A doe and her piebald fawn graze in a yard on East Dogwood Trail this evening. Although piebald deer are rare, they are more common than albino deer, which lack all body pigmentation and have pink eyes, noses, and hooves.
Curfews are in effect in all areas of Dare County, except for the Town of Kitty Hawk, starting at 8 p.m. today and continuing through noon tomorrow, according to the most recent bulletin from Dare County Emergency Management. There also will be no access into Dare County starting at 8 p.m.
As of 6 p.m., the eye of Hurricane Dorian was located 45 miles south of Myrtle Beach, S.C., The Weather Channel (TWC) reported.
The category 2 hurricane, which has had winds ranging from 105 mph to 115 mph today, according to TWC’s Mike Bettes, is moving 8 mph north-northeast. In describing Dorian’s projected track, Mr. Bettes said the hurricane will “skirt” the South Carolina and North Carolina coastlines until it reaches Cape Hatteras, where it will “pull away” and move out to sea.
The Weather Channel is forecasting a storm surge of 4 to 7 feet and rain amounting to 4 to 6 inches for the northern Outer Banks.
Rain has just become heavy in Southern Shores–at 6:35 p.m.–after periods of light rain alternated with bursts of sunshine throughout the afternoon, starting around 2 p.m.
(By 7 p.m., the rain had slacked off.)
I drove down the 158 Bypass around 5:30-6 p.m. and found only one restaurant open in Kitty Hawk: Shipwrecks, which is just south of Wings and across the street from the Mobil station, where the pumps were still operating. Barefoot Bernie’s, long a holdout during storms, was closed.
Quite a few Dominion Power and Spectrum trucks were parked at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was open for business.
The wind was blustery, but not strong, on the beach at the nearby Kitty Hawk Pier. The ocean, which was at low tide, had moderate-size waves–nothing that remarkable (yet).
TWC’s Mr. Bettes said we will be through with Dorian, and it with us, by midday tomorrow.
I am going to take my sighting of the piebald fawn, which I saw with his/her mother and more skittish sibling on my return to the Southern Shores woods, as a harbinger of good tidings. Have a peaceful night, everyone.
UPDATE FROM DARE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AT 7 P.M.:
If you need last-minute supplies, head to Harris Teeter, not Walmart.
If you need supplies from Home Depot today, you have until noon before the Kitty Hawk superstore closes. It will be closed tomorrow also, according to signs on the store’s doors, and open on Saturday, if possible.
Nearby, Harris Teeter, which enjoyed a brisk business this morning, will be open today probably until 6 p.m., according to the store’s florist, Maggi, who told me that a closing time had yet to be announced.
As you can see from the photo above, Walmart has battened down its hatches.
If you need a prescription filled, Bear Drugs owner and head pharmacist, Steve Archbell, said he plans to put in a full day. If “winds start to pick up,” Mr. Archbell said, he will close at 5 p.m., rather than the usual 7 p.m.
The ABC Store is closed today and tomorrow. Han-Dee Hugo’s BP gas station is still open.
If you would like to grab a fast-food lunch, McDonalds is still serving. Wendy’s is not.
If you’re a news junkie like me, you will not find today’s print newspaper for sale anywhere, not even The Virginian-Pilot.
As for the weather, it’s still hot, humid, and overcast with occasional bursts of sunshine.
Walkers are enjoying the deserted, but calm Southern Shores beaches. The wind is mild. It’s a beautiful day.
I’ll update the forecast later. (The Weather Channel is currently focusing on Charleston, S.C. The watch words for the northern Outer Banks continue to be storm surge.)
The Southern Shores beach at the E. Dogwood Trail access around 12:30 p.m. today. Some people are nonchalantly soaking up the sun.
It is hot. It is humid. It is overcast, with occasional bursts of sunshine. The beaches are scarcely populated and wide-open. Beautiful, despite the red “No Swimming” caution flags fluttering in the breeze. The road traffic is steady, but much lighter than usual at this time of year. Construction crews are working. Harris Teeter in Kitty Hawk is doing a booming business . . .
This is Southern Shores on the Wednesday before the arrival of Hurricane–or, more likely, Tropical Storm–Dorian, the day that Dare County ordered permanent residents to start evacuating.
