Hurricane Dorian Swamps North Carolina’s Outer Banks

The sun is now shining after a quick blow through Atlantic Beach by Dorian. I can almost make out Lookout lighthouse in the distance from my deck, One of the buildings damaged by Florence was just finished being repaired last week with a new and better roof - now flapping in the wind with the same result to the repaired roof in the building behind it. My building has yet to be repaired - perhaps next month - many units still gutted and my top floor unit is still intact - even the Florence compromised roof held up better than the new improved roof being installed and due to be installed on my building. Go figure! Florence took its time and dumped a lot more water and and caused more flooding than Dorian, though Dorian kicked up early series of tornados just down the beach at Emerald Isle. I still feel safer hunkered down with an ocean view with options to fall back should there be a severe storm surge. Like Florence, the wind direction seems to have minimized the surge. It is insane to evacuate and get on the road only to increase my risk of being stranded, flooded, electrocuted, or shot by crowds of homeless, stranded or desperate people with guns. It is trump country in this area after all. Feeling safe and enjoying an empty beach, a hot cup of coffee watching the cool wave action on the ocean and catching up with The Times using limitless solar power to keep my iPhone charged while others are “stranded” in no mans in-land on the other side of the bridge.

I hear the storm is taking a sharp turn southwest and is headed to Alabama.

Everyone I know in Miami is helping -- dropping supplies, donating money, or, in heroic cases, making the trip to physically assist. Many of us went through Andrew, and know first hand the misery of a Cat 5. We rebuilt in South Miami Dade -- the Bahamas will as well.

Not for N. Caroliona--but surely for the Bahamas, the richest .01% or so, can find room in their hearts and pocketbooks to collectively spare and donate whatever aid is needed for a humanitarian effort. If not, I'm sure the decaying stench will reach our shores.

Trump has just issued an Executive Order permitting certain Republican voting states to open "franchises" in other states. Alabama has already fast-tracked its filing for an Alabama franchise in North Carolina so that Alabama can be in the path of the hurricane. Holy Trump!

Did they see it coming?

The link for damages in Wilmington is inaccurate. This is damage from hurricane Florence. You may want to correct it.

I wish the NYT could have provided additional videos and pictures showing our troops, helicopters, planes and ships providing necessary medical, food and other supplies to the people of Bahama. A massive invasion of humanity. How proud would I be of my Country, especially in contrast with some of the ugliness that we see almost daily.

RE: "The storm is moving out to sea" All the graphics in the Times show the world ending in North Carolina as the storm track heading out as if there is nothing north of there. Why is then that all the forecasts show Dorian to continue up the coastline and for the southeast corner of New England (where there is a tropical storm warning) as well as parts of NJ and NY to be affected by the storm but it doesn't deserve a mention in the Times? It's as if the storm is over. Out to sea.

They must have thought Dorian was going to Alabama. Now how could they have gotten such an idea?

NJ/NY/New England beware the Sharpie Nostradumus! no truth that he keeps it handy, in his sock like TO used to - perhaps a fine is in order?

What are these people doing in the Outer Banks? And why do we have to pay for their rescues if they were too dumb to follow evacuation guidelines/requirements?

I genuinely ask why people choose not to evacuate during these catastrophes if they have that option. Do they think that the catastrophe will be less severe than predicted ( as perhaps per Ms. Lanier who had never seen water that high), believe the forecast but have confidence in their ability to withstand it and feel that evacuating would be too great an inconvenience or are they frightened that others might vandalize their residences if they left them. I understand the instinct to stay close to your home but I would not hesitate to evacuate if that option was available because the impact of miscalculating the risk is just too high.

SHAME on the Outer Banks residents who refused to evacuate, and selfishly and needlessly put first responders like my son at risk! There ought to be a penalty for them, or at least public shaming.

There are places people shouldn't live: Outer Banks, Bahamas, low-lying coasts and flood plains.

