Hurricane Dorian Virginia: Flooding, Outages, Boardwalk Drivers

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — Hurricane Dorian is moving at a faster speed up the East Coast Friday after making landfall on the North Carolina coast and impacting the southeastern Virginia coast. Residents in Hampton Roads experienced heavy rains, power outages, flooding and strong winds.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, a tropical storm warning remains in effect from Virginia's border with North Carolina to Fenwick Island, Delaware, as well as the Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point southward and tidal Potomac River south of Cobb Island. A tropical storm warning means "tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours."

The storm surge warning continues for Hampton Roads and from Poquoson, Virginia to Salter Path, North Carolina. A storm surge warning means "there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours." The storm surge and flash flood warnings are no longer in effect for Hampton Roads.

Strong winds caused impacts such as downed trees, power outages and communication issues. According to data from the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Norfolk International Airport and Sandbridge in Virginia Beach had winds up to 64 mph Friday morning.

Poweroutage.us reports 19,109 statewide outages as of 5:40 p.m. Friday. Much of these were concentrated in the Hampton Roads area. Virginia Beach had over 16,000 power outages and Chesapeake over 1,300. To report outages to Dominion Energy, call 866-366-4357.

Virginia Beach's non-emergency police phone line (757-385-5000) was down Friday morning but was restored as of 10:25 a.m. Residents should call 911 for emergencies.

Areas including Norfolk and Hampton saw tidal flooding Friday afternoon. Forecasters expected moderate to major tidal flooding, especially along the lower Chesapeake Bay and in southeast Virginia, according to the 6 a.m. Friday briefing from the NWS in Wakefield. The greatest concern for tidal flooding is during the high tide cycle Friday afternoon and night. While Dorian's flooding in southeastern Virginia did not mirror the destruction in neighboring North Carolina, officials nevertheless warned about people driving on the Virginia Beach boardwalk and floodwaters potentially containing fecal matter.

Dorian made landfall around 8:35 a.m. Friday in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be near 90 mph. The hurricane is moving northeast at 24 mph and is expected to pick up movement speed through Sunday, the 5 p.m. National Hurricane Center briefing stated. Forecasters expect the center will move to southeastern New England Friday night and Saturday morning.

SEE ALSO: Hurricane Dorian Smacks Maryland, NC, Heads North Toward MA

Dorian is expected to weaken into a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds Saturday night or Sunday over eastern Canada. Hurricane force winds can extend up to 80 miles from the center, and tropical storm force can extend up to 230 miles from the center.

Several Hampton Roads cities had evacuation orders. Virginia Beach ended the mandatory evacuation of Sandbridge, which began at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5. Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Gloucester each had voluntary evacuations of Zone A, while Northampton ordered voluntary evacuations or low-lying areas. Schools were closed Friday in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Northampton, York and Chesapeake.

Shelters for evacuees began to close Friday evening. Virginia Beach closed its shelters at Kellam High School and Brickell Academy, and Chesapeake closed shelters at Oscar Smith High School, Western Branch Middle School and Chesapeake Animal Services. Norfolk announced it would close shelters at Bayview Rec Center and Southside STEM Academy at 5 p.m. Friday and consolidate into Norview High School (open through 10 a.m. Saturday). Hampton closed its shelters at Phenix High School and Bethel High School.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Monday, activating the Virginia Emergency Operations Center and providing assistance to other southern states and FEMA through a state incident management team, urban search and rescue teams and emergency management assistance compact support.