A tropical storm is heading towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Drew Pearson from Dare County Emergency Management shares what officials are expecting from this storm.
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00:00 Well, just after a week after Hurricane Lee,
00:03 another tropical storm is heading towards
00:06 the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
00:08 And that's why we bring back Drew Pearson.
00:10 He is the Director of Emergency Management for Dare County.
00:13 Thank you so much for joining us again.
00:16 First, what are you anticipating with this storm
00:19 today and into tomorrow?
00:20 - Larry, thanks for having me back.
00:22 And we're anticipating already seeing
00:26 hazardous ocean conditions.
00:27 People should stay out of the water.
00:29 We are anticipating that the storm,
00:31 as it makes its approach,
00:32 will become tropical storm, Ophelia.
00:34 Our weather service partners are telling us to prepare
00:38 for a two to four feet of storm surge across the county
00:41 in areas that could be impacted
00:43 by those tropical storm force winds
00:44 that are gonna drive water.
00:46 We're anticipating rainfall periods
00:48 of heavy rain and flooding.
00:50 And we're telling people to get prepared
00:52 and be ready to avoid travel tomorrow
00:55 because road conditions can become hazardous.
00:58 - And when we talk about the Outer Banks,
00:59 is it gonna be the winds that are the biggest problem
01:01 or is the flash flooding the greater concern?
01:04 - Oh, it's a combination of all of them.
01:07 When you bring them all together with the wind
01:10 on some areas of our Outer Banks,
01:13 the driven sand becomes a challenge,
01:17 the rain flooding on the water
01:19 and the potential for overwash
01:20 either is coming from the ocean
01:21 or potentially as the wind shifts
01:23 and brings it back on the sound side,
01:25 we could see water coming up on the road
01:28 on the sound side as well.
01:29 So a combination of all.
01:30 - Yeah, and I'm sure you guys have been on edge
01:32 all hurricane season with the Dahlia and Lee
01:35 and now this storm.
01:36 How are Deer County residents
01:38 holding up this hurricane season?
01:40 Are they continuing to stay safe?
01:41 Are they kind of numb to this at this point?
01:43 - We have an amazing group of very resilient people
01:48 that live out here on the Outer Banks.
01:50 They're always mindful of the impacts
01:51 that might come with any storm.
01:53 I don't think they ever get dull
01:55 when they look at the weather around them
01:56 and they enjoy the beautiful natural beauty
01:58 that we have out here.
02:00 We hope our visitors are paying attention
02:02 with this storm because they don't live out here
02:04 or aren't quite as familiar.
02:06 And we hope they're abiding by what we say
02:08 that they need to be ready for this
02:09 and be prepared to take action.
02:11 - How do you get the word out to people
02:13 who are visiting more so than the residents?
02:16 If people who come to the Outer Banks
02:18 aren't really kind of aware of this as much?
02:21 - Well, we do have a mass notification system
02:23 called OBX Alerts.
02:24 Anybody can register for alerts
02:26 by sending their emergency alerts to 77295.
02:31 That's one word.
02:33 Their emergency alerts to 77295 via text.
02:37 We also have the ability to use
02:39 the integrated public alert and warning system,
02:42 which we did use earlier this morning
02:44 just to let people know of the impacts we may see
02:46 as this storm develops and comes ashore.
02:50 - Drew Pearson, Director of Emergency Management
02:52 for Dair County.
02:53 Thank you again for joining us and stay safe.
02:55 - Thanks for having me.