Hurricane Florence: Outer Banks Highway 12 is flooded, EMS suspended; curfew in effect

SWAN QUARTER, N.C. – North Carolina's Outer Banks are starting to feel the effects of Hurricane Florence as rains from the storm and overwash have caused flooding along Highway 12, the main road that runs through Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

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At 10 p.m. Thursday, emergency operations officials said had been a transformer fire on Ocracoke, but initial assessments indicate that the associated damage on the island is minor.

Donnie Shumate, a spokesman for Hyde County's mainland and Ocracoke Island, that officials still believe that Hurricane Florence could stall over this region for about 24 hours, into late Friday night.

So far, no  storm-related injuries have been reported in the region, Shumate said late Thursday night. 

A large tree fell near the  Hyde Correctional Institution in Fairfield, but has since been removed. The minimum- to medium-security prison has a capacity for 736 inmates, but prisoners and staff were evacuated earlier in the day Thursday, divided in groups and sent to one of three facilities in western North Carolina.

As of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Hyde County officials suspended emergency medical responses until further notice on Ocracoke Island and the county's mainland, citing deteriorating weather conditions. County officials have also enacted a curfew on the island and mainland, saying that everyone must be inside their homes between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. until further notice.

As of Thursday evening,  the brunt of Hurricane Florence's  storm surge was still to come.

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Hyde County Commissioner Tom Pahl, who lives on Ocracoke Island and stayed for the hurricane, said about six inches of floodwater are already covering some of the island's most floodprone areas, including parts of Irvin Garrish Highway, which is Highway 12, between Ocracoke Seafood Company and Ride the Wind Surf Shop. 

The island's Back Road is also flooded as at least four inches of water are covering the area near Ocracoke Coffee Company. Sunset Drive is also flooded, Pahl said.

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"To be honest, we expect it to get a lot worse," he said. "The places that are flooding now are what Ocracokers know to be the usual places. More water will be covering Highway 12 as this storm goes along."

Dorothy Hester, a spokeswoman in Dare County's emergency operations center, said parts of Hatteras Island also are flooding and that multiple areas south of the Oregon Inlet Bridge are impassable.

"We're getting a lot of Atlantic Ocean overwash on Highway 12, so the road has closed," she said. "We think we are just beginning to experience what Florence could bring us.

So far there are no reports of injuries on Ocracoke or Hatteras islands and no reported power outages.

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Wind gusts on both islands are in excess of 50 mph. The last ferries to the island ran Wednesday and were used only for the purposes of evacuating the islands.

North Carolina's coastline near the islands could experience storm surges between four feet and nine feet during Hurricane Florence.

In Swan Quarter, on Hyde County's mainland side, winds are reaching 30 to 50 mph, but no significant flooding had occurred as of Thursday evening.

By 4 p.m. Thursday western mainland Hyde County — communities from Rose Bay to Ponzer — had lost power. 

A tornado swirled over Swindell Fork Road near Mattamuskeet High School, prompting an emergency alert, but the twister never touched down, according to Donnie Shumate, a spokesman for Hyde County.

Swan Quarter Fire Chief Jeffrey Stotesberry and his son, J.T. Stotesberry, spent Thursday morning and early afternoon gassing up chainsaws. Swan Quarter firefighters are all volunteers.

One of their chainsaws is still "brand-new," in a way, having been bought after Hurricane Isabel in 2003, but never used until today.

"We're going to answer calls for help as long as we can in this storm," Jeffrey Stotesberry said. "But we don't expect to be able to get right to people fast. The reason we got this chainsaw, here, is because somebody's car started floating with them in it during Isabel, and they called for help and we couldn't get to them because we got to a tree and didn't have a good chainsaw to cut it. Thankfully, somebody got to them before we did and they survived."

If the effects of Hurricane Florence are bad enough in this part of eastern North Carolina, the Swan Quarter fire station will become a support hub for residents in the aftermath, offering hot meals, water and ice.

"We've served a many a meal in here over the years," the fire chief said. "We got 20 inches in the station in Isabel and were serving hot meals a few hours later. We're ready to do what we have to push out water and mud and get this place going after Florence if we need to."

The Salvation Army is also on standby, preparing to feed residents if the storm's aftermath warrants such a move.

Jimmy Williams, 80, and his wife, 79-year-old Ellen Louise Williams, are staying in their 115-year-old house on Main Street in Swan Quarter.

Ellen Louise Williams  has used a walker to get around since she injured her hips and legs in a car crash in 1995. The couple has experienced dozens of hurricanes during their lives on the North Carolina coast,including Hurricane Hazel, a deadly Category 4 storm that made landfall in the region in 1954.  

They moved their yellow Volkswagen to the shoulder of the road in front of their house Thursday morning, where the ground is slightly higher and where they hope the car won't get flooded. They believe they are ready for Hurricane Florence.

"We're gonna ride it out," Jimmy Williams said. "I was here during Hazel, I went right through the middle of that one, so I doubt there is anything Florence will show me that this old man hasn't seen."

Their two-story house took a hit in 2003, when floods  from Hurricane Isabel sent 18 inches of water onto the porch and everything on the first floor.

"We weren't ready for that one," Ellen Louise Williams said. "We had just bought new furniture and had to replace it all. We may have to do that again this time."

The Williamses said one of the reasons they didn't leave is because they live so far out on the North Carolina coast that they would have to drive several hours to get to a shelter away from the storm. 

"I just have to have faith that it won't come in the house," Ellen Louise Williams said. "We couldn't figure any place to go even if we evacuated. There's nowhere to go.
"If we leave, it might be two weeks before we can get back to know what's happening to our house," she said. "That's too long."