Severe Weather Event

Response to Potential Tropical Cyclone #8 & Preparing for Helene

LATEST MESSAGE FROM THE VILLAGE

Helene Update #1 from the Village has been posted view it HERE. (Posted 9/26 at 11:26 AM)

STATE OF EMERGENCY

The Village of Bald Head Island is still under a State of Emergency (SOE). While most of our sewer customers have been restored, the flows to the wastewater treatment plant are still elevated. In account of the approaching severe weather (Helene) and with an abundance of caution, the SOE will remain in place.

RESPONSE UPDATES

The Village continues to pump stormwater off the island (Day 10).

The latest grinder pump information can be found HERE. Impacted customers are receiving updates via the CodeRed notification system (last message sent 9/26 at 4:19 PM).

The latest road condition report can be found HERE.

WEATHER UPDATES

View the latest National Weather Service Wilmington briefing for Helene HERE.

The local impacts of Helene are expected to include:

Gusty winds – starting tonight, isolated downed trees, possible power outages.
Some areas of flooding – starting tonight, 1-3 inches of rainfall is expected with some localized higher amounts possible. There could be some flash flooding, especially in areas where the ground is still saturated by PTC 8.
Isolated tornadoes – threat starting late tonight into Friday, safety info HERE.
Dangerous surf conditions – strong rip currents today through Friday.

GUIDANCE FOR ISLANDERS

Property owners should be tying down items that could blow away with the wind gusts, elevating items susceptible to flood, restocking their disaster supplies kit, and staying up-to-date on the latest weather forecast.

There is still a swimming advisory in effect for BHI. The advisory from the State released today lifted the advisory from most areas in New Hanover and Brunswick counties but left BHI’s as still in effect. Water samples were sent to the State yesterday. We should receive an updated notice in the next few days if it can be lifted.

Strong rip currents through Friday. Always know before you go and check the beach forecast.

Helene’s impacts could affect ferry and barge service. Please stay up-to-date by checking the BHI Transportation app/website and barge website.

VILLAGE OPERATIONS

Village offices will be closed tomorrow (9/27) with office staff working remotely. You may contact them by email or phone (directory).

The Island Package Center and Post Office will be open tomorrow on its normal schedule barring any ferry delays. Barge service may be impacted tomorrow which will delay package delivery to the island. USPS mail and packages are expected to be delivered to the island via ferry if it is running normally. Check the package tracker (HERE) to determine if your packages made it there.

Essential personnel will be on the island tomorrow to manage the Village’s response to Helene.

SOUTHPORT TRAFFIC UPDATES

Traffic remains congested in Southport at times. The City of Southport (and others) have been working with NCDOT to minimize the congestion as there is only one way in and one way out of Southport proper. View this MAP for suggested routes.

NCDOT: Officials Urge Drivers to Take Alternative Route Ahead of Detour – Read this News Flash from Brunswick County sent on 9/26/24 at 2:41 p.m. HERE.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY UPDATES

View the latest update from Brunswick County HERE. (Posted 9/26/24 at 4:49 PM)

Response to Potential Tropical Cyclone #8

9/25/2024 Storm Response Updates

The Village of Bald Head Island is still under a State of Emergency (SOE). While most of our sewer customers have been restored, the flows to the wastewater treatment plant are still elevated. In account of the approaching severe weather and with an abundance of caution, the SOE will remain in place.
The Village continues to pump stormwater off the island (Day 9).
Village Utilities did not shut off any grinder pumps today. They turned on 19 more. There are still some that are underwater. Thank you for your patience. HERE is the updated list of homes impacted.
The Village’s road condition list has been updated, HERE is the latest as of 1:00 p.m. today (9/25).
Read the latest update from Brunswick County on PTC #8 response and potential impacts from Helene. HERE (Info as of 9/25/24 at 4 p.m.).
Governor Cooper Declared a State of Emergency Ahead of Hurricane Helene view media release & order HERE.
From NCDOT: Please help ease some of the congestion caused by the NC 211 outage near Southport. If you are on NC 211 and want to head north, please use NC 906 rather than NC 133 / NC 87. The turn from NC 133 to NC 87 closed this AM (9/25/24). See map below.

9/24/2024 Storm Response Updates

The Village of Bald Head Island remains under a State of Emergency. The Village is still working to pump stormwater off the roads. There are still homes without sewer service. Property owners are advised that these homes shall not be occupied.
53 grinder pumps were turned back on today. No grinder pumps were turned off. See the latest list of homes impacted HERE. Impacted areas received an update today via CodeRed.
The Village Manager sent a message as we are one week into our recovery efforts in response to PTC #8. Read his message here: A Message from the Village Manager – Village of Bald Head Island (villagebhi.org)
If you have any questions about the storm response, you may email your questions to public.information@villagebhi.org. The Village will be developing a Q&A document which will be made available.
The Village continues to monitor Tropical Storm Helene. The latest from NWS Wilmington can be found at weather.gov/ilm/tropical. It is forecasted to be a major hurricane as it approaches Florida on Thursday. Locally, we will see increased rain chances and some gusty winds Thursday night into Friday. Restock your disaster supply kit and prepare for possible power outages.
TRAFFIC STATEMENT FROM THE CITY OF SOUTHPORT (posted on our social media).
Brunswick County Weather & Safety Reminders for Tropical Storm Helene

The posts below were moved from our Media webpage.

