Arthur's Round Table

A group of Ocracoke citizens met at the fire hall to hold a roundtable discussion with Hyde County Emergency Manager Justin Gibbs, following the 8am weather briefing for coastal counties.

As expected, the weather predictions include Category 1 hurricane-strength winds, a storm surge of 3-5 feet in Pamlico Sound, moderate beach erosion, and significant overwash on Highway 12. Some models show Arthur coming very close to the Outer Banks and strengthening on his way. This will all start around 8pm tonight and last until mid-morning on the 4th of July. 

Through a conference call organized by Hyde County PIO Sarah Johnson, Justin answered questions from the Ocracoke control group. The first and foremost was: WHY? Why was the evacuation merely voluntary and not mandatory? 

The decision about evacuation is made by the county commissioners, with input from Justin and county manager Bill Rich. 

"The commissioners decided it was too late to get it together for a mandatory evacuation," Justin said. "They decided to sit with the decision and strongly urge people to stay inside." 

The control group was disgruntled that they had not been consulted before this morning.

“This group is here for a purpose,” said local business owner David Scott Esham. “Our input should be brought in before the commissnioers meet.”

“In previous years, we would’ve had 6 or 8 meetings by now,” said OVFD chief Albert O’Neal, who also has a paying job as head of Ocracoke ferry operations.

“We really worked hard over the years to put a hurricane plan together and it was ignored,” said Darlene Styron, a business owner and former commissioner.

“If any of the commissioners had been here during Alex, they would have made a different decision,” said Martha Garrish, referring to the Hurricane Alex fiasco of 2004, when the island wasn’t evacuated and over 400 cars were flooded, some caught fire, a house burned down, and basically, it was a huge mess.

Justin said that he told the commissioners, “We don’t want another Alex” and recommended a mandatory evacuation. (It was reported that Ocracoke’s representative to the board of commissioners, John Fletcher, would agree only to a voluntary evacuation. John did not attend the control group meeting.)

Justin was expecting that decision to be made Wednesday morning, but the voluntary evacuation order has remained in place. Is it too late to change their minds and make it mandatory? Yes.

That means that there is no way to restrict access to Ocracoke. In fact, visitors evacuating from Hatteras (mandatory) could conceivably come here as long as the ferries are running. The island is wide open.

Justin is now looking ahead to ways to mitigate the problems that may come up during and after the storm. Ocracoke is likely to lose power, and the generator is not an option with this many people on the island. He is concerned about medical emergencies and hopes EMS and Ocracoke Health Center can partner to help with injuries if necessary. (The clinic will close around noon today so employees can prepare for the storm.)

Sheriff's deputy Jason Daniels strongly recommends a ban on the sale of alcohol today to go along with the state of emergency. 

"Everyone is asking where the party is," he said, adding that this is the first time the island has been under a state of emergency without the alcohol ban. With 8 or 9 thousand people on the island, law enforcement has their hands full. 

Justin also suggested, and all concurred, that a curfew should be put in place from 8pm tonight til 8am. He will make that recommendation to the commissioners.

Albert O’Neal made the recommendation that all five county commissioners come to Ocracoke to ride out the storm.  

The next potential problem is figuring out how to get all these people off the island when the storm is over. Justin is already talking to the state about getting post-storm personnel and equipment to help with the aftermath.

The control group consisted of Martha Garrish, Cheryl Ballance, Darlene Styron, David Scott Esham, Albert O’Neal, Walt Padgett, Jason Daniels, and Ed Fuller. Tommy Hutcherson couldn’t be there because he was unloading trucks of groceries and supplies (yay!).

County manager Bill Rich is off the island, returning later today. Commissioner John Fletcher did not attend the meeting. The commissioners do not have a scheduled board meeting today.