N.C. prepares for Earl's arrival

Evacuation urged in 3 coastal counties

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 02, 2010

RALEIGH

State and local governments moved to protect the North Carolina coast's most vulnerable people yesterday, announcing evacuations and school closings as Hurricane Earl swept toward the Outer Banks.

Three counties urged tourists and residents to leave for safer ground. The N.C. National Guard activated 81 soldiers and airmen to prepare to support emergency operations if help is needed.

Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency, allowing North Carolina to apply for federal money to help with hurricane cleanup. She urged coastal residents and vacationers to treat the storm with respect because a small shift to the west in Earl's predicted offshore track could mean significant damage.

"My message for the people of North Carolina is a simple one -- it's to be prepared," she said. "Be ready, because none of us can tell what's going to happen."

Perdue also sent a letter to President Obama, requesting a federal pre-landfall emergency declaration in anticipation of damages, an action he took later yesterday.

He ordered federal agencies to help state and local officials with handling any problems caused by Earl. The declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.

Earl is expected to reach the North Carolina coast late tonight and wheel to the northeast, staying offshore while making its way up the Eastern Seaboard. But forecasters said it could move in closer, perhaps coming ashore in North Carolina, crossing New York's Long Island and passing over the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod.

That could make the difference between modestly wet and blustery weather on the one hand, and dangerous storm surge, heavy rain and hurricane-force winds on the other.

As of last night, Earl was a powerful Category 4 hurricane with winds of 135 mph.

Tourists and some residents on barrier islands were ordered to evacuate yesterday. Ferries carried people from Hyde County's Ocracoke Island.

In Dare County, an early order for tourists to leave jammed the only highway from Hatteras Island back to the mainland with hundreds of cars. Hours later, residents in seven island towns also were told to leave -- bringing the total evacuation order to about 30,000 people.

The order affected people in Rodanthe, Avon, Waves, Salvo, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras.

Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Toolan said that those who choose not to leave the island are being advised that they will need to prepare to go without services for up to 72 hours after the dangerous storm passes.

Visitors on Bogue Banks were being told to leave the barrier island starting this morning, said Jo Ann Smith, the county emergency-services director.

The order includes villages from Emerald Isle to Atlantic Beach.

The Red Cross has announced that it will be running nine shelters in four eastern counties.

Carteret County officials and county mayors said they want residents of low-lying areas or those in manufactured homes to leave. A pet-friendly shelter was to open at noon today at a middle school in Newport.

A separate shelter i s to open early today for people who need oxygen, electricity or have other medical problems that could put them at risk if power is lost and roads are closed.

In Currituck County, people in a coastal community reachable only by four-wheel drive vehicles won't be required to evacuate. The 12-mile-long area known as Carova has about 800 houses and about 100 full-time residents.

"It could be a day or two before we get that beach road open -- they could certainly be stranded," said County Manager Dan Scanlon.

Officials decided against evacuation because Earl is forecast to head north before strongly affecting the area, Scanlon said.

People were being telephoned and urged to leave, and many tourists were making the 30-minute drive along the beach to the nearest paved road, he said.

Perdue said she hopes that vacationers who were asked to leave would return after the storm passes. The long holiday weekend is a big moneymaker for coastal businesses and the state's tax coffers.