New Hanover, Wilmington watching storm surge threat
While New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet and Wrightsville Beach Chief of Police Dan House don't anticipate a repeat of Hurricane Florence's flooding, they warned Thursday afternoon that the area still faces the possible negative effects of a storm surge.
Posted — Updated"From a rain perspective, we feel like we're in good shape," Coudriet said. "But we're very much focused on the consequences of storm surge.
"Unless there is water right at your door, you're probably at this point better served to hunker down, stay where you are. Be calm, be safe, and we'll get to you as soon as we can.
"This will be more of a storm surge event. So we were able to communicate with people at a more granular level about who is at risk and make shelter available to them."
As for Wrightsville Beach, House said he expected tropical storm force winds to begin at 5 p.m., while hurricane force winds would arrive around 10 or 11 p.m. before subsiding on Friday morning.
House said that first responders would not be responding to 911 calls once the more significant wind makes conditions dangerous, saying, "If you are in an effected area, we urge you to leave."
Last year, it took four days after Hurricane Florence to get people who had evacuated back to the island.
House's hope is that "there's been measures taken to hopefully mitigate that this time," adding that he doesn't expect the same problems to be repeated.
"We're hoping to get people back relatively soon after the storm passes," he concluded.
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