UNDATED – Permanent residents of Ocracoke Island will be allowed back effective Monday. To help speed the delivery of hurricane relief supplies to the island, the state Ferry Division will begin emergency ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke's Silver Lake Harbor, which bypasses closed sections of Highway 12 on the island. Only high clearance vehicles will be allowed on the Silver Lake route. Ferry operations from Swan Quarter and Cedar Island will be conducted as well. Re-entry restrictions for visitors remain in effect.
UNDATED – Carteret County officials say over 50% of the county was without power at the height of Hurricane Dorian but only a few areas remain without power. Most of those areas were Down East where there was extensive flooding. As of Sunday afternoon Duke Power and Carteret Craven Electric were reporting fewer than 200 outages. Emergency management reports no rescues, injuries or fatalities. The county's Beach Nourishment Office reports no significant dune erosion along Bogue Banks. The County cooperative extension office reports minimal damage to agricultural products.
RALEIGH – Ocracoke Island remains a focus for relief groups following Hurricane Dorian. A press release from the Governor's Office says about 100 National Guard soldiers are on the island supporting recovery efforts, along with a medical team and emergency managers. The North Carolina Baptists on Mission are setting up a mobile kitchen at Hatteras Island with Wildlife Officers transporting prepared food to the island for distribution by the Salvation Army. Cellular and public safety radio communications have been restored. The island's water system is functioning though a boil water advisory is in place. Work on power restoration is underway.
Cedar Point Campground on the Croatan National Forest will reopen on Monday, September 9. The ranger district office in New Bern will return to regular business hours starting Monday at 8 a.m. Visitors should be aware that minor cleanup work may be ongoing in open areas.
Early voting will be available in all 11 counties of the 3rd U-S Congressional District on Saturday. Most counties will have early voting at the County Board site only. Carteret County will offer one-stop voting at the County Board of Elections on Live Oak Street in Beaufort from 0900-1700. It will be the only one stop site available in the county Saturday
Onslow County Schools have announced they will operate on a normal schedule Monday.
North Carolina households who currently receive Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) will receive September 2019 benefits early so that they can purchase necessary food immediately following Hurricane Dorian’s landfall. The state of North Carolina will make more than $88 million available to approximately 380,000 households to enable them to immediately purchase food and replace food that was lost as a result of the disaster.
Croatan National Forest remains closed. Extent of damage from Hurricane Dorian is currently unknown. U-S Forest Staff will begin assessments this weekend.
Jones County manager Franky Howard said the county “fared fairly well” through the Hurricane. Howard reported some minor flash-flooding in the Wyse Fork area and a few road closings in that area which have re-opened. Some trees came down but there was no significant property damage. At the height of the storm 68 people sheltered at the Civic Center. There were 17 remaining at noon. A water line break in Maysville yesterday that was unrelated to Hurricane Dorian has been fully repaired and water operations are back to normal.
Carteret County government and courts will open for normal business Monday 0800
Early voting hours have been extended in four 9th U-S Congressional District counties. The state Board of Elections announced hours will be extended until 7:00 pm tonight in Bladen and Robeson Counties while those counties join Cumberland and Scotland counties in getting Saturday voting hours. All four counties had to close one-stop sites this week as Hurricane Dorian approached. The state Democratic Party has petitioned the state Board of Elections for extended early voting hours in both the 3rd and 9th Congressional District elections.
Power outage numbers are starting to fall. Reported at over 220,000 at around 1100, the state Department of Public Safety says outages now stand at 195,695. Brunswick and New Hanover Counties have seen about 50% of loss power customers restored, with about 24,000 customers still waiting for lights. Carteret County remains by far the largest outage problem with 37,156 outages.
East Carolina University says its campus will open for normal operations Saturday, including football game day activities. ECU officials have completed interior and exterior inspections of campus buildings and infrastructure and found only minor damage to the main and health sciences campuses. Most common damage reports included leaks, flooding in flood prone roadways and fallen tree limbs.
Pine Knoll Shores lifted its curfew at 1200. Bridges will be open. Re-entry passes will not be needed. If power is not restored by sundown the curfew may be reinstituted.
Morehead City lifted its curfew at 1200. Because many people are without power the curfew will be reinstituted Friday night at 1900 and stay in place until Saturday 0700. If there is a significant restoration of power, that plan may be revisited.
Dare County has extended its curfew until 1500 today for all areas of the county except Kitty Hawk and Nags Head. Areas of the county have been affected by extreme soundside flooding. A gauge on Ocracoke Island this morning quickly rose from 1.5 feet to over 6 feet. Major flood stage there is 5.5 feet. Water quickly receded under flood stage in around an hour. All of Hatteras Island is currently without power. North of Oregon Inlet, approximately 1800 Dominion customers are without power, while on mainland Dare, over 500 Tideland customers are without power.
The town of Swansboro reports minimal damage. The curfew was lifted at 1200.
The hurricane warning has been discontinued west of Bogue Inlet, coastal and inland Onslow County, and Jones County. The tropical storm warning is discontinued in Edgecombe, Greene, Halifax, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Pitt, Wayne and Wilson counties.
