3:45 p.m. update - September 23: The Morehead City State of Emergency will be rescinded at 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 23, 2023.
You can view the rescinded declaration related to Tropical Storm Ophelia here.
12:30 p.m. update - September 23: Bridges Street Extension has re-opened to traffic, and the crossing arm was adjusted earlier. There are still occasional scattered traffic light outages, so please be careful when driving across the city.
9:05 a.m. update - September 23: Bridges Street Extension, between Bald Drive to the western side of the Carteret County Health Department is closed. Please avoid this section of Bridges Street Extension until further updates are released. In addition, the railroad crossing arm by Carteret Community College is down, which is impacting westbound traffic. The public is encouraged to stay home unless absolutely necessary while we remain in a state of emergency.
8:15 a.m. update - September 23: You can watch a Facebook Live we did along the Downtown Morehead City Waterfront. You do not need a Facebook account to watch. Please remember, Morehead City is still in a State of Emergency and City staff is encouraging everyone to stay home, unless absolutely necessary to travel on the roads. Storm conditions will continue through at least mid-day.
5:30 a.m. update - September 23: Several sections/districts of the City are without power due to TS Ophelia's wind field. Areas of impact include Carteret Health Care / Medical District from N35th Street through Fire Station #2. Additionally portions of Wildwood, Brandywine and Hwy 24 area through to McCabe Road are without power.
Overnight several traffic signal lights and power transformers impacts were reported to include multiple vehicle hydroplane incidents resulting in property damage. No loss of life reported at this time.
As weather conditions permit service restoration work will continue, Morehead City may experience some intermittent power loss as all TS Ophelia makes landfall and passes over our city. We encourage you to NOT travel unless emergent in support of our first responders and utilities teams who are in-service throughout the City.
You can view the Duke Energy Progress Map here and view the Carteret Craven Electric Co-Op Outage Map here.
Morehead City Declares State of Emergency - 8:40 p.m. update - Friday, September 22: A State of Emergency has been declared for Morehead City, effective at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 22, 2023, until further notice. There are no restrictions in place at this time associated with this State of Emergency, however, the public is encouraged to limit travel as a safety measure. Although Ophelia is currently a tropical storm, it may strengthen into a Category 1 Hurricane by landfall.
View the State of Emergency for Tropical Storm Ophelia here. (PDF)
You can view the Duke Energy Progress Outage Map and report any power outages here.
View the National Weather Service - Newport/Morehead City website here for official weather updates.
7:55 p.m. update - Friday, September 22: A Hurricane Watch is now in effect for Carteret County.
2:20 p.m. update - Friday, September 22: The weather system has officially been upgraded to Tropical Storm Ophelia.
8:25 a.m. update - Friday, September 22: Storm preparations should be completed this morning. You can view our tropical storm and hurricane preparedness information on our website.
The National Weather Service - Newport/Morehead City would like to remind all that even if this system does not become a named storm, it can still bring severe weather impacts to the area.
3:15 p.m. update - Thursday, September 21: The Carteret County Public School System has announced that students will be dismissed three hours early on Friday, September 22nd, and all afternoon and evening events have been cancelled. Carteret Community College also noted it will be closing at noon on Friday.
Original Post: A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for the area, effective Thursday, September 21, 2023, due to Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 16 that is forecasted to intensify and impact the area Friday and Saturday. City staff will continue to monitor the weather and is working to ensure operations can continue smoothly.
Due to the predicted heavy winds, rain and storm surge, Morehead City has decided to cancel the Curb Market on Saturday, and the Chalk Festival will be postponed until Saturday, September 30th. The Night Curb Market on Thursday will still be held and we encourage you to come view a wide variety of area vendors that will be on site.
It is expected our area will experience tropical storm force winds, and 2-4 inches of rain, with up to 6 inches possible, along with storm surge of 2-4 feet.
The National Weather Service - Newport/Morehead City office will continue to release updates on this system. The graphic below is from the 11:30 a.m. update on Thursday, September 21st. You can view the NWS website at any time, and the City will continue to share updates as needed.
