Outer Banks Braces For Ophelia; Visitors, Residents Advised To Avoid Travel Saturday

V​isitors and residents in North Carolina's Outer Banks are being advised to keep a close eye on the weather and avoid travel on Saturday due to possible storm surge from Ophelia.

"In most of the areas affected, we're expecting the most inundation from storm surge to happen at the predawn Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon high tides," weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said Friday. "In some areas near southern Chesapeake Bay and along eastern North Carolina's tidal rivers, the surge flooding could be high enough to flood many roads, possibly some structures."

Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said no evacuations are anticipated, but r​oads out of the area were heavy with traffic Friday.

“Our visitors appear to be leaving on their own," Pearson told weather.com in a phone interview.'

(​MORE: The Latest Forecast For Ophelia)

D​are County is home to much of the resort and vacation areas in the Outer Banks, including Hatteras and the towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Manteo and Nags Head, as well as several other communities. It also covers two thirds of North Carolina's coastline and is home to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

T​he county is encouraging anyone who plans on arriving Saturday to delay that until at least Sunday.

Pearson said storm surge is possible from both ocean and sound-side of the Outer Banks. That could make roads impassable.

(​MORE: Ophelia Maps Tracker)

V​isitors and residents alike can sign up for the county's emergency alerts here.

“Our residents are a pretty resilient group of folks out here," Pearson said. "They’re prepared, I’m certain of it.”

S​outh of Dare County in Atlantic Beach, Mayor Trace Cooper said the city was staging backup generators to run stormwater pumps if needed.

"If we get strong tropical storm force winds, we'll probably lose power, but the utilities are great about getting that back on," Cooper told The Weather Channel.

North Carolina Highway 12 was already covered by sand in some sections Friday afternoon. The road runs the length of the Outer Banks and is especially vulnerable to flooding in the most narrow parts of the islands.

(MORE: Water is the Deadliest Factor in U.S. Hurricanes and Tropical Storms)

"Our crews are out clearing sand and water from the roadway where they can," the state transportation department said in a social media post. "The road is open and passable, but if you must be out today, drive with extreme caution as there will be sand and water on the roadway, as well as our heavy equipment."

Ophelia is expected to bring heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, coastal flooding and rip currents up the East Coast into the weekend, especially from North Carolina to southern Maryland.

Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.

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