According to information shared during an 8 a.m. briefing at the Beaufort County Emergency Operation Center, no water-related rescues took place in the county overnight as a result of Hurricane Dorian. Storm surge totals projected ahead of the storm did not materialize in Beaufort County, sparing many residents from flooding.

“We have not, to date, had any water-related calls for assistance,” said Chris Newkirk, fire and operations chief with Beaufort County Emergency Services. “Everything we’ve had so far has been trees and power lines down, but that does seem to be pretty widespread across the county.”

As conditions continue to improve, emergency personnel throughout the county will begin the process of compiling initial damage reports. Newkirk encouraged emergency personnel to keep an eye out for areas with issues as they were driving this morning.

“The conditions we have right now, we’re pretty much going to expect to continue for at least the next couple of hours,” Newkirk said. “Based on the current forecast, we expect the winds to die down around lunch time or shortly after, naturally from west to east.”

As of this morning, 147 people remained in an emergency shelter at Washington High School, and emergency resources remained stationed throughout the county.

“We’re going to try to turn this corner from response to recovery as soon as possible,” Newkirk told the EOC staff.