This article has been updated to reflect Hyde County government changes.
Hyde County Government Offices Closed; Commissioners Meeting Rescheduled to October 7
Due to inundation of roads and severe weather, the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Hyde County Board of Commissioners has been moved from Monday, October 5, to Wednesday, October 7, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will take place in the Hyde County Government Center Multi-Purpose Room, 30 Oyster Creek Rd, Swan Quarter, NC and the Ocracoke School Commons, 120 School House Rd, Ocracoke, NC. The public is invited to attend.
All Hyde County government offices, including the Hyde County Health Department, will be closed on Monday, October 5 due to severe weather. All Hyde County solid waste convenience sites on the mainland will also be closed on Monday, October 5. The solid waste convenience site on Ocracoke will remain open until further notice.
Ocraoke School will be closed Monday, Oct. 5.
Note: for more on adverse weather conditions, go click here.
Sunny skies earlier today have yielded to the winds and rain with Hurricane Joaquin close to Bermuda. A strong northeast wind is impacting Hyde County today and tomorrow (Oct. 5).
Hyde County officials have decided to continue to prohibit visitor access to Ocracoke until further notice.
Access to Ocracoke is only granted to emergency personnel, utilities, vendors, residents, and property owners with proper identification.
Conditions on Ocracoke Island:
The National Weather Service is predicting 3 to 5 inches of rain for the island over the next 48 hours. A northeast wind is
expected to build to 30 MPH with gusts between 40 to 45 mph.
Highway 12 is closed north of the Pony Pens due to a breach in the dunes estimated to be 340 feet in length. NCDOT was able to fill a smaller, secondary breach yesterday, but Highway 12 remains extremely vulnerable to high surf and over wash.
The Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route is suspended until Highway 12 reopens. The NC Ferry Division has also suspended the Cedar Island-Ocracoke route due flooding on roads in Cedar Island, and will not resume operations until road conditions improve.
Local flooding on roads in the village remains an issue, likely to worsen with additional rain this evening.
Drivers should continue to exercise extreme caution. There has been no loss of power on Ocracoke. However, Tideland EMC is reporting outages in other communities in their service area.
Conditions on Mainland Hyde County:
The National Weather Service is predicting 1 to 3 inches of rain for mainland Hyde County. A strong northeast wind, expected to last for several days, will likely exacerbate sound side flooding conditions in low-lying areas.
Currently all the major roads in and out of Swan Quarter are open, though water is starting to accumulate in certain areas of NC Highway 264 near Scranton. Several low-lying local roads are inundated with high water and drivers should exercise caution.
Farmers are reporting thousands of acres of damaged crops due to flooding. Hyde County Emergency Services Department is working with local drainage districts to pump water out of residential areas and roads.
Swan Quarter is reporting the highest water levels since Hurricane Isabel.
North Carolina Ferry Division update Oct. 4
As you might imagine, all this wind and water is disrupting several of our ferry routes today… and conditions are only forecast to get worse as the day progresses. Keep up to date with route closures on our Twitter feed at @NCDOT_Ferry (Twitter posts can also be found on the homepage of our website), or call ahead to your specific ferry terminal before leaving home today or tomorrow. Stay safe out there!
