MANTEO, N.C. — All hands on deck on the Outer Banks on Thursday as the area prepares for what it will see this weekend with the storm. News 3 went out to speak with residents and the North Carolina Department of Transportation, with one official saying if what's predicted hits here, it could be historic.
"We do lose power when we have storms. But other than that, I just have to wait it out," said Keith Robinson, who lives on Ocracoke Island.
Robinson has called Ocracoke home for the last four years and was up the beach running a few errands on Thursday. But he shared the incoming storm is on his mind.
"We had eight and a half inches last year, so we made it through that. So this shouldn't be too much worse than that, except for the wind, they call for 60 mile an hour winds, but we'll see how that goes," said Robinson.
News 3 found Susan Stewart-Kelley and Steve Kelley in the Harris Teeter parking lot in Kitty Hawk, driving down from Corolla for a better shopping experience, but also with the storm in mind.
"We're going to make a big pot of pasta sauce and just sort of hunker down here for what we might get, which is kind of exciting," said Susan Stewart-Kelley.
News 3 saw countless N.C. Department of Transportation crews out pretreating the roads in the Outer Banks on Thursday and already gearing up for what could be a busy weekend.
"If the forecasts we're seeing now are correct, this is going to be a storm that's more native to North Dakota than North Carolina," said Tim Hass, communications officer with NCDOT Division 1 and Ferry Division.
Hass said the roads in Division 1, which covers the entirety of northeast North Carolina, have mostly been pretreated so far. N.C. 12 is going to be a problem spot as it, like usual, will be impacted by the storm and also the ocean.
"Highway 12 is going to be a problem spot, and I would say there's a very good chance that at some point Saturday night, it will probably have to close," said Hass.
Another impact for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke residents involves the ferry operations.
"I would definitely plan on multiple ferry routes suspending service this weekend, and then coming back as soon as both the ferries and the roads are safe," said Hass.
Hass encouraged all residents to hunker down and make sure they are prepared.
"Plan to stay at home this weekend, because if the conditions that they're predicting come true, you're not going to want to go out at all. And that's, I can't say it any stronger than that," said Hass.
The last time a significant amount of snow hit the Outer Banks in January 2025, NCDOT crews from western North Carolina came to help out in operations here. Hass said help from other divisions is a possibility; it just depends on how much the storm impacts other areas of the state and here in the Outer Banks.
"This is a statewide thing, so every division is going to have its own set of problems. If it happens that one division doesn't get hit as hard, then maybe they will contribute some plows for us. But at this point, we're planning to deal with this as soon as it happens," said Hass.
