Hurricane Warnings Lifted In NC, Storm Surge Threat Continues

NORTH CAROLINA — Hurricane Dorian cleared the North Carolina coastline Friday, leaving behind in its wake more than 108,000 residents without power and at least four dead. While all hurricane warnings were lifted for the state by Friday evening, much of coastal North Carolina remained under a storm surge warning.

A larger, stronger Hurricane Dorian pounded the Carolinas with strong winds, sideways rain and damaging tornadoes on its march north overnight, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people in its wake and flooding parts of downtown Charleston. At least four people have died on the U.S. mainland, bringing Dorian's death toll to 24.

The four U.S. deaths — all involving men who died in falls or by electrocution while trimming trees and making other hurricane preparations — occurred in North Carolina and Florida. Among those who died was 56-year-old Joseph Walden, who was knocked from a tree by a limb he had just cut from a tree outside his home in the Orlando, Florida, suburb of Ocoee. An elderly Florida man died in a hurricane center, and officials were trying to determine if he died from natural causes.

SEE ALSO: Hurricane Dorian's Friday Path Takes It Through NC, Toward MA

By 8 a.m. Friday morning, Dorian was clocking maximum sustained winds of 90 mph as its center ambled near Hatteras, hurricane-force winds extending out in a 45-miles radius. By 5 p.m. Friday, the storm mass had cleared away from mid-Atlantic states, taking its hurricane-force winds to Nova Scotia.

State emergency officials braced for the fall-on impacts of storm surge, combined with the tide that was expected to flood dry coastal areas. The storm’s landfall near Hatteras Friday morning trapped hundreds of residents on Ocracoke Island as the storm continued to batter the Outer Banks and northeastern North Carolina with heavy wind and rain.

"There is significant concern about hundreds of people trapped on Ocracoke Island," Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday morning. "There are rescue teams ready as soon as they can get in."
As many as 800 people could remain in Ocracoke, according to the governor, citing unofficial totals. "It is concerning to have this significant storm surge there and that so many people are on the island," Cooper said.

The scene of flood-ravaged streets on the barrier island came one day after devastation seen further south down the coast at Emerald Isle. The spinning winds of a then-category 2 Hurricane Dorian spawned a tornado Thursday in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, that crumpled and twisted homes in the community. It was one of 20 tornadoes that were reported Thursday morning across the state, reports said. One was caught by a Ring doorbell camera, which the homeowners viewed from afar.

Jason Sawyer and his wife spent the weekend getting their property in the Boardwalk RV park ready for storms. They were checking storm reports on Facebook Thursday when Sawyer remembered the Ring camera at the beach house and called to his wife. Together they watched the tornado rip apart their house.

"We weren't sure what we were going to come back to, but we sure didn't expect this," he told WRAL.

As the storm continued its parallel creep up the coast, so to did the tornado threat, forecasters said. “A few tornadoes are possible this morning across eastern North Carolina into southeastern Virginia,” NHC said.

By 7 p.m. Friday, 108,294 power outages remained in the coastal region from the Virginia border to the South Carolina border, according to PowerOutage.US. According to the tracker, outages were mostly widespread for residents in the coastal counties of Hyde, Pamlico, Carteret, Craven, Beaufort, Washington, Tyrell, and Gates.

Emergency shelters have opened up in eastern North Carolina as thousands of residents move inland ahead of the storm. As of Friday morning, more than 70 emergency shelters had been opened in 29 counties.

The state's first fatality associated with the storm was reported Wednesday after an 85-year-old resident of Columbus County fell from a ladder while preparing his home for the storm, Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday.

SEE ALSO:

• Hurricane Dorian: How NC Residents Can Prepare
• Hurricane Dorian: List Of Emergency Shelters Open In NC

With the expectation of "significant" flash flooding in southeastern North Carolina, state emergency officials increased deployment of National Guard members to 527 soldiers at nine locations around the state, as well as deployed 56 high water vehicles, 19 aircraft, and swift boat rescue teams.

SEE ALSO: Possible Tornado Videoed In Myrtle Beach: REPORT

WATCH: Tornado Spotted In Pender County Thursday Morning

Patch Editors Deb Belt, Beth Dalbey contributed.