HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. — Forecasters now expect the nor’easter sitting off the Outer Banks to be a drawn-out event, and the weather service’s Newport/Morehead City office has turned its Coastal Flood Watches for Hatteras and Ocracoke islands into Coastal Flood Warnings.
The worst oceanside water is forecast around the high tides on Sunday, Oct. 18, and Monday, Oct. 19. Moderate flooding is likely on both islands and major flooding is possible in spots, with 2 to 4 feet of water above ground in the most exposed areas. Sunday brings high tides at 1:15 in the morning and again at 1:30 in the afternoon.
Visitors on Hatteras Island remain under a mandatory evacuation that Dare County ordered Friday. It reaches from Hatteras village and Frisco up through Buxton, Avon, Salvo, Waves and Rodanthe, alongside a state of emergency. Year-round residents and everyone north of Oregon Inlet have not been told to leave.
Those who stay should be ready to be cut off for several days. Repeated ocean overwash could make parts of N.C. Highway 12 impassable, and ferry trips may be interrupted into next week. That kind of order is rare here outside of hurricane and tropical storm season.
The sound side is a concern too. Water could reach 1 to 3 feet above ground in low spots on southern Hatteras Island, and people living there are being told to move cars to higher ground before it rises. A Wind Advisory is up for mainland Dare County as well as the beaches, where gusts that may hit 45 to 55 mph could knock down trees and power lines.
Offshore, seas near Cape Hatteras could build to 15 to 20 feet. The county storm information line is 252-475-5655, and road updates are posted on DriveNC.gov.
Filed under: Outer Banks NC Weather News
