From the Town of Belhaven

The Town of Belhaven has now issued a mandatory evacuation of all low lying areas within the town limits. Please make plans to evacuate these areas no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Mandatory evacuation means that when conditions become unsafe for responders there will be no response until conditions are again safe. People who decide to stay in low-lying and flood prone areas during the storm will be on their own during this period. Please take action now and do not risk your life or the lives of responders.

Beaufort County Emergency Management has issued the following statement for all of Beaufort County:

We are expecting Hurricane Dorian to impact Beaufort County with hurricane force winds. Winds will begin to increase beginning Thursday mid-afternoon. Forecasted wind gusts of up to 49 mph and sustained winds of up to 38 mph are expected by 6 p.m. Thursday. It is forecasted that winds will increase over the next 12 hours to gusts of 83 mph and sustained winds of 67 mph by Friday morning at 6 a.m. Winds are then forecasted to decrease to 31 mph gusts and 23 mph sustained by Friday mid-afternoon. Winds will bring down trees and cause power and communication outages. Storm surge is expected to be between four to six feet above ground level with widespread flash flooding across forecast the region. Storm surge levels will rise rapidly, and wave action will increase the levels. Total rainfall for area is projected to be five to 10 inches with some eastern areas of the county experiencing up to 15 inches. Heavy rain may exceed 2” per hour at times. There is a tornado watch in place.