Updated 08/31/2010 07:09 PM
Cape Lookout National Seashore to evacuate ahead of Earl
By: News 14 Carolina Web Staff
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. -- The National Parks Service is closing Cape Lookout National Seashore, home of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, in preparation of Hurricane Earl.
Cape Lookout National Seashore's coastline stretches 56 miles across three islands, and evacuating an area of that size is no easy task.
"One of the challenges of running a park that is only accessible by boat is to safely evacuate all the visitors and have the commercial boats back in port before the Coast Guard calls for commercial boat operations to cease," explained superintendent Russell Wilson.
The park will officially close at 5 p.m. Wednesday and officials say they are making every effort to let all visitors know of the impending closure.
"We have rangers on the islands who will patrol the beach and make contact with anybody who is camping and make sure everybody's informed," said Wilson.
Officials say they would like to reopen the park by Saturday but that all depends on the impact of Hurricane Earl.
Several attractions along the Outer Banks will shut down to visitors in anticipation of Hurricane Earl.
The Ocracoke Visitor Center will close at noon Wednesday as will the Ocracoke, Frisco, Cape Point and Oregon Inlet campgrounds.
Hatteras Island, Bodie Island, Wright Brothers and Fort Raleigh Visitor Centers will close at 5 p.m. The last climb for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday and it will close at 3 p.m.