With the fallout from Hurricane Katrina still saturating the minds of many Americans, coastal North Carolinians braced themselves Wednesday to face the landfall of Hurricane Ophelia.
A Category 1 hurricane, Ophelia doesn't pose the same threat as the Category 4 storm that smashed the Gulf Coast more than two weeks ago. But local and state officials still have scrambled to pursue the necessary safety precautions.
During a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Gov. Mike Easley reiterated the importance of following the evacuation orders issued by coast officials and warned of the potential problems caused by the slow-moving hurricane.
"Let me be clear: Ophelia is a dangerous storm that is already causing flooding, power outages and property damage which will continue over the next 24 to 36 hours," Easley said.
The governor already had activated 350 N.C. National Guardsmen for storm response, and Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent 250 people to assist with damage evaluation.
Though the storm was projected to produce surges as high as 11 feet in some places and flood the Pamlico Sound as late as Wednesday evening, meteorologists saw the storm drift northeast as the night progressed.
According to information from the National Weather Service around 11 p.m., Ophelia's eyewall was moving east of the coast, with many of the storm's strongest winds - estimated around 78 mph - not expected to impact much of the coast.
But the state was ready Wednesday, as increasingly darker predictions were issued for the area.
By Wednesday morning, six counties already had ordered mandatory evacuations, while voluntary evacuations were issued for nine others, including New Hanover County, which saw strong winds and heavy rain before noon.
