Hurricane Dorian’s Floodwaters Trap NC Residents in Attics – IOTW Report

Hurricane Dorian’s Floodwaters Trap NC Residents in Attics

Breitbart:

ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. (AP) — A weakened Hurricane Dorian flooded homes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Friday with a fury that took even storm-hardened residents by surprise, forcing people to climb into their attics. Hundreds were feared trapped by high water, and neighbors used boats to rescue one another.

Medics and other rescuers rushed to Ocracoke Island — accessible only by boat or air — to reach those who made the mistake of defying mandatory evacuation orders along the 200-mile ribbon of low-lying islands.

“We are flooding like crazy,” Ocracoke Island bookshop owner Leslie Lanier texted. “I have been here 32 years and not seen this.”

Its winds down to 90 mph, Dorian howled over the Outer Banks as a far weaker storm than the brute that wreaked havoc on the Bahamas at the start of the week. Just when it looked as if its run up the Southeast coast was coming to a relatively quiet end, the Category 1 hurricane sent seawater surging over neighborhoods, flooding the first floors of many homes, even ones on stilts.

“There is significant concern about hundreds of people trapped on Ocracoke Island,” Gov. Roy Cooper said.

Over and over, longtime residents said that they had never seen flooding so bad, and that places in their homes that had never flooded before were inundated.

“We were all on social media laughing about how we’d done well and there was really no flooding at all, just rain, typical rain,” Steve Harris, who has lived on Ocracoke Island for most of the last 19 years. And then, “the wall of water just came rushing through the island.”

“It just started looking like a bathtub, very quickly,” said Harris, who was safe in his third-floor condo. “We went from almost no water to 4 to 6 feet in a matter of minutes.” read more

Keep track of Dorian here

9 Comments on Hurricane Dorian’s Floodwaters Trap NC Residents in Attics

  1. …God save those folks…

    …I’ve got one of these myself, used them many times professionally, bought a couple different length ones for the house after to use for multipurpose chores, they are surprisingly versatile and I would HIGHLY recommend having one if you’re somewhere that water may chase you up into your attic, but get a shorter handle length for THAT purpose…

    https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0019/0604/9122/collections/pickhead-fire-axe-with-wood-handle-39.jpg?v=1562791538

    4
  2. …I keep one of these handy too, not useful for chopping your way out of an attic, true, but good for emergency gas and water shut-off, non-sparking so it doesn’t blow up the joint if you’re dealing with a gas leak, and also as close to a Hooligan tool type prying device as you’re going to get without paying primo dollars, these are actually priced very reasonably and you should have one whether you live in a flood zone or not…

    https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41p2MOBOGfL._SX425_.jpg

    3

Comments are closed.