Gov. Perdue declares state of emergency

Published 10:18 am Thursday, August 25, 2011

By The Associated Press

RALEIGH (AP) — Gov. Beverly Perdue has declared a state of emergency for the region east of Interstate 95 – including Beaufort County – in preparation of approaching Hurricane Irene.

Perdue also said Thursday she has asked President Barack Obama to declare a federal emergency ahead of the storm reaching North Carolina this weekend to help accelerate response efforts.

The state declaration gives Perdue and state officials more power to respond to the storm, particularly helping local governments with any recovery.

The North Carolina National Guard already has 20 service members deployed and working at the state’s two emergency response warehouses. Another 150 or so are on standby.

Perdue announced the emergency declaration Thursday morning. Her office said she signed it late Wednesday.

The projected track of Hurricane Irene based on the 11 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

In its 11 a.m. advisory today, the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a hurricane watch for coastal North Carolina from Surf City to the North Carolina-Virginia border, including the Pamlico, Albemarle and Currituck sounds.

A hurricane watch, typically issued 48 hours prior to the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm force winds, means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area. Outside preparations will become difficult and potentially dangerous over time.

A hurricane preparedness checklist from the American Red Cross is available at http://issuu.com/wdnweb/docs/hurricane/1.

Hurricane Irene is currently 645 miles south of Cape Hatteras with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and is moving NNW at 13 mph.

Continue to visit www.wdnweb.com for updates.

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