Carteret gets a test, little else

MOREHEAD CITY - With little damage reported in Carteret County, Tropical Storm Hanna proved to be good practice for emergency responders always preparing for the next storm.

"We take every storm seriously and when we're lucky enough that there's not much damage, it's always good practice for us," said Carteret County Emergency Services Director Jo Ann Smith.

As daylight arrived Saturday, the damage assessments around the county were similar: scattered power outages, fallen tree limbs, wind-blown business signs, and shingles torn off rooftops.

Hanna left the county with only minor scrapes and bruises but her approach put the county's emergency preparedness plans to a test.

While there was no call for an evacuation with this storm, just about every other aspect of preparation and response plans were put to practice, from shelter operations to meetings of the county Control Group, which is made up of town mayors, county representatives, emergency response personnel, school officials and others involved in evacuation decisions prior to a storm.

Equipment capabilities also came into play as a generator kicked in and operations at the county's Emergency Operations Center in Beaufort continued without interruption.

Smith said each storm response is also a team effort that involves communication between various groups, including fire and rescue departments, law enforcement, relief agencies and volunteer responders such as the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT).

"This was the first time the Atlantic CERT team came together with Sea Level rescue to man the shelter at Atlantic," Smith said.

At the shelter opened at Newport Middle School, it was the first time that pets were allowed under a new partnership the county has with the Pet Adoption & Welfare Society (PAWS).

While only a handful of people chose to use the shelters as refuge from Hanna, it appeared that residents took precautions and stayed indoors as Hanna made her pass over the area.

And fortunately, she said, it looks as if the storm damage was minimal.

"I think we fared very well," she said.

Carteret County saw its share of wind and rain but it wasn't the worst of storms the area has seen.

Rainfall in the county measured anywhere from 1 inch to 1 inch.

"Most of the rain fell to the west of the storm's track," said Sarah Jamison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Newport.

Hanna didn't bring sustained hurricane-force winds but there were gusts recorded in the county that bordered that mark.

"Along the beaches there were gusts between 60 and 70 mph," she said. Pine Knoll Shores reported its highest wind speed at 71 mph.

Gusts in more inland areas of the county were 40 to 50 mph.

The storm surge in the area was around 2 feet to 3 feet and the worst of it fell during low tide, which was better than if it had occurred during high tide, Jamison said.

There were scattered power outages were reported across Carteret County but none were widespread outages affected large areas.

Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative reported around 4,000 outages overnight Friday and early morning Saturday as Hanna came ashore.

The outages were primarily from fallen tree limbs and crews were typically able to restore power quickly, said CCEC spokeswoman Lisa Taylor-Galizia. By midday Saturday, fewer than 10 customers remained without power.

The county's two shelters were closed by 9 a.m. Saturday and Carteret County's Emergency Operations Center deactivated around 1 p.m.

But the storm watch is always on and Smith said Hurricane Ike and Tropical Depression Josephine are storms to keep an eye on.

"You just can't predict what they are going to do; you always have to be prepared," she said.