NC now tested by two states of emergency: Hurricane Isaias and the COVID-19 pandemic
North Carolina began to brace Friday for its first coronavirus-era hurricane as North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm.
Hurricane Isaias’ winds and rain are predicted to reach southeastern North Carolina Monday and move up the coastline in under 12 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center’s Friday afternoon forecast. The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm when it hits the state, forecasters said Friday afternoon.
Getting through a hurricane will be different this year, though. With COVID-19 cases in all corners of North Carolina and with social distancing regulations in place, officials are urging residents to avoid shelters, if at all possible.
“A hurricane during a pandemic is double trouble, but the state has been carefully preparing for this scenario so we can do our best to keep people safe from the weather, as well as the virus,” Cooper said during a Friday press briefing.
Cooper’s Isaias declaration means there are now two active states of emergency in North Carolina, with the hurricane joining the COVID-19 declaration that has been active for more than four months. The additional state of emergency is necessary to allow trucks to move supplies to potentially impacted area, Cooper said.
Between Friday and Tuesday, the Carolinas can expect as much as 6 inches of rain, according to the NHC. The rainfall could cause flooding, particularly in low-lying areas. The NHC also said isolated minor river flooding is a possibility.
But the Triangle should not feel the brunt of the storm. Robert Johnson, an ABC11 meteorologist, told The News & Observer the Triangle could see between 1 to 3 inches of rain with wind gusts potentially reaching 20 to 40 miles per hour.
“It’s mainly a threat for the coast and coastal plain, less so for the Triangle,” Johnson said.
Still, as Isaias gathered strength in the Atlantic, both Cooper and N.C. Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry urged North Carolinians in the potential path of the storm to figure out were they would go if their local government declared an evacuation order.
Friday, Hyde County commissioners declared a mandatory evacuation for Ocracoke, telling visitors to leave immediately and property owners to start leaving Saturday at 6 a.m. Access to the island is limited.
“If you’re ordered to evacuate, we want people to evacuate,” Cooper said during a Friday news conference.
Ideally, Sprayberry said, that would mean staying with friends or family safely inland, followed by paying for a hotel room if possible and only staying in a shelter as a last resort.
Where are NC shelters for evacuations?
Evacuees depending on the “last resort” shelters would first go to a reception center, a site likely along the Interstate 95 corridor, where they would be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and then assigned to a shelter. Keith Acree, an emergency management spokesman, told The News & Observer that evacuees could be sent to mass shelters or to hotels.
Emergency Management officials said they intend to announce the locations of the reception centers soon.
Dormitories, hotels and other shelters that allow people to socially distance are ideal to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Sprayberry said, but the state will only be able to provide that option if there are open hotel rooms when the storm reaches North Carolina.
“They are not guaranteed,” Sprayberry said Thursday.
Acree said Friday there likely will be enough hotel rooms available for people evacuating from a storm like Isaias. But, “on something like a (Hurricane) Florence-scale evacuation, that would be a big concern,” Acree said.
If the evacuation is large enough to fill the state’s non-congregant sheltering options, like hotels and dorms, Acree said the priority for the private rooms would be given to people with COVID-19 symptoms and then to people defined as high-risk for the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mass shelters this year will have social distancing guidelines and more frequent cleaning protocols. The Red Cross, which operates many of the shelters in North Carolina, will take similar precautions. Each person inside Red Cross shelters will have 110 square feet of space this year, up from the typical 40 to 60 feet, Sam Rodgers, the regional disaster program officer for the American Red Cross serving Eastern N.C, previously told the News & Observer.
Hurricane kits this year should include face coverings, hand sanitizer and cleaning products, Sprayberry said.
Cooper said the additional space per person in shelters is the main reason North Carolina officials are urging evacuees to find somewhere else to stay.
“We know we’re going to have space challenges with congregate shelters,” Cooper said.
Concerns about evacuations
The virus is having an impact on preparations in other ways, with people stretched to their financial and mental limits.
A survey from AAA shows North Carolina residents are more hesitant about evacuations because of COVID-19, according to a news release. In a recent survey, 37% of North Carolina residents say they are less likely to evacuate for a storm this year due to fears of contracting COVID-19, the news release said. AAA surveyed 401 residents between May 20 and 24.
Caela O’Connell, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill anthropology professor who has studied evacuation decisions during Hurricane Harvey, said lived experience often plays a major factor in people’s choices. This year, though, that experience could lead people into danger.
“In this instance, because no one has a lived experience of cumulative disasters in a global pandemic, our lived experiences don’t exactly let us know what to do in the same ways,” O’Connell said.
That means it is more important than ever that officials maintain clear messages about what people should be doing to stay safe, O’Connell added.
Governments on the coast began preparing for the storm on Friday. Onslow County commissioners held an emergency meeting to declare a state of emergency for Isaias.
Brunswick County, in the state’s southeastern corner, announced Friday that it will open two shelters, if necessary. People who want to stay at Cedar Grove Middle School in Supply and Town Creek Middle School in Winnabow will have to answer a series of questions about whether they have COVID-19 symptoms or have been near someone diagnosed with COVID-19. Anyone with symptoms will be isolated inside the shelter.
Once people get inside, they will be required to wear face coverings at all times. Due to concerns about COVID-19, there will be no hot meals. Instead, the county will make ready-to-eat meal kits and encourage evacuees to bring their own non-perishable food. Bottled water will be available.
Hazel Royal, the director of Abundant Life Community Service Inc. in New Bern, said her community was still recovering from 2018’s Hurricane Florence when COVID-19 hit. Now, there have been 621 confirmed cases in the county, federal unemployment assistance is expiring and Craven County Schools has decided to start the school year remotely.
“You can’t focus on but one or two emergency situations (at once), and the school situation is an emergency. You go with whatever is most pressing,” said Royal, whose Abundant Life has donated 50,000 pounds of food in partnership with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We don’t for one minute dismiss the storm,” she said. “But unless we are told the need is there to make intense preparation, then the focus is not there.”
Ideally, O’Connell added, Isaias will have minimal impact on North Carolina while giving residents a wake-up call to review their evacuation plans, shelter-in-place plans and resources.
Hurricane Isaias is the earliest-forming ninth named storm on record, beating the record by more than a week, according to the Washington Post, and NASA reported earlier this month that above-average surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean are creating conditions for a busy hurricane season.
O’Connell, the UNC professor, likened the various impacts of COVID-19 to compound interest, draining people of their ability to cope with and adapt to new hazards.
People have “been for months using their reserves, whether it’s their energy reserves, their mental and emotional health reserves, their ability to cope with stress or their finances,” O’Connell said. “Resilience is weakened.”
Alyssa Lukpat and Lynn Bonner contributed to this story.
This reporting is financially supported by Report for America/GroundTruth Project and The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of the work. To support the future of this reporting, subscribe or donate.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 3:16 PM with the headline "NC now tested by two states of emergency: Hurricane Isaias and the COVID-19 pandemic."