Fleet awaits arrival of Hurricane Earl - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Fleet awaits arrival of Hurricane Earl

The Navy in Hampton Roads remained in a watch-and-wait mode as the outer bands of a slightly weakened Hurricane Earl began lashing the North Carolina Outer Banks late Thursday afternoon.

Regional National Weather Service forecasters said the center of the large, fast-moving storm was expected to pass about 200 miles east of Virginia Beach about 8 a.m. Friday, and that the Hampton Roads area would most likely see tropical storm conditions including rain and winds gusting as high as 44 mph.

In addition, the National Weather Service continued a hurricane warning issued earlier Thursday for portions of the Massachusetts coast, atop the warning still standing for the North Carolina coast northward to its border with Virginia. A hurricane watch remained in effect from that point northward to Cape Henlopen, Del., and was added for portions of Nova Scotia.

Ships homeported in the Hampton Roads region remained prepared to sortie within 48 hours of an order to do so, according to 2nd Fleet, and Navy Region Mid-Atlantic had placed all installations from North Carolina to Maine under Hurricane Condition Three — basically, the normal precautions for a tropical storm.

As of midday Thursday, officials said ships and aircraft not underway would likely remain in place.

Just to the south, however, the Coast Guard closed the North Carolina ports of Morehead City and Wilmington to all inbound and outbound traffic, and ordered that all cargo and bunker handling operations cease. The service also secured its Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet, Ocracoke and Hobucken stations from operations. State officials had begun mandatory evacuations from some areas.

The North Carolina and Virginia National Guard placed more than 250 guardsmen on state active duty for response preparations.

The National Weather Service said late Thursday that the somewhat weaker storm was now moving toward the north at 18 mph, with an increase in forward speed expected Friday. The center of the storm, packing maximum sustained winds near 110 mph, had begun sweeping the Outer Banks late Thursday night, and hurricane-force winds were extending outward up to 70 miles from the center as of late Thursday.

Earl was expected to weaken further later Thursday night and into Friday, but still generate tropical storm-force winds along the coast from Virginia to New Jersey through early Friday.

Other effects, the regional Weather Service office said, will include a “dangerous” storm surge that will raise water levels by three to five feet within the hurricane warning area and the lower Chesapeake Bay. Between two and four inches of rain were expected over the region, with isolated maximum amounts of six inches, forecasters said.

For ships in Hampton Roads, the preparedness order meant taking “good, generally prudent actions” such as adding mooring and additional storm lines, and securing loose gear, said Lt. Brian Badura of 2nd Fleet. Other options for commanding officers, depending on conditions, included dropping anchor or, if an order to sortie seemed imminent, disconnecting from shore power.

A total of 13 surface warships are underway for training and other operations off the Atlantic coast, Badura said. Those ships are steering around the storm and continuing normal operations.

Similarly, the carrier Enterprise had moved south of the storm and was continuing training operations, said Mike Maus of the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force. The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower pulled into port Wednesday following local area training and the George H.W. Bush returned to Norfolk on Thursday afternoon, Maus said.

Non-deployed aircraft would be placed into hangars or tied down if necessary, Maus said.

Ashore, normal operations continued but sailors took precautionary steps including securing loose objects, such as trash cans and picnic tables in parks, and picking up debris.