Special Report: Woe in wake of Isabel

Tropical Storm Isabel, downgraded from the Category 2 hurricane that hit the mid-Atlantic area Thursday, collapsed in Canada yesterday — leaving behind 28 persons dead, millions without electricity, coastal areas flooded, and damage by wind and water that is still being assessed.

Yet the storm’s ferocity managed to surprise some local residents, even after four days of warnings, the closing of the city and federal governments, and a dash to stock up on bottled water, flashlights and batteries.

“I expected maybe a foot or a foot and a half, not 4 feet of water throughout the whole restaurant,” said Fran Crookston, a bartender at the Fish Market & Restaurant, one of dozens of homes and businesses in Old Town Alexandria inundated by the Potomac River.

About 585,000 metropolitan area customers were still without power yesterday, and floodwaters had yet to recede in Annapolis and Long Beach, Md., on the Chesapeake Bay.

A roving army of utility crews restored power to about 500,000 local customers yesterday.

Tidal flooding arrived in Isabel’s wake yesterday, with high water washing over Point of Rocks, Md. Authorities warned that the Potomac River would crest today and possibly flood places such as Alexandria again.

Millions of gallons of rainwater from Isabel is expected to cascade from the mountains in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia over the next few days.

More than 1 million D.C.-area residents are on a boil-water advisory, and thousands are using dry ice to store perishable foods as utility companies caution that some customers may be without electricity for more than a week.

Yesterday, hundreds of volunteers helped clear the Mall of debris while National Park Service crews replaced U.S. flags around the Washington Monument that were shredded by Isabel.

Forecasters predicted Isabel’s path and magnitude fairly accurately. But even as the first raindrops fell and the wind picked up in the District, uncertainty and even skepticism about the storm’s strength persisted.

On a special Hurricane Isabel edition of CNN’s “Crossfire” on Thursday afternoon, co-host Tucker Carlson chided D.C. residents for being a city of “weather wimps” after the shutdown of the city and federal governments and Metro bus and rail service before the storm.

Nevertheless, a few hearty Washingtonians were spotted windsurfing on the Potomac and die-hard anglers were yanking catfish out of the river as the storm blew into town.

By early Friday, though, Isabel had removed any doubt about its capacity for destruction.

The storm’s death toll hit 28 yesterday, with 16 dead in Virginia, three in North Carolina, five in Maryland and one each in the District, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

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