Dispatches From Ocracoke
10pm, Thursday, Septermber 13: Power is out, but that’s no cause for alarm. The wind is beginning to shift into the south, which suggests that the center of the storm has moved off to our west. On my last excursion, before dark, the water on the road was noticeable, but nothing out of step with strong winter storm.
4pm: It's blustery outside, with modest amounts of water on the road. The storm is pretty much due south of us, which is reflected in the shift from NE to E in the wind direction. This should be the point of nearest approach, and from here on out the forward speed of the storm will not be added to the wind we're experiencing.
I haven't been out in an hour or so, but things feel about the same in terms of wind speed and rain. Rain is lashing down, and we'll have to see what the accumulation does over the next 6 hours or so.
The vigorous discussion in my living room as I write is gloomily speculative about the state of the the road, both on the north end of Ocracoke and on Hatteras Island. This is based on minimal information, but several eyewitness accounts of the beach confirm that the waves are not doing the dunes any good.
10am, Thursday, September 13: AM update: All is well. The storm has spread out a bit as it reaches shore, and we're starting to see blustery winds. We just got back from a ride around town, and up to the beach ramp. The waves are huge, and right up on the dunes. For those of you who haven't been here, understand that this is a mile outside the village, so that's not an immediate threat to the town, but it is certainly a concern for the beach.
Winds are gusty, with intermittent light rain. I estimate that it's blowing 40, gusting 50. We can probably expect a 50% increase on those speeds as the day goes on, and it will probably last that way through the night. It's blowing NNE right now, by my reckoning, but it should start to veer more easterly as the day goes on.
Our linemen are the best, and power is fine right now, but an outage is not unlikely. I'll update sometime this afternoon.
Editor's note: Charles is Ocracoke School's high school English teacher, and not coincidentally, my nephew. He and his fiancee Chrisi Gaskill stayed on the island for the storm, and are posting updates and photos that we will share here.
