.”

More than 65,000 customers of Virginia Power were without service in the greater Hampton Roads area because of driving rain and wind that knocked over power lines, utility spokesman Fred Ellis said.