An update from the Department of Public Safety says there are now 229,333 people without power in North Carolina. Carteret County has the most outages with 36,426. New Hanover County has 21,591.
The city of Havelock has lifted its curfew.
The city of Greenville will end its state of emergency Friday at noon. Mayor P.J. Connelly said there was no widespread damage from Dorian.
Lenoir County officials say there have been just a few reports of damage in the county. Emergency Services director Jerri King said her office is continuing to assess damage reports as they come in. The lone shelter in the county at Lenoir Community College will close at noon, and the Emergency Operations Center will close at the same time. There was only minor flooding in downtown Kinston overnight. At 0900 about 2600 La Grange residents were without power along with a few hundred others in the county due to Dorian’s winds.
After making landfall three times in the Bahamas and one time in North Carolina, Dorian will make one more stop. AccuWeather says the storm will pass off Cape Cod, Massachusetts before making landfall one final time in Nova Scotia and/or Newfoundland this weekend.
Pitt County has announced it will cease shelter operations Friday at 1500. Lenoir County will close its shelter at Lenoir Community College at 1200.
National Weather Service office has confirmed Hurricane Dorian made landfall at Cape Hatteras at 0835 Friday morning.
Some Carteret County roads previously deemed unpassable have opened up. The entrance to the Dutch Mobile Home Park on Highway 24 had been blocked by a tree. And areas of Bridges Street that were covered with high water are now open. The Atlantic Beach Causeway between West-and-East Fort Macon Road and the intersection of Nine Foot Road and Mason Town Road both remain impassable. And a downed power line is blocking the entrance to the Barnesville Community. Multiple streets in Beaufort are also experiencing flooding.
Reports of wind damage are coming into the Pamlico County operations center. The National Weather Service forecast sustained winds of more than 60 mph for the area. Wind gusts and reports about downed trees and power lines have increased this morning, said Tim Buck, Pamlico County Manager.
“We still encourage folks not to get out at this time. Let our emergency personnel get out and assess the situation with the power folks to make sure that it’s safe.”
No major flooding been reported in Pamlico County. 225 people are riding out the storm in the emergency shelter at Pamlico Community College.
Washington County Emergency Management at 5:00 am this morning was reporting water across roads through the county. And in Hyde County there are reports of water across White Plains Road and other secondary roads.
JACKSONVILLE –The city of Jacksonville reports no one was injured at a duplex fire. The Jacksonville Fire Department received a call shortly before midnight of a fire on Twinwood Drive. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the flames. The fire damaged the porch and got into the home’s attic. It appeared to originate from a porch light fixture. Four adults and four dogs at the home were uninjured and have been transported to other locations.
UNDATED – High winds are continuing to be recorded as Hurricane Dorian passes off the Outer Banks. The National Weather Service reports the highest wind speed at Fort Macon which clocked 89 mile per hour winds at around 4:15 this morning. Cape Lookout had 82 mile per hour winds at 6:00 am and Cedar Island reported 76 mile per hour winds. Further inland the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station had 70 mile per hour winds just after 6:00 am, Jacksonville was at 62 miles per hour at about the same time and Kinston had 54 mile per hour winds at 3:20 am.
UNDATED – The state Department of Public Safety report 219,064 power outages across the state. Carteret County has the largest number of outages with nearly 37,000 people in the dark. Brunswick and New Hanover Counties have 28,000 and 23,000 outages respectively. Sampson and Craven Counties each have over 14,000 outages while Onslow County has about 11,700 without power.
DARE COUNTY – Emergency officials in Dare County are urging any residents who did not evacuate to continue to shelter in place. They expect strong winds, heavy rain and storm surge throughout the day. Flood gauges were indicating water levels in the sounds are dropping as water is pushed away by the wind, but when the winds shift that sound water will rapidly return, bringing extreme soundside flooding for some areas.
UNDATED – As hurricane Dorian continues it’s northeasterly trek, some watches and warnings for North Carolina have been dropped. A storm surge warning for coastal and inland Onslow and Jones counties has been discontinued. And a tropical storm warning for some southeastern and central North Carolina counties has been cancelled including Bladen, Columbus, Duplin, Sampson and Wake Counties
UNDATED – Beaufort County emergency management says the county still continues to receive high winds and rain from Hurricane Dorian. Winds are expected to maintain sustained speeds in the 40 mile per hour range with gusts up to 60 over the next couple of hours. Winds will slowly decrease during the afternoon. Beaufort County has about 8700 residents without power. Crews are in place to begin restoration efforts and are waiting for winds to decrease so they can safely work. About 150 people are currently sheltering at Washington High School.
UNDATED – The National Weather Service office in Newport is reporting water is beginning to rise rapidly over the eastern part of the Pamlico Sound. The National Weather Service says the tide gauge at Ocracoke has risen six-feet in the last hour-and-a-half to 6 feet, 3 inches and rising. The Weather Service anticipates similar conditions in Hatteras. They advise anyone in those flood prone areas to seek higher ground immediately.
