Post-Isabel Frustration Grows

Residents Can't Get Power, Water, Medicine And Other Necessities

(CBS/AP)  As frustration grows for people still without electricity or drinking water because of Hurricane Isabel, officials are urging patience and reminding victims of the sheer size of the task facing repair crews.

"With a disaster of this magnitude, there are gong to be problems, but we're going to work through those problems," Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner said Monday during a visit to one hard-hit Richmond neighborhood still without electricity.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Krasula reports many people in eastern North Carolina are getting desperate for power, running water, a warm shower, a warm meal and specifics like baby formula, diapers, and prescription medicine. One unusual request: Bicycles, preferably mountain bikes, for the people on the southern tip of Hatteras Island who've been cut off by the new inlet created by Hurricane Isabel. That area now is only accessible by ferry.

Warner stood in Arenzo Jefferson's back yard, where a walnut tree and a massive maple entangled in electrical wires had toppled onto the roof of Jefferson's home. Many of his neighbors' homes sustained similar damage as the storm roared through Thursday.

"As I've traveled around the Richmond area, there are neighborhoods that look like a war zone at this point," Warner said. "Progress is being made, though."

He said the state's dominant utility, Dominion Virginia Power, has more than 10,000 people working, and service has been restored to about 1 million of the 1.8 million Dominion Virginia customers who lost power.

"I realize that's little solace to Mr. Jefferson," Warner said.

Jefferson, 55, acknowledged that waiting for the utility crews has been daunting.

"I know they've got their hands full, but it's very, very inconvenient," he said. "We lost all our food."

In Dover, Pa., Jeanne Spahr also was dealing with the hardships.

"We've been pouring pond water to flush the toilet," said Spahr, 39. "It's not smelling so good. I grew up using an outhouse and I don't want to go back to that."

With now power and no running water, many residents of North Carolina's original colonial capital have been bathing in the bay which empties into Albemarle Sound, reports Krasula.

"People are advised not to swim, and not to go bathing, in the bay," said Chowan County spokesman Peter Rasko. "A lot of people have been taking their evening baths in Eden Bay and the Sound. Please don't do that."

Rasko says Hurricane Isabel damaged the town's sewage treatment plant, and raw sewage is flowing into the bay.

At least 36 deaths have been blamed on the storm, 21 of them in Virginia.

North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware were declared federal disaster areas, and President Bush traveled to Richmond to be briefed on the recovery efforts. During his visit, he approved federal disaster aid for 43 additional Virginia localities.

"The true character of this country comes out in times of stress and emergency. This country has responded once again," Mr. Bush told about 250 emergency relief workers assembled at the Virginia State Police Academy.

The president talked to governors from several states during a video conference briefing. "If you need help, just let us know," he said.

Some local officials had complained that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been slow to respond to requests for ice, water and generators, but those complaints died down as more provisions rolled into the devastated areas.

"We're having to literally horse-trade and scrounge and try and find private contractors to send us ice," said Rasko. "The state system apparently has been so overloaded there is no ice in the emergency management system."

Even 50 miles inland in northeastern North Carolina, 200- to 300-year-old trees crashed own onto power lines and utility poles, and in some places entire utility systems will have to be rebuilt. Utility companies say it could take a month to fully restore power.

Along North Carolina's hard-hit Outer Banks, residents walked the trash-strewn beaches Monday and ate breakfast in the few restaurants that were serving. Road crews had plowed the sand from major beach roads into 6- to 8-foot-high berms along the shoulders.

"Some of the stores are open, but they're not selling dairy products yet," said Erica Stephens, 30, of Kill Devil Hills, as she walked her dog along the sand. "We're trying to function. Everybody's trying to function."

Farther south, relief workers in boats brought food and supplies to residents of Hatteras Village, which was cut off from the rest of Hatteras Island when Isabel carved a new channel across the narrow ribbon of land.

"Thank goodness for the Salvation Army," Janet Aiken said. "They're serving up three hot squares a day to anyone who needs it. And the National Guard brought in a lot of water for us and set up the generators, so we've got electricity in some parts and enough drinking water."

She said volunteers with a boat had come by the island to pick up elderly residents or people with heart conditions. "That's just how people are here," she said.

Monday brought the start of a new work week, and the commute was especially difficult in southeastern Virginia.

The Midtown Tunnel, which carries 40,000 vehicles a day between Norfolk and Portsmouth, flooded during the storm Thursday and was still full of water. Authorities estimate it will be closed at least two weeks.

"It's an adventure," said Jennifer Ayers, who rode her bicycle a couple of miles from her Portsmouth home to catch a ferry across the Elizabeth River to Norfolk, carrying her office clothes in a backpack.

Motorists whose regular work routes remained opened still had to be careful, with many traffic signals out. Police directed traffic at major intersections, but motorists were left to fend for themselves along many side streets.

No major delays were reported around the Washington area, despite nearly 200 signal outages.

In Baltimore, prosecutors had to seek postponements in at least three cases because evidence was soaked when the Police Department's basement was flooded.