FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) – More than a quarter-million visitors and residents have been told to leave North Carolina’s coastal region ahead of Hurricane Dorian.
The most populous coastal county to be evacuated is Dare County, where 250,000 people, including 36,000 residents, have been told to get out.
In New Hanover County, where flooding cut off the city of Wilmington during last year’s Hurricane Florence, officials said they didn’t expect a similar issue from Dorian. They say the storm isn’t expected to dump as much rain and the ground isn’t as saturated as it was last year.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center adjusted its forecast tracks on Tuesday putting Dorian closer to the South and North Carolina coasts. Forecasters noted that even if Dorian doesn’t make landfall, it’s likely to bring dangerous winds, life-threatening storm surge and flooding rains to parts of the Carolinas.