Hurricane Damage
Hurricane Bertha finally ran out of steam on Saturday, shrinking into a tropical storm that still managed to rake the Northeast with pounding rain.
A surfer was killed off New Jersey on Friday, bringing the hurricane’s death toll to 10. With the storm’s passing, residents of some of the hardest-hit coastal towns in North Carolina began to pick up the pieces.
Property damage in tiny Topsail Beach, for instance, was estimated at $2 million. But the biggest loser may have been the state’s tourist industry, as the hurricane blew away about $4.5 million a day in sales and services to vacationers along the Outer Banks alone.
Additional sources: U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.
Copyrighted 1996 Chronicle Features
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