Judging from the number of grocery carts I observed loaded with bottled water, beer, and wine, I would say that quite a few people are not heeding the “mandatory” order.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Grocery stores: Harris Teeter is open its regular hours today, which means 24/7, according to an employee I asked on-site. Walmart is doing the same. Already shuttered, Food Lion in the Marketplace is closing at 8 p.m. and will not reopen until Saturday.
Pharmacies: CVS and Walgreens are closed. Bear Drugs is open until 7 p.m. I suspect Walmart’s pharmacy is open until 9 p.m., but I did not confirm this.
Gas is available at the Han-Dee Hugo’s in Kitty Hawk.
The Southern Shores Town Hall is open today until 5 p.m. It will be closed Thursday and Friday.
The Kitty Hawk Post Office closed at the end of business yesterday. There will be no mail delivery today.
The Southern Shores beach at the site of one of the two remaining unhatched sea turtle nests was unpopulated today. The tire tracks bear witness to patrols by Ocean Rescue.
Good morning, everyone.
And so the wait begins.
In all of my decades of living and vacationing on the Outer Banks, I cannot recall another time when Dare County issued a state of emergency and ordered mandatory evacuations of visitors and residents ahead of a hurricane that was stalled over the Bahamas—which is about 750 miles from here.
Formerly a Category 5 hurricane, Dorian, which caused substantial damage in the Bahamas, was downgraded yesterday by the National Weather Service to a Cat 2 storm. As of 11 a.m. today, it was located off of the northern Florida coast, traveling 9 mph north-northwest, according to the National Weather Service.
As you undoubtedly know, Dare County imposed mandatory evacuation on visitors, effective at noon yesterday, with the expectation being that all visitors would have departed by sunset. The County’s mandatory evacuation for residents went into effect today at 6 a.m. Needless to say, it also has temporarily banned swimming in the ocean.
I believe in being cautious and putting public safety first, but I have to question the timing of these decisions, which were made Monday afternoon by the Dare County Control Group of Dare County Emergency Management (DCEM). Evacuation orders have widespread rippling effects, especially for people who cross the Wright bridge for work or who depend on workers who cross the bridge.
According to a bulletin that DCEM issued yesterday at 4 p.m., all Dare County towns are under a hurricane watch. The bulletin states that there will be unrestricted access to Dare County through today to enable people to make their evacuation plans. So, if you have to go to Elizabeth City or Chesapeake or elsewhere today, you will be able to return to your Dare County home. You will not be prevented from crossing the bridge.
I have noticed a lot of questions on social media about reentry permits. A permanent resident who wishes to reenter Dare County after the county has lifted its state of emergency and mandatory evacuation orders does not need a reentry permit. He/she only needs a valid N.C. driver’s license or an identification card with a local address or a current Dare County tax bill or parcel data sheet.
Nonresident property owners who wish to reenter the county to check their homes must present either a current county tax bill or parcel data sheet with matching current government-issued identification or a reentry permit with a government ID.
Reentry is done in stages, with the first stage, referred to as “priority one,” restricted to reentry of essential personnel. Permanent residents and essential personnel for critical businesses may return during the priority-two stage, and nonresident property owners and nonresident employees of non-critical businesses may return during the priority-three stage. The general public and all other visitors may return during priority four.
Hurricane Dorian did widespread catastrophic damage to the Bahamas, especially in the northern islands, such as Apaco Island. The Weather Channel is reporting eight deaths as a result of the Category 5 hurricane and tens of thousands of displaced people who are in need of food and water and other disaster relief.
As of 10 a.m. today, according to the WLC, the storm was “lashing” the Florida coast, around Daytona Beach, with heavy rain and winds up to 30 miles per hour. (The reporters on the beach there did not seem to be in severe weather, quite honestly. The winds were not having a visible effect on them or their clothing.)
According to my sister, niece, and their families, who live in Jacksonville, Fla., which is north of Daytona, Dorian has been a non-event for them. They experienced “some small wind gusts” and have not lost power. None of them lives on the coast, however.
The WLC forecast for our area calls for some late-night thunderstorms today. Thursday and Friday look to be rainy days, with the heaviest rain expected on Friday. TWC is predicting a beautiful clear and sunny weekend, with highs in the low 80s.
Dorian’s slow-moving track is difficult to predict, but in all of the case scenarios I have heard and read, it is most likely to be a rain and storm-surge event for us. The National Weather Service issued a storm-surge warning for our area at 11:08 a.m. today.
Please feel free to comment below. Have a good week!
The Southern Shores Beacon 