Evening star., 1960-09-13
EASTERN SHORE
Repair Speeded to Battered Resorts
BY RICHARD O'LONE
Star Stan Writer

4 10y IbANAAEAENO " AOkNG
Star star Writer
Residents Of the Eastern
Shores playground area today
are picking up the pieces of
their homes and businesses,
| scattered and smashed by the
fury of Hurricane Donna.
In fact, the rebuilding and
repair along the Maryland and
delaware ocean beaches began
yesterday while the fading but
still dangerous winds of the
huge tropical storm whistled
through the debris Uttered
| streets.
Electric power and some
telephones were still out in
scattered spots along the
Istretch from Ocean City, Md,
| to Rehoboth Beach, Del, to-
day, despite tremendous efforts
by repair crews.
Winds up to 100-miles an
hour in some places toppled
and snapped scores OF utility
poles. Some of the downed
poles were in Inarshlands made
inaccessible by a four-inch rain
and tides four-to-tlve feet
above normal.
The Chesapeake and Potomac
Telephone Co. estimated a
| 100000 loss to equipment
throughout Maryland. At one
point, some 1000 men were
working to restore commune
cation.
Warning Saved Lives
Thanks to advance warning
and evacuation efforts by po-
Ilice and civil defense and Red
Cross officials, Donna claimed
lbut one life in this area.
Charles w. Hutchinson, so,
was electrocuted when he came
in contact with a fallen power
line near his home at Delmar,
Del. Farther south, two men
died after their barge sank
when it collided with a freighter
in Hampton Roads, at Newport
News, Va.
The bodies of the victims,
Rufus O'Neil, "a, of Norfolk,
and Daniel Jenkins, 40, re-
portedly from North Carolina,
were washed ashore at Virginia
Beach early today.
Meredith Hoffmaster, man
ager Of the Small Business Ad-
ministration's Maryland Office.
arrived in Ocean City yester-
day on the heels of the storm
to set in motion the mechanics
of having the region declared
a disaster area.
| Ocean City, where recorded
winds hit no higher than 10
miles an hour. suffered the
worst damage. At least five
notels were badly damaged
and myriad other buildings and
cottages suffered varying de-
grees of damage.
/ Roof Ripped Of
The first blast of Donna,
from the Northeast, ripped the
roof from three of four wings
of. the luxurious Stowaway
Motel, injuring one woman.
| A deceptive calm set in about
$3.50 am, and the sun even
broke through briefly. Some of
the 1000 residents and tourists
iwho had evacuated the town
began to trickle back.
Suddenly, winds blasted in
again, this time from the
Northwest and even stronger
than the earlier gusts.
Wind-whipped waves Is feet
high crashed onto the beaches.
Trees were snapped and torn
from the ground.
AS late as / pm, with the
winds much diminished, the
danger had not ended. A rising
tide, held back by the winds,
was freed, and huge rollers
smashed through a brick sea
wall at the Oceanic Motel. The
water battered down doors, and
the water poured knee-deep
into the motel rooms.
An amphibiouS Coast Guard
vehicle was dispatched with a
crew to lead seven hysterical
guests to safety from the motel.
A concrete bridge over U. S.
213 near Centreville was under
mined and collapsed into
swollen Island Creak.
Ocean City officials have not
yet been able to estimate the
total damage to the popular re-
sort. .-..
mo one man can do that" a
fire official said. There's too