EFL: More of the exposed Outer Banks chain of island was ordered evacuated Tuesday as Tropical Storm Ophelia drifted closer to the coast of the Carolinas with pounding surf and a threat of heavy rain. Rain was scattered along the coast as Ophelia bobbed and weaved slowly to the north-northwest, with its top sustained wind staying at about 70 mph. A hurricane warning was in effect from Georgetown, S.C., to North Carolina's Cape Lookout, east of Morehead City, the National Hurricane Center said. A tropical storm warning extended north along the Outer Banks from Cape Lookout north to Oregon Inlet.
With many people on edge because of Hurricane Katrina, all residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks on Tuesday, visitors already had been ordered off Ocracoke Island and 300 National Guard troops were on duty. The National Park Service closed the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Schools were closed in several coastal counties in both North and South Carolina.
"I don't think I would be human if I said Katrina had no impact on me," Wilmington Mayor Spence Broadhurst said after calling for a voluntary evacuation. Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner declared an emergency Monday, putting state agencies to work on storm preparations. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford called for a voluntary evacuation of oceanfront and riverside areas in the northeastern part of his state. | Note: This is how professionals do it |
Few people heeded Sanford's call.
"If it's bad, of course we'll leave," Sandra Hunecutt of Denver, N.C., said at Myrtle Beach, S.C. But "this is our vacation." | Sigh. Why do we even bother? |
Ophelia's slow, erratic movement made it hard to predict its path, but it appeared to be headed for North Carolina, Robbie Berg, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said Tuesday. After reaching land, the center's latest long-range models show it veering north and east from North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, potentially crossing the Outer Banks and then moving away from the coast, Berg said. "The center could still pass very near Virginia." It could regain hurricane strength, forecasters said.
At 2 p.m. EDT, Ophelia was centered about 125 miles south of Wilmington and about 120 miles east-southeast of Charleston, S.C. It was moving north-northwest at 4 mph. A gradual turn toward the north expected during the night or on Wednesday, but continued erratic motion was likely, the hurricane center said. Ophelia became a tropical storm Wednesday off the Florida coast and later strengthened to a hurricane. It is the 15th named storm and seventh hurricane in this year's busy Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. |