OCRACOKE, N.C. — DOWNLOAD: 13News Now App
DOWNLOAD: 13News Now Hurricane Guide
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said hundreds of people are stranded on Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Dorian moves up the U.S. East Coast.
Cooper told reporters Friday morning that rescue teams are ready as soon as they can move in. He says local authorities are telling people to get to the highest point in their home.
Susie Fitch Slater was one of those people stuck on Ocracoke. She recorded a video showing the flooding that overtook her yard and the ankle-deep water that was in her home.
"We are going up into the attic...I pray that everybody is safe," said Slater. "Tell my kids, tell our family, that we're okay. We're going in the attic, and we'll be in touch as soon as we can. We love you all. We love you very much."
Another person who lives on Ocracoke Island, bookshop owner Leslie Lanier, said via text message that the first floors of some homes had flooded and people had been forced to retreat to their attics, but that the water had already begun to drop.
"We are flooding like crazy," she said, adding: "I have been here 32 years and not seen this."
She said she's OK but "nervous and worried."
"It's bad," Ann Warner, who owns Howard's Pub on Ocracoke Island, said by telephone. "The water came up to the inside of our bottom floor, which has never had water." She said a skylight blew out and whitecaps coursed through her front yard and underneath her elevated house.
"We're safe," Warner added. "But it's certainly a mess."
The Hyde County Sheriff's Office said deputies, medics and other rescuers were heading to the island amid reports of "catastrophic flooding." In a Tweet, the county said they were planning to evacuate anyone who needs to leave by air to a shelter in Washington County.
They're asking that if any Ocracoke resident wishes to evacuate the island, to call the EOC at 252-926-3715 so they can attempt to get a head count.
"There is significant concern about hundreds of people trapped on Ocracoke Island," Gov. Roy Cooper said. "There are rescue teams ready as soon as they can get in." He said that the water was rising fast and that authorities were telling people to get to the highest point in their homes.
Even in good weather, the island is reachable only by boat or air.
Dorian came ashore Friday morning at Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's Outer Banks.