BREAKING NEWS (2:35 p.m. Wednesday): Governor Easley is now reporting at a press conference that Ophelia has been upgraded to a strong Category 1 hurricane and is expected to reach Category 2 by the time it makes landfall. The eye is expected to pass over Carteret County tonight around 8 p.m. The hurricane is expected to exit North Carolina sometime Friday morning. For those who were flooded in Hurricanes Isabel and Alex, expect to be flooded again, but possibly worse with Ophelia because it is moving so slowly. He is saying that flooding is now expected to be worse than thought yesterday. He is telling citizens to evacuate because when the roads flood there will not be anyone coming in to get you out. Helicopters will be brought in, but citizens in areas likely to flood are urged to evacuate now. Responding to a question about FEMA coming in earlier than normal, Easley said it is due to the fact that the hurricane is moving so slowly and took so long to get here, rather than any special or out of the ordinary planning. He repeated warnings to residents about flooding and storm surge.
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10:00 a.m. Wednesday-- I just posted at Polipundit about the amazing contrast between the pictures coming from Kill Devil Hills and Wrightsville Beach. Below I will periodically update with the latest N.C. Ophelia news.
10:35 -- Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle -- people are still being allowed to leave over the bridge, but no one is allowed to go over the bridge to enter the beach. Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure Beaches -- are currently experiencing very strong winds and pounding rains. Brunswick Beaches -- already some flooding issues. Ocean Isle -- a section of the main beach road has already been washed out. There is a mandatory evacuation of the beach, including the police department. New Hanover County -- 2300 people are without power. Kill Devil Hills -- sunny and no hurricane conditions yet.
11:15 -- Little Washington and Pamlico and Pungo River area, including Belhaven, are watching for flooding. Waters are already high there and significant flooding is possible in downtown Belhaven by this afternoon.
11:40 -- Atlantic Beach -- no flooding yet, but there is concern that at high tide around 5:00 p.m., they may see some flooding.
1:20 -- Fox News has a reporter at Wrightsville Beach and the talk between her and Bill Hemmer included a lot of comparisons to Floyd, which brought record flooding to Eastern NC. I don't know what the water levels were prior to Floyd, but I know that we have been experiencing a mini-drought here and the rivers are way below normal levels. The Fox reporter also commented that the people in NC were the most laid back she had ever seen about the approaching hurricane.
The local news channels are reporting that 30,000 homes in Eastern NC are now without power.
1:40 Local news is reporting that police are having trouble at Wrightsville Beach with sightseers. Kure Beach is experiencing severe erosion and has a broken water main. Brunswick County -- most all beach bridges are closed. This area appears to be getting the worst of the storm at this time.
1:45 -- Governor Mike Easley just said that any of those who experienced flooding with Hurricane Isabel should expect flooding from Ophelia. He is urging those in low lying areas to get to a safe place because he said there will be flooding.
2:35 -- See breaking news above.
3:38 -- See John Hawkins' post below.
7:00 -- Kill Devil Hills/Dare County is now starting to see increased winds. Atlantic Beach -- a 60 foot section of the Sheraton pier has been washed away.
Ophelia blogging here, here, here, and here, John Hawkins is doing some excellent blogging from the coast
WITN Washington NC News (webcam here)
NOTE: Even though I am Ophelia blogging here, I am still political blogging at Polipundit today, and have several new items posted including the breaking story of a San Francisco federal judge that just ruled that saying the Pledge of Alligiance in a public school is unconstitutional.
.HI-LARIOUS UPDATE: From John Hawkins:
3:38 PM After taking a nice, refreshing nap, I woke up and was amazed that I still had power. At that point, I had to decide what to do: work on the page? Read? Clean the house?
No! I am a blogger, I'm a journalist! I have a responsibility to report the news! Of course, maybe I should have thought about that before I took a 2 hour nap, but that's water under the bridge at this point.
It was time for me to take action, so I asked myself the question every blogger should ask themselves when they're in the middle of a disaster: what would Geraldo do?
THURSDAY UPDATE: Katrina did some serious damage, but was not as bad as some feared. To see damage reports, click on the news links above.
H/T to Instapundit for letting me know about this.
Thanks, Lorie - my family and I are supposed to be down there for vacation in 3 weeks and I'm keeping a very anxious eye on CNN / Fox News for updates - first person reporting is so much better. This helps me keep track of what's going on.
Posted by: Jay C. | Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at 01:23 PM
If there is any good news from Katrina, it is that Ophelia is the most closely watched hurricane in history.
Posted by: Lew Clark | Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at 02:13 PM