Updated noon, Oct. 7, 2016
Today’s (Oct. 7) forecast brings back the potential for a very dangerous and life threatening situation for all of Eastern N.C., according to an 8 a.m. report issued by Richard S. Bandy, meteorologist-in-charge, National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office Newport/Morehead City. (See link to full report below which says this could be the worst flooding since Hurricane Floyd.)
“Extremely heavy rainfall combined with storm surge/coastal flooding will result in the potential for widespread and deep flash flooding mixing with storm surge/coastal flooding and river flooding,” Bandy said. “The wind forecast has increased along the coast as well, so more numerous issues with downed trees and power outages can be expected.”
Ferries to and from the Ocracoke are running. The long routes to Cedar Island and Swan Quarter are on schedule, and a modified schedule for the Ocracoke-Hatteras run is also running. Click here for that schedule.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners will meet with the Ocracoke Control Group at 2 p.m. today (Oct. 7), and the Hyde County government offices will close today at 3 p.m. due to inclement weather and flooding of roadways.
Hyde County Emergency Services is now using a system called Hyper-Reach to provide a way to send alerts to our residents. You can choose to receive weather related alerts, community alerts or both. The alerts can be delivered via phone call, text message and email. We highly recommend that everyone register with this service. Just click on the attached link.
Outer Banks Group (Cape Hatteras National Seashore) update:
By 5 p.m. today, all visitor services and facilities at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Wright Brothers National Memorial will be closed until further notice.
All campgrounds closed at 10 a.m. today.
All Cape Hatteras National Seashore ORV ramps will be closed to vehicle traffic by 4 p..m. today.
Visitor services and facilities will reopen after post-storm assessments are completed.
Tideland Electric Membership Cooperative sent extra materials over earlier this week and an extra bucket truck yesterday,, said spokesperson Heidi Smith.
“Additional crews will be staged in Washington until we know if and where we will be impacted,” she said. “Right now, our Pamlico and Craven county service territories appear to be most susceptible to outages.”
Already, an extra seven-man crew staying in Fairfield where they are working on a construction job for the electric company, but have been told they could be activated for storm duty should the need arise.
“As we get closer, it is still possible that we would dispatch additional personnel to the island if the forecast significantly changes,” Smith said.
The Ocracoke Planning Advisory Board meeting has been rescheduled to Nov. 10 and the Ocracoke Board of Adjustment (variance board) meeting has been postponed to Nov. 11.
Report from the National Weather Service Forecast Office Newport/Morehead City, NC
