CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) — Emergency management directors across Eastern North Carolina are preparing for potential floods as Tropical Storm Debby makes her way up the coastline. The people in town are also preparing, recognizing that while things seem calm early in the week, this could change within the next few days.
“Hopefully it just goes out to sea and leaves everybody alone,” Connie Murray told us while passing through town.
Whatever happens, rain is in the forecast for later this week. Emergency department leaders across Eastern North Carolina are preparing for floods. Dare County and the much of outer banks are under a flood watch.
Dare County Emergency Director, Drew Pearson, urged locals to not brush off the storm in a message on Facebook. He said in part, “Please don’t write DEBBY off as a weakening tropical storm. Let’s keep our guard up until the uncertainty is eliminated over the next few days.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called for a State of Emergency, anticipating flash floods and 40 mile per hour winds.
Emergency Management leaders from across the state held a conference call right when Debby hit Florida. We spoke to county commissioner Mike Payment. He expects to meet with fellow commissioners as soon as tonight to decide if they too will declare an emergency.
“We get a lot of flooding,” Payment said. “We get rain, we get a lot of roads and a lot of the sound-side flooding with the winds and all that. So we’re going to be watching that a lot more closely. Our emergency director is going to keep us posted.”
“As of right now, we’re in standby mode,” he added, “We’ll wait and see what happens.”
When we spoke with Mary Beth Newns, the Emergency Management Director for Currituck County, she told us the main concern is flooding. They want to ensure both locals and tourists prepare, stock up and supplies, and stay safe.
“A lot of people have been here long enough to know where the common spots are,” she said. “But it can be scary because it gets deep pretty quickly and we have to pull in some pumps sometimes to help alleviate the water on the roadways and things like that.”
DJ from Hampton was passing through Currituck Tuesday morning. He shared this advice for anyone along the coastline.
“Stay inside, get your food, get your chargers and stuff, get some candles, get the batteries ready,” DJ said. “Stay safe.”