Hurricane updates (live)
Published 12:52 pm Thursday, July 3, 2014
Friday, 8 a.m. John Pack, emergency management coordinator, announces shelters will close this morning. No damage or extensive flooding was reported overnight in the county.
Friday, 7:12 a.m. — Tideland Electric Membership Corporation reports as many as 3,000 consumers without power in low-lying areas south of the Pamlico River. In Beaufort County, the co-op reports fewer than 1,000 outages, with most concentrated in the Pamlico Beach and Gaylord’s Bay areas. At this time, Tideland officials expect full power restoration to all co-op consumers on the mainland by the end of the day. Click HERE for detailed restoration information from Tideland EMC.
7:27 p.m. — The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Warning for Beaufort County until 8 p.m. A tornado watch remains in effect until 2 a.m. Friday morning for Eastern North Carolina.
6:25 p.m. — Hurricane Warning until 2 a.m.
6 p.m. — Beaufort County Emergency Services Fire Marshall Curtis Avery said we’re looking at substantial flooding in the Bay City area and Whichards Beach Road. Aurora will be the hardest hit.
3:25 p.m. — County Manager Randell Woodruff shared this after the latest meeting at the Beaufort County Emergency Management: greatest impact is likely to be in Aurora, where they will likely see 75 to 80 mph sustained winds for an hour or so. The storm’s effects will be felt most between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. He encouraged any in low-lying areas, or anyone else who feels like that are at risk, to take advantage of the two shelters open in Beaufort County at Northside and Southside High schools.
“Right now it appears it’s not going to be as bad as some we’ve had in the past, but you just don’t know. You have to prepare to for the worst,” Woodruff said.
2:09 p.m. — Location…32.9n 78.3w about 70 mi…115 km south-southwest of Cape Fear about 225 mi…365 km southwest of Cape Hatteras, maximum sustained winds…90 mph…150 km/h present movement…north-northeast or 15 degrees at 13 mph…20 km/h minimum central pressure…980 mb…28.94 inches
As Hurricane Arthur approaches the coast…there is an increasing chance for combined storm surge and astronomical tide waters up to 5 feet above mean sea level within areas closer to the coast… Resulting in worst case flood inundation of 3 to 5 feet above ground somewhere within the surge zone. The locations most likely to realize the greatest flooding will be areas adjacent to the southwestern and western portions of the Pamlico Sound including the Neuse…Pamlico and Pungo rivers. 2 to 4 inches of rain is expected.
1:26 p.m. — Tornado watch is in effect for Beaufort County until 2 a.m.
12:44 p.m. — State of emergency and curfew has been enacted for Beaufort County. There are voluntary evacuations for low lying areas in the Aurora, Pamlico Beach and Belhaven areas. A mandatory evacuation order for Richland Township.Travel in the county has been restricted to emergency situations only from 10 p.m. tonight to 6 a.m. Friday morning. Beaufort County will have two shelters open: one at Northside High School and the other at Southside High School. Both shelters open at 4 p.m. today.
12:48 p.m. — Hurricane warning is now until 8:45 p.m.
1:08 p.m. — Hurricane warning goes until 9:15 p.m.
Noon — The center of Hurricane Arthur was located near latitude 32.4n…longitude 78.5w. This was about 260 miles southwest of Buxton…or about 190 miles south-southwest of Morehead City Storm motion was north-northeast or 15 degrees at 10 mph. Storm intensity was 90 mph.