Schools closing, shelters opening: NC communities are preparing for Hurricane Idalia

Hurricane Idalia is moving north in the Gulf of Mexico as it moves closer to making landfall in Florida.

Idalia is expected to make landfall Wednesday morning in Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has activated the National Guard as the state prepares for Hurricane Idalia.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida.

Public schools along NC’s south and eastern borders to close

Public schools in Pender and Robeson counties will be closed on Thursday due to severe weather.

Robeson County schools have also asked parents to prepare for the possibility of an early dismissal on Wednesday. All after-school and athletics events are canceled for Wednesday.

Idalia preps in Lumberton

Folks who live in Robeson County will never forget Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018. The storms dumped an ocean of water on the county causing the Lumber River to overflow.

The flooding along interstate 95 in Robeson County became a nightmare.

“One of the things that we learned through Florence and Matthew is when [I-95] shuts down, it kind of disrupts the entire traffic pattern of the county, and it becomes a gridlock,” said North Carolina Department of Transportation District Engineer Brice Bell.

The flooding in Robeson County destroyed property and forced residents to get to higher ground. Since then, the county has added scanning machines to keep track of who utilizes its shelters.

“As folks are coming in, our residents are coming into the shelters, they can scan their driver’s licenses, and we know who we have in the shelters,” said Robeson County Emergency Management Director Stephanie Chavis.

WRAL Storm Tracker in Florida

The WRAL Storm Tracker is tracking the storm as it moves from Florida up the east coast to North Carolina. Evacuations were underway Tuesday in Cedar Key, Florida.

Corinne Keeton, whose family owns a restaurant along the water in Cedar Key, explained the reason why some of her family plans to stay.

“This is their livelihood,” Keeton said. “Anyone who needs medical attention or anything, they understand no one’s coming.

“So, it’s a very limited, select group of my family that’s going to be staying behind. I know [there are] limited things that they can do, but their heart is here.”

The WRAL Storm Tracker is moving further inland in Florida to avoid storm surge as Idalia moves closer.