After Dorian leaves Morehead City area, power is out and ‘a lot of trees down’

Karen Amspacher got up early Friday to see what Hurricane Dorian had done to the Down East area of Carteret County, and found it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

“A lot of trees down, a lot of trees,” Amspacher said as she made her way toward the community of Marshallberg, east of Morehead City.

At 8 a.m., she said nobody in the area seemed to have power. But neither did they have the severe flooding that had been feared as a result of surge from the storm.

The high-rise bridge from Morehead City to Bogue Banks remained closed as the wind gusted rough enough to jostle heavy-duty trucks on the road.

The eye of the storm passed over the area in the early morning hours, around 2 a.m., bringing winds powerful enough to take down power lines and drop trees.

Jaime Long, public information officer for Carteret County, said about 42,000 county households were without power Friday morning.

Long said assessments were still under way, but that no injuries had been reported. Some roads in low-lying areas were impassable Friday morning because of standing water, she said.

With the eye of the storm more than 70 miles away Friday morning, Long said radar indicated Carteret County would get one more rain band, “and after that, we should be good.”

Long said she didn’t know the top wind speeds the storm had brought to the beaches or the mainland of Carteret County.

The National Weather Service had warned residents to expect winds in the range of 70 mph.

This story was originally published September 6, 2019 at 11:30 AM with the headline "After Dorian leaves Morehead City area, power is out and ‘a lot of trees down’."