Easley tells N.C. residents to take Hanna seriously

With National Guard troops and N.C. Highway Patrol troopers ready to be deployed, Gov. Mike Easley pleaded with North Carolina residents yesterday to prepare themselves for Tropical Storm Hanna, which he said could bring the state heavy rain and high winds.

“This is serious,“ Easley said at a briefing on the storm with reporters. “You need to take it seriously.“

Earlier this week, it appeared that Hanna might be headed through the center of the state.

As of last night, however, its projected path had veered east, with Hanna headed north toward the extreme eastern end of the state.

Forecasters said yesterday that the storm could make landfall as a hurricane Saturday morning along the northern half of South Carolina, Easley said that it could just as easily come ashore at the southern coast of North Carolina.

“It doesn’t seem to be able to make up her mind exactly where she wants to come and when she wants to get here,“ he said. In any event, North Carolina should expect to feel the effects of Hanna by Friday night.

Easley said that North Carolina could experience 70-mph winds or higher, depending on the storm’s path, but even lesser winds could lead to felled trees and power lines if the heavy rains saturate soil, pointing to inland damage caused by Hurricane Fran in September 1996.

A storm reaches hurricane strength when winds exceed 74 mph.

“At this point, I will stress one more time—anything can happen,“ Easley said.

The storm may come ashore somewhere between Wilmington and Cape Lookout, said Brandon Vincent, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Raleigh. Much of Eastern North Carolina could get 3 to 5 inches of rain from the storm while areas at the edge of the coast could get twice that.

Because Hanna has shifted, Western North Carolina may get only a little rain and wind from the storm.

“The farther west you go in North Carolina, the less rain and wind you will see,“ Vincent said. “The farther east you go, the more rain and wind you will see.“

Less than half an inch of rain is expected to fall in Northwest North Carolina, while wind speeds will range from 15 mph to 30 mph, said Anita Silverman, a meteorologist for the weather service in Blacksburg, Va.

The eastern shift in the storm’s track could also help the Charlotte area avoid the heaviest rains. Easley declared Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties state disaster areas last week after the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay damaged more than 200 houses and businesses there.

Easley has activated the N.C. National Guard to help respond to the storm, with up to 270 troops expected in place by Friday. None was deployed to the Gulf Coast to respond to Hurricane Gustav because state officials figured that they might be needed for Hanna.

An additional 144 extra state troopers also are ready for immediate deployment. And about half of the state’s swift-water rescue teams in the eastern two-thirds of the state are ready. Food and other emergency supplies are available at state emergency warehouses in Badin and Tarboro—an example of a state that is used to responding to hurricanes.

“We have in place everything that we need,“ Easley said.

Officials in other states along the southern Atlantic Coast held off ordering evacuations yesterday amid uncertainty about where Hanna might come ashore and how strong it will be when it gets there.

Instead, they kept close tabs as the storm battered the southern Bahamas and Haiti, where it had caused severe flooding that killed at least 26 people.

Late last night, Hanna was centered 355 miles east-southeast of Nassau, Bahamas. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said that the storm was moving north-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph) and could become a hurricane today.

Some coastal residents in Georgia and South Carolina booked inland hotel rooms while others gave a collective shrug. Officials contemplated whether to order evacuations, make them voluntary or simply tell people to sit tight—a decision complicated by Hanna’s unpredictability.

“When the governor decides to issue an evacuation order, we know there is $200 billion of residential real estate along the coast and hundreds of thousands of people at risk,“ said Derrec Becker, a spokesman for the S.C. Emergency Management Division. “It’s not a decision made lightly. We’re not going to wait for the last minute.“

Though some residents as far inland as Columbia were at stores stocking up on supplies in expectantion of the storm, others, including some at the coast, were unimpressed by forecasts that storm could bring 80-mph winds as it nears land.

“I’m not evacuating. I don’t have any concerns about it. We’re going to stay,“ said Margarita Lynn, 58, as she walked her dogs along a road on Sullivans Island near Charleston.

“We’re not hysterical about things like this. We choose to live here,“ she said. “Every time there is a hurricane, people everywhere get hysterical about it.“

But North Carolina and federal officials urged residents—particularly those in low-lying areas—to prepare hurricane kits to provide enough food, water, clothing and other items to sustain a family for at least three to five days.

“North Carolina has plenty of experience for this kind of event, but we can’t be complacent,“ said Bryan Beatty, the secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

People should be prepared to leave if local officials issue an evacuation order, Easley said.

Emergency officials prepared for Hanna with their eyes also on storms out in the Atlantic Ocean named Ike and Josephine. Easley said that preliminary forecasts indicate that those two storms could take similar paths along the Southeastern United States, with Ike causing problems by the middle of next week.

■ Journal reporter John Hinton contributed to this report.