NAGS HEAD, N.C. — North Carolina’s Outer Banks are expected to see heavy rain, high winds and surf, as well as the possibility of coastal flooding from a weekend storm.
Authorities urged residents to prepare for possible impacts.
“It’s not too bad yet,” said Michael Gould of Buxton. "It’s calm, but you know the wind is coming and the rain."
Gould and his wife Maria were taking their dogs Wesley and Alfie out for a last walk near Buxton Beach before the storm moves in, bracing for two to three inches of rain and high wind gusts.
“Just get everything loose around the house in and fastened, and batten down the hatches really nothing other than that,” Gould said.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation was also preparing for the storm. Crews were out on NC Highway 12 near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge hoping to prevent too much ocean overwash from impacting the roadway.
“Every storm is different, but our preparations are usually the same,” said Tim Hass, communications officer for NCDOT’s Division 1. “We have equipment staged at all the normal hot spots. We have built up some of the protective sand dunes along pea island along Ocracoke as best we can.”
Weather
Messy weather this weekend
Hass said will likely present a challenge to the crews because of its path, with different impacts on different days.
“If you go down to Ocracoke and Hatteras, the beaches face a certain way so that the southeast winds will push the water toward them,” Hass said. “And then as the storm passes by and the winds come from the north, it will affect Pea Island because it faces a different direction than the other two islands.”
Hass said with conditions expected to be hazardous on the roads, travel is not advised.
If you must venture out, check the latest road conditions on www.drivenc.gov. You can also check flood conditions at the NCEM Flood Inundation and Alerting Network website.
