Dare County officials will announce reentry plans for Hatteras Island tomorrow afternoon, after an assessment of storm damage has been made, according to a bulletin issued at 5:16 p.m. by Dare County Emergency Management.
DCEM’s Isaias Bulletin #5 further advises people to make their “final preparations” for the tropical storm, whose effects will be felt in the Outer Banks from late tonight into tomorrow morning.
At 5 p.m. Tropical Storm Isaias was centered 60 miles south-southeast of Charleston, S.C., and 120 miles south-southwest of Myrtle Beach, S.C., according to the National Weather Service. It was traveling north at 15 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.
Isaias “is still expected to strengthen and regain hurricane status before making landfall” near the South Carolina-North Carolina border, the National Hurricane Center said in a 5 p.m. report.
In terms of a storm’s impact, “there is little difference” between a strong tropical storm like Isaias and a Category One hurricane, according to the NHC’s report.
Isaias’s predicted northward trek into the interior of North Carolina will lessen its impact on the northeastern coastline.
The primary threat to the Outer Banks continues to be a storm surge that may cause flooding on the ocean and soundside. Tree damage and power outages also may occur.
See Isaias Bulletin #5 at https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6524/398
The Morehead City Weather Forecast Office of the National Weather Service reported at 6 p.m. that there is an increased risk of flash flooding and strong tropical-storm force winds along, and west of, U.S. Highway 17 in Eastern North Carolina.
U.S. 17 is a north-south coastal highway that runs through Elizabeth City, Edenton, and Williamston, and continues farther south to New Bern, Jacksonville, and Wilmington.
Have a good night, everyone.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 8/3/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 