Preparing for Summer
Outer Banks Evacuation Time Growing
Study says it's taking longer and longer to evacuate our popular tourist areas in the event of an emergency.
Nags Head, NC -- The time it takes to clear tourists off the Outer Banks in the face of a hurricane is getting longer and longer, according to a study by the state Department of transportation.Currently, it is estimated to take 21 hours to evacuate the barrier islands if traffic is headed on U.S. Highway 64 west to Columbia and 30 hour on U.S. 158 into Currituck County.
By 2030, the study estimated the evacuation times would increase to 31 hours via Columbia in Tyrell County and 46 hours on U.S. 158.
On a July 4 weekend, more than 200,000 visitors can be on the Outer Banks and traffic backs up without an evacuation order.
This is a big deal. This is a favored vacation spot for people from the DC area down through Georgia. I've driven down there to visit friends a couple of times and the traffic is hideous on any summer weekend. Typically a hurricane warning is issued 36 hours in advance of landfall, but with a serious hurricane forecast for this year, this is a real worry. I'll not be vacationing in the Outer Banks this year. However, I've been in a hurricane in Maine. Anywhere on the east coast of North America is vulnerable. I'm far enough inland and high enough up that I don't have to worry about floods, but my brother and his wife are right on the Chesapeake Bay and were nearly flooded out during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. They've gotten a little religion on taking evacuation orders seriously.