Visitors Voted Off the Island
Update: A MANDATORY EVACUATION has been declared for Ocracoke Island, NC effective at 3:00 p.m. today, October 1, 2015.
A general population shelter will be available to receive people at 6:00 p.m. tonight. The shelter will be located at the Englewood Baptist Church in Rocky Mount (1350 S. Winstead Ave, Rocky Mount, 27803).
Original story: At a special emergency meeting of the Hyde County Board of Commissioners at noon today, the commissioners voted unanimously to declare a State of Emergency and mandatory evacuation for Ocracoke as soon as it can legally happen.
The question remains as to when the evacuation will begin. What do we want? An evacuation! When do we want it? Now!
That's the consensus of Hyde County Emergency management personnel, the Ocracoke Emergency Control Group, the NCDOT ferry division, and other officials, but the State of Emergency and evacuation order can't go into effect until the county has set up shelters for evacuees off the island. That's the law.
Those shelters will be in Rocky Mount and/or Wilson, NC.
"We're working with the state to open a shelter as soon as possible," said Hyde County emergency manager Justin Gibbs. "We will need to put out clear information about shelters and their locations when we put out the evacuation order."
Justin hopes that this will get worked out this afternoon. We will know more after the Control Group meeting at 3pm. Expect to get your eviction notice sometime later today.
In the meantime, if you're thinking of leaving, go ahead and go and beat the traffic. The weather is lousy anyway.
Once the evac has been started, only residents, property owners, and vendors will be able to board ferries to the island (anyone can leave). Law enforcement peeps will be on duty to check that nobody slips through who doesn't need to be here. Have your re-entry permit, driver's license, or proof of residency handy.
This evacuation comes a bit earlier than was expected yesterday. After yesterday's control group meeting, we left thinking that the evacuation would begin Friday at 5am. But the ferry division put the fear of high water into the mix today, and the evacuation was stepped up.
"We've had higher than normal high tides, and there could be a problem getting the [Hatteras] ferries under the ramps," said deputy ferry director Jed Dixon. "It's a real concern for us. We only have eight inches of clearance with the tide levels we have now. The best case scenario is sixteen inches of clearance. If the water gets much higher, we won't be able to evacuate using that route."
The high water issue is less of a problem for the sound ferries, so Swan Quarter and Cedar Island will still be available routes, as long as the weather holds.
But winds will stop those ferries from running. The Control Group got a surprise visit from Ed Goodwin, head of the ferry division. "I left my house at 4:30 this morning to come and tell you that high winds and high water are coming and the ferries can't run after the winds get above 30 miles per hour," he said. The ferry division also needs a cushion of ten hours to get their boats to safe harbor and their crews safe ashore. Ed's mission was to impress upon Ocracoke the need for an evacuation order TODAY. He left the meeting as soon as he could and headed back home; apparently, he doesn't want to ride out the storm with us.
Joaquin could pass us by, but even in the best case scenario, Ocracoke will feel significant impact. The stalled front over us now could bring as much as 5–8" of rain, with seas of 20-30 feet. The rain and tide could make sections of Highway 12 impassable as it was last weekend.
It's time to go, people.
"We have no alternative but to issue the evacuation order as soon as its legal," said county manager Bill Rich.
The Current will update this story after 3pm.
Stay safe!
