Dear Residents, Property Owners and Friends:
The Village is currently under a State of Emergency and a Mandatory Evacuation was issued by executive order of the Governor of North Carolina yesterday afternoon which was effective at 8:00 a.m. today. Bald Head Island is currently under a hurricane warning. Among other storm factors, the Village is cautiously monitoring the potential storm surge relative to the high tide cycle (high tide 1:52 a.m. Friday) as the storm is projected to pass Bald Head Island at 2:00 a.m.
Re-Entry
The initial re-entry back to the island will include members of the Village Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Members of the EOC will conduct an initial safety sweep to assess the overall condition of the Island. Following the initial safety assessment, the Mayor, in conjunction with the Village Manager and Public Safety Director as the Incident Commander, will make the determination if the island is safe for re-entry. The members of the EOC will perform the initial safety assessment of the Island.
Once the EOC has completed an island-wide assessment and it is determined there are no apparent exceptional safety hazards or risks of general applicability and restoration of ALL municipal services is available to the public, the Mayor will amend the State of Emergency so that the process of re-entry can start.
The following re-entry guidance will be taken into consideration by the EOC, specifically the Incident Commander, Mayor, and Village Manager (in consultation with other EOC Team members), with "SAFETY" being the fundamental consideration in making decisions for the re-entry of the public following a mandatory evacuation.
Given uncertainties when dealing with natural hazards, particularly with tropical storms and hurricanes, if/when it is determined by the EOC that a phased re-entry process is required, the following re-entry principles will be taken into consideration:
- Re-entry will prioritize, to the maximum extent practical and safe, residents of the island or their agents or contractors, in order to restore occupancy, repair damages and mitigate harm and hazardous conditions.
- Re-entry will prioritize, to the maximum extent practical and safe, consideration by the EOC for island re-entry by specific island geographical areas based on availability of access, power, water, and sewer.
- Re-entry will prioritize, to the maximum extent practical and safe, on-island food establishment operators who will have to pass the Brunswick County Health Department inspection before reopening to the general public once they return.
- Re-entry will prioritize, to the maximum extent practical and safe, businesses that have established agreements with the Village to provide initial 1st responders with specific services & products as part of the EOC's post-storm response and/or recovery efforts.
Property Owners (with structures on your property): Property owners must register with the Village
HERE.
Special Needs Individuals: If you require special needs for medical conditions that may be affect you during this event, please contact me (
cfaulkner@villagebhi.org or 910-457-9700 ext. 1025 or the phone bank during activation).
Ferry & Marina Information
The Village has been in communication with Bald Head Island Transportation, Inc., which has indicated that the last ferry will be leaving Bald Head Island at 2:30 p.m. today. The last ferry will be leaving Southport to Bald Head Island at 12:00 noon today. The Deep Point Marina and Bald Head Island Marina will close at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow by order of the Coast Guard.
Mandatory Evacuation
Residents who have chosen to remain on the island and who leave their property while this order is in effect may be issued a citation and fine, and that a separate fine can beimposed per sighting. Village Public Safety resources are needed elsewhere during these events. A mandatory evacuation means that you are not guaranteed emergency services if you choose to stay.
The potential for loss of power, water, sewer, and communications (including VOIP phone, cable, cell service) remains a possibility. There also will be no options for transportation, whether it be the ferry (see update below) or golf cart as roads may likely become impassible with this storm. Standing water is also very likely and could create a potential health hazard and could be populated with alligators and snakes in unusual areas so kayaking, wading, etc. is not recommended.
The Village has
high water vehicles on the island which will be mobilized as soon as it is safe to check the conditions of the island and to ensure that utilities that are not functioning are restored as quickly as possible. The Village will be in contact with Duke Energy throughout this event. There are
no plans to disconnect power from the island (or any other utilities). If there is a disruption or outage it is likely due to the storm. As Duke Energy customers, the Village highly recommends that property owners contact Duke Energy directly for outage information at 1(800) 419-6356. The Duke Energy text service for customers cannot differentiate between Bald Head Island customers and Southport customers and was determined to be inaccurate during the last storm.
Village EOC
The Village EOC opened this morning and the phone bank will be open effective at 11:00 a.m. today. The phone bank will be staffed throughout the event. The phone number is (910) 454-4226.
The Village will continue to inform you on the progress of this storm until its impacts no longer affect Bald Head Island. Follow the Village on Instagram (villagebhi) or use the links in this message and future messages to see photos of island conditions throughout the storm. We will post as much as we can as long as it is safe to do so.
