AUGUST 4, 2020
9:30 AM
Please take notice that an Emergency Meeting will be held by the Board of Commissioners on August 4, 2020 at 9:30 am in the Betty S. Williamson Meeting Hall, 3 West Third Street, Ocean Isle Beach, NC. The purpose of this meeting will be for the Board to revise State of Emergency and discuss extent of damages from Hurricane Isaias.
Hurricane Isaias whipped through Brunswick County late Monday night, making landfall in Ocean Isle Beach where several house fires broke out and spurring power loss elsewhere.
Brunswick Electric Membership Corp. reported power outages affecting 39,757 customers throughout the county, which crews were working to restore into Tuesday morning.
Local law enforcement and residents also reported downed trees blocking streets as well as flooding.
At 11:40 p.m., four structure fires were reported on Driftwood Drive and Fourth Street in Ocean Isle Beach, 30 minutes after the Category 1 hurricane made landfall there.
Just before midnight, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office reported its 911 call center inundated with hundreds of calls.
The office also warned about downed trees in numerous areas and urged residents to stay away from downed power lines.
As the fast-moving storm migrated north, calm descended on the region Tuesday as residents and officials pick up the pieces and assess damages.
Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach remain under a curfew while officials assess the damage, but other parts of Brunswick County are cutting their way out of the wind damage from Hurricane Isaias
Videos from OIB Town Hall After Storm:
The eye of Hurricane Isaias came on-shore at Ocean Isle Beach around 11 p.m. Monday, sparking several house and brought a lot of flooding, according to Mayor Debbie Smith.
Thankfully, Isaias came ashore as a low Cat 1 Hurricane so damage will hopefully be found to be more in accordance with damage associated with a very strong Tropical Storm.
Mayor Smith told Wilmington’s WECT News that there had been four fires on Driftwood Drive and another on East 4th Street. The extent of the damage in these fires was not clear at the time. Mayor Smith said that flooding reached three feet in some portions of the community.
Crews are working to control the situation as Isaias moves away from town. Smith says they will survey the damage at day break.
The curfew has been extended until further notice. Residents are asked to please stay in their homes and off the roads as Town Staff assesses the full extent of damage to the island.
