Earl moves out, leaves some flooding behind

Numerous side streets were flooded between the highways, and water was bumper deep along stretches of N.C. 12 Friday morning as Hurricane Earl pulled away.

Aside from some scattered power outages and minor flooding, the northern beach areas of the Outer Banks faired pretty well, Dare County Emergency Management reported.

A mandatory evacuation for visitors in Dare County was lifted except for Hatteras Island, where N.C. 12 was still blocked by high water and sand. Plans are to open Hatteras Island at 7 a.m. Saturday.

Earl was pulling away from the Outer Banks this morning after delivering tropical storm force winds that gusted to 59 mph in Kill Devil Hills and 62 mph in Frisco.

At 11 a.m. Earl’s top winds had weakened to 85 mph. Earlier, it was a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph top winds, but those were well offshore as the storm passed, the National Hurricane Center said. At 9:40 a.m. wind speeds in Nags Head were 25 mph with 41 mph gusts and heavy rain.

The county reported at 2:10 a.m. soundside flooding had sent 2 feet of water throughout Hatteras Village.

The peak gust at the Diamond Shoals buoy off Cape Hatteras was 66 knots, or a little over 75 mph, at 4:41 a.m. Gusts of 60 knots were recorded at Oregon Inlet a couple of hours later. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers research pier in Duck recorded 12.1-foot waves around dawn.

The threat of waves and surge washing out N.C. 12 was the primary reason for a mandatory evacuation of Hatteras Island that started early Wednesday with visitors and expanded to include residents by 6 p.m.

The mandatory evacuation for visitors was extended to all of Dare County on Thursday, and officials advised oceanfront residents to get away from the water.

The town of Nags Head ordered a mandatory evacuation of South Nags Head. A mandatory evacuation was also in effect for the Currituck Outer Banks.

Dare County Schools will be closed today, and after-school activities have been cancelled. Makeup days will be Sept. 11 and Oct 29. The National Park Service closed its Outer Banks facilities Wednesday.

Wind speeds were less of a concern on Hatteras Island than waves and storm surge. Historically, water has caused the most damage, and storms of Earl’s projected intensity are relatively rare this far north.

Hurricanes Isabel and Floyd were Category 2 storms that did major damage, but they both made landfall. Huge waves and storm surge were Isabel’s legacy, while Floyd’s catastrophic rains were killers. Category 3 Emily in 1993 passed within 100 miles, and flooding caused misery on Hatteras Island.

N.C. 12, the only land route off Hatteras Island is prone to flooding, especially from Rodanthe to Hatteras. Waves had been expected to peak at 12 to 18 feet Friday morning.

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people were on Hatteras Island before the evacuation. The Dare County Control Group, which is made up of town, county and National Park Service officials, makes the calls on evacuations.

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