Ophelia soaks coastal North Carolina
Hurricane Ophelia weakened slightly and slowed to a crawl today along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, giving the fragile barrier islands a prolonged soaking even as it appeared the storm had not caused severe inland flooding.
The exposed Outer Banks islands of Ocracoke and Hatteras were still at risk as the storm paralleled the shore just to their east. Thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity.
Because of the storm’s slow pace, the National Hurricane Centre said the storm’s northern eyewall, the ring of high wind surrounding the eye, could remain over the Outer Banks for 12 to 24 more hours. A gust of 95 mph (153 kph) was recorded at Hatteras Village, the centre said.
“If you have been asked to evacuate and did not, now is not the time to do it, especially if you are in the Outer Banks,” Gov. Mike Easley said at a midday briefing.
Hundreds of Hatteras Island residents were believed to have defied evacuation orders.
The storm had sustained wind of 80mph today, down from 85 mph, the hurricane centre said.
It was expected to produce 8 to 13 more centimetres of rain along the coast. Easley said 30 to 38 centimetres of rain had already fallen on some southern coastal locations, including Wilmington, where rain had stopped today.
“I think we will be dealing with water in some places for a while,” said New Hanover County emergency management director Warren Lee.
A hurricane warning covered about 220 miles along the coast from Surf City north of Wilmington to the Virginia line, and a tropical storm warning covered the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
By late morning, no flooding or major damage had been reported on Hatteras Island, said Dare County spokeswoman Quinn Capps.
“People are heeding the warnings – they’re staying off the roads,” she said.
Ophelia was expected to head back out into the open Atlantic after its assault on the Outer Banks.
At 11am EDT (4pm Irish Time), Ophelia was centred about 30 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras and about 55 miles east-northeast of Cape Lookout. It was drifting erratically toward the east-northeast at just 3 mph.
At the mainland town of New Bern, on Pamlico Sound, water was receding today after failing to reach the flood levels seen during 2003’s Hurricane Isabel.
“We pretty much dodged a big, slow-moving bullet, I tell you,” New Bern Mayor Tom Bayliss told CNN. He said the town had high water and sporadic power outages throughout the night.
High water marooned some people in their homes in the community of Harlowe, said Chuck Webb, assistant chief of the Harlowe volunteer fire department. “They are on islands,” he said.
Beyond damage to private piers along the coast, “there’s been very little structural damage,” said Hunter Birckhead, a state Division of Emergency Management spokesman. “It’s mostly shingles and minor roof damage to this point.”
On Ocean Isle Beach, south of Wilmington, a 50-foot section of beachfront road was washed out by heavy surf. To the north, the surf chewed away the end of a hotel’s pier on Bogue Banks, a barrier island.
Following the criticism of its response to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had 250 workers on the ground – a larger-than-usual contingent given Ophelia’s size. FEMA also put Coast Guard Rear Adm Brian Peterman in place to command any federal response the storm might require.
More than 81,000 homes and business were without power at midday in eastern North Carolina, down from a peak of 200,000 during the night, utilities said.
Ophelia is the 15th named storm and seventh named hurricane of this year’s busy Atlantic season, which ends November 30.
