New England bases await Hurricane Earl - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

New England bases await Hurricane Earl

A weakening but increasingly fast Hurricane Earl flew past the Hampton Roads, Va., region early Friday morning without causing any damage to naval facilities. But Mid-Atlantic Region officials are keeping a close eye on the storm’s potential impact on coastal bases farther north — particularly those in southern Connecticut and Rhode Island, an area that forecasters say is now under a tropical storm warning.

Second Fleet officials had earlier in the week placed Norfolk-based ships in port on notice to sortie within 24 hours of an order to do so, but backed that up to 48 hours two days ago. Late Thursday, it became apparent that leadership had enough confidence in the forecast of relatively light impact ashore to keep ships and aircraft in place. Hampton Roads and other East Coast bases to the north had also implemented procedures to tie down loose objects and collect loose debris.

Earl, however, kept its distance, with the hurricane’s center remaining about 200 miles east of Virginia Beach as it passed by on a north-northeastward track at about 8 a.m., as forecast. As a result: some wind gusts and light rain.

“Everything is fine,” Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Beth Baker said Friday morning. “No damages.” The region announced in mid-morning that all Hampton Roads-area installations have returned to normal operations.

The Associated Press reported that North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which overnight experienced the mainland’s closest brush with Earl so far, appeared to have avoided serious damage or injuries. The Coast Guard, which on Thursday secured four of its stations in the region, was to conduct a damage assessment flight over the Outer Banks late Friday morning.

Earl, now moving at 21 mph, is losing power, with maximum winds down to 85 mph; it’s expected to continue weakening slightly and pick up forward speed, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Weakened or not — Earl is now a Category One storm — the Weather Service said at midday Friday that the storm will remain a large hurricane as it approaches southern New England, the home of submarine base at New London and Naval Station Newport. It’s expected to begin arriving late Friday night and early Saturday.

“We’re watching that very closely,” Baker said.

As a precaution, the Coast Guard has closed ports in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island until the storm passed, The Associated Press reported Friday. The closures included ports in the southeastern New England sector that includes Narragansett Bay, Mount Hope Bay, Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay, Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound.

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Fleet awaits arrival of Hurricane Earl