Islands are the prefer place of the hurricanes to make big disasters. Dorian will not the first.

Trump was able to keep the focus on him via the Alabama fake. That's all he cares about.

"“The water is higher than I have ever seen it,” said Ms. Lanier, who owns the independent bookstore Books to Be Red." An observation which become more and more common as the decades roll by.

If you relied on Donald Trump, who plays a President on TV, you would never know that a hurricane destroyed a sovereign neighbor country this week. Not one small finger lifted to take action or ask to put support together for the victims. He has hardly mentioned Americans who are being affected...except those in Alabama who were not.

Now that Dorian is headed out to sea, the residents of Alabama can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief. But seriously, let's not blow Donald Trump's vandalization of the Hurricane Dorian forecast track map out of proportion. It was just the latest black mark on his Presidency.

In the midst of all of this, I'm struck by a kind of extreme sadness that translating storm warnings into the language that more than 40 million people in our country speak is headline news. The bumper sticker I'd like to see ahead of 2020: Be kind, to All people.

Thank you for taking care of the dogs, Ms. Anderson.

As a resident of eastern North Carolina, I appreciate the New York Time's hurricane reporting. When you're in a hurricane, as I am now, you don't need the hype that you get on TV. You need the facts and that's what I get from the New York Times.

Thank you, NY Times, for your excellent coverage, including the graphics and photos and videos.

The damage in the Bahamas, from the news stories I have seen , are absolutely horrible. My sympathies are with them. We were spared here on the Florida coast, but were as ready as we could be. And I know that there is only so much you can do in a cat 5. As an engineer I also know the strength differences between the cats is not linear. And damage especially in a storm that stalls out in an unprecedented fashion. So now is the important time. To rebuild smartly and responsibly. This will not happen there. Even here in the US, rebuilding from Harvey and Michael ( both areas I travelled thru post storm) is poorly executed and slow. And we have access to many more materials and intellect. Looking at the aerial images, I see much land mass appears to have been washed out to sea. In islands that are low lying this is a deal breaker with rebuilding infrastructure in those areas. I also see many semi wealthy individuals leaving. Most likely no insurance payouts to rebuild, so go somewhere else. These are the people that could put money back into the economy. These are also people generally with the skills to rebuild in a smart way or to guide the rebuilding. I imagine the only places that will rebuild to any code will be the cruise ship destinations. Otherwise , shanties for the help that will be destroyed the next go round. And the "go round" there got historically horrific. Still, my sympathies. Maybe the Times could publish a list of legit charities ?

Please contact your Representatives and Senators to request that all border wall funding and military support go to the Bahamas immediately. These people need our help and the United States has the wherewithal.

A Times article early this week described how the tracking map was only an outside plan of what possibly could happen.The track and versus the eye ,what course it could take and the just in case scenario. All the information is important because Katrina was never supposed to hit New Orleans ,flood damage caused by rain alone has often done the most damage and there's responsibility in not warning people.

Enough with the nonsense about whether a hurricane makes "landfall" in the US. Making "landfall" is a technical term which refers only to the dead center of the eye crossing land. Who cares? You can have a hurricane that causes catastrophic destruction in the US without it ever making "landfall" here. This kind of "news," while accurate, is "fake" in the sense that it is not only not newsworthy, it is misleading.

How is it barreling the Northeast? I’m in the Northeast and wondering if this article has important storm information to my region. Did I miss the reference in the article?

*culs de sac I’m sorry this bothered me, am I the only one?

Hurricane in South Carolina? I’m sorry, I thought that was just Lindsey Graham talking...

"and at least one basketball hoop that was blown over." This is a frightening line. What's scary is that anyone would write, responsibly edit or read these words and consider them serious reporting in the context of an adult environment outside an insane asylum.

And meanwhile President Trump insists Alabama would be involved. How about hearing a little sympathy from Trump instead? The man has absolutely no sense of others’ situations or feelings or hardships or misery.