9/23/2024 Storm Response Updates

As the Village continues to respond to the storm event, some of our social media posts will be posted on this webpage to supplement the once-a-day announcements going out via email (which can be found on our website homepage). If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, see below.

Link to updated list HERE. Posted on 9/23/24 at 10:50 AM

9/22/2024 Storm Response Updates

As the Village continues to respond to the storm event, some of our social media posts will be posted on this webpage to supplement once-a-day (as of today) announcements going out via email (which can be found on our website homepage). If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, see below.

Road condition report as of 9/22/2024 12:30 PM HERE. Public Safety hopes to do another assessment this evening.
Posted 9/22/24 at 3:52 PM

The Village is assessing the road conditions and the sewer system this morning. We will be posting notices of this to our social media channels shortly. As soon as we receive updates from the field, we will be posting those updates to our social channels, this webpage, and sewer customers via the CodeRED notification system. We expect to send out our daily e-mail update late afternoon/early evening.
Posted 9/22/24 at 10:05 AM. Updated 10:36 AM

UPDATE: ISSUE BELOW HAS BEEN RESOLVED! Posted 9/22/24 at 10:00 AM
The Village is aware that the announcement links from the homepage and those posted on social media are currently not working. We currently have IT looking into the issue right now. In the meantime, we have copied and pasted the last message (Storm Response Update #12 sent at 6:42 pm. 9/21) below:

The issue was resolved Update #12 can be viewed HERE.

9/21/2024 Storm Response Updates

As the Village continues to respond to the storm event, some of our social media posts will be posted on this webpage to supplement the AM and PM announcements going out via email (which can be found on our website homepage). If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, see below.

Another pinchpoint for those traveling the roads of BHI. Posted 9/21024 at 2:19 PM.

The road condition list has been updated and forwarded to Brunswick County to be included on the map. List here: https://ow.ly/5n0j50TrVU9 Map here: https://ow.ly/wC5j50TrVU6

Posted on 9/21/2024 at 12:17 PM

9/20/2024 Storm Response Updates

As the Village continues to respond to the storm event, some of our social media posts will be posted on this webpage to supplement the AM and PM announcements going out via email (which can be found on our website homepage). If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, see below.

Bald Head Island road conditions/closures are now available on the Brunswick County Road Conditions and Closures map. View HERE.

Posted 9/20/2024 7:02 AM (this was posted on social media last night).

9/19/2024 Storm Response Updates

As the Village continues to respond to the storm event, some of our social media posts will be posted on this webpage to supplement the AM and PM announcements going out via email (which can be found on our website homepage). If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, see below.

9/18/2024 Storm Response Updates

As information is coming in from Village crews and elsewhere this morning, we will be pushing out information to Islanders on our social media channels. If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, but on our TextMyGov system, we are posting information on this webpage. See the latest messages below:

9/17/2024 Storm Response Updates

As information is coming in from Village crews and elsewhere this morning, we will be pushing out information to Islanders on our social media channels. If you are on social media, please share the Village’s posts on other BHI pages. For those not on social media, but on our TextMyGov system, we are posting information on this webpage. See the latest messages below:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tK2PqmFUugU?feature=oembedVideo taken earlier today. Thank you, Patricia! Posted 9/17/24 at 8:16 PM

Grinder Pump Alarms – Village Utilities is aware that grinder pump alarms are going off island-wide. The alarm should shut off automatically when the flood water recedes. If your alarm is going off at your residence, please limit your water usage (no running of dishwashers and washing machines and no long showers). Posted 9/17/24 9:23 AM

In addition to https://drivenc.gov/ the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, NC social media is another source for current road conditions on the mainland. Posted 9/17/24 8:41 AM

Several roads on the mainland remain impassable. Islanders who are considering alternate transportation off the island are advised to wait until road conditions improve. Graphic below is a live view of https://drivenc.gov/. Posted 9/17/24 8:27 AM

Map showing multiple road closures and impassable routes around Smithville and Southport.

Due to the suspension of the BHI ferries, Village offices will be closed today, this includes Public Safety administration and the Island Package Center and Post Office. Office employees are working remotely and can be reached by phone or email (directory HERE). Posted 9/17/24 at 8:04 AM

BHI Public Safety reports that the water on West Bald Head Wynd has not receded at all on the Seagull Trail End. There is still extremely high water. Please stay off the roads so our crews can work to assess the flooding conditions and execute the Village’s Stormwater Management Plan as stated in our last update (https://villagebhi.org/announcement/severe-weather-update-3/). Posted 9/17/24 at 7:38 AM