Effects Other wikis Hurricane Dorian caused severe flooding and hurricane-force winds over parts of the coastal Carolinas during early September 2019.

After stalling over The Bahamas for three days as a Category 5 hurricane, Dorian proceeded generally to the northwest, before moving along the Atlantic Coast, striking the town of Buxton, North Carolina, on September 6.

Construction along evacuation routes was suspended, and more than 2,400 employees from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) were deployed to help respond to the anticipated impacts of Dorian.

Dorian proceeded to undergo rapid intensification over the next few days, before reaching its peak as a Category 5 hurricane with one-minute sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 910 mbar (26.87 inHg) by September 1.

Dwindling in strength, the hurricane turned to the northeast the next day and made landfall at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, at Category 2 intensity on September 6, with 100 mph (155 km/h) winds and a pressure of 957 mbar (28.26 inHg).

[5] On September 1, McMaster ordered evacuations for the coastal sections of eight counties: Colleton, Beaufort, Jasper, Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley, Horry, and Georgetown, affecting around 830,000 people.

[6][7] Road reversals started early because of the expectation of heavy Labor Day holiday weekend traffic; hotels in the area were at 70% capacity.

[23] On Hilton Head Island, the town director of public projects and facilities reported that officials were ready to bring in contractors to survey the beach if erosion occurred.

[28] The governor's office activated the North Carolina Disaster Relief fund to accept donations that would assist the statewide response.

[37] Less restrictive voluntary evacuations were laid in place for the low-lying areas of Oak Island and the rest of New Hanover County,[38][34] in addition to the communities of Beaufort,[39] Atlantic Beach,[40] Cape Carteret,[41] and Boiling Springs Lake.

[50] Fearing a repeat of Hurricane Florence, which wrought unprecedented flooding throughout the Carolinas a year earlier, high water vehicles were staged along Interstate 40.

[25] Downtown, the city opened two parking decks for residents to relocate their vehicles during the storm,[53] and the annual Wilmington Boat Show was cancelled.

[63] More than 2,700 active-duty service members staged supplies at Fort Bragg, where manning was reduced,[64] as well as at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

[98] As a maritime warm front progressed northward into the coastal counties of North Carolina during the pre-dawn hours, rising temperatures and dew points contributed to an unstable atmosphere.

An already-volatile wind shear environment was noted throughout the region, and the combination of these factors gave way to multiple training supercells—storms that tracked over the same areas repeatedly.

[99] The SPC accordingly raised an Enhanced risk later that morning, with an attendant 15% probability of a tornado within 25 miles (40 km) across eastern North Carolina.

Several neighborhood streets in Wilmington were inundated,[102] and the downtown area was flooded as portions of the Cape Fear River overflowed its banks.

[104] After a lull in heavy rainfall, a second bout of precipitation late on September 5 forced the closure of roadways throughout Castle Hayne, Wrightsboro, Wilmington, and Ogden.

The core scraped Atlantic Beach, where a small number of buildings suffered minor structural damage to their roofs, siding, or associated signs.

[116] In nearby Beaufort, the Duke Marine Lab reported lost shingles, trees down, and a few areas of rainwater intrusion in several buildings.

[128] Strong east-northeasterly winds pushed water from the Atlantic Ocean into the Albemarle Sound, causing moderate flooding across Camden,[132] Pasquotank,[133] and Perquimans Counties,[134] while also stranding vehicles.

[137] In extreme northeastern North Carolina, anomalous tides of 2.5–3.5 ft (0.76–1.07 m) caused moderate to major coastal flooding across Currituck County.

[157] Pawleys Island underwent a beach nourishment project after Dorian brought sand prices down, restoring around 140 ft (43 m) of land.

[159] John Tecklenburg, the mayor of Charleston, reported that public work crews from Columbia and Greenville were helping to restore traffic signals.

[169] In the wake of the storm, Governor Roy Cooper and State House Speaker Tim Moore toured the damage in the Outer Banks, and also throughout Carteret County.

[173] National Guard members and emergency officials crossed the Pamlico Sound by ferry, arriving on Ocracoke Island with cargo and fuel trucks, generators, and pallets of supplies beginning on September 7.

The organization sought funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pay for the damage, having depleted their resources in the wake of multiple lawsuits and the short succession of hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

[179] The National Park Service Incident Management Team deployed 68 employees to survey the aftermath, reporting structural damage to the Long Point cabin camp, which ultimately decided to cancel reservations for the remainder of the season.

[180] A medical team, an emergency manager, and 100 National Guard members remained on Ocracoke Island to assist in recovery efforts.

[181] For weeks after the storm, island officials decided to limit access to residents, non-resident homeowners, and other personnel approved by Hyde County.