Tourists leaving Wrightsville Beach now, residents to follow as Hurricane Dorian nears

By Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter

Wrightsville Beach, N.C. — Something’s in the air, and 15-month-old Ella looks like she senses that Hurricane Dorian is on the way.

The Acevedos came to Wrightsville Beach from Virginia to visit family. They are heading back now with a mandatory evacuation in effect.

“We’d rather get out,” said Juliana Acevedo. “Risk of losing power with a little one would not be fun, so we’re just ready to get out of here.

“Not much we can do. We’re prepping the house and going to go ahead and get out of here and try and enjoy the last few days of our trip.”

Dara Newberry runs the Shell Island Resort. The hotel was closed for nearly six months after Hurricane Florence.

“We had a ton of water intrusion,” Newberry said. “We lost our window systems. The entire first floor was completely gone.”

The mandatory evacuation means guests will have to check out Wednesday while the hotel continues its storm preparations.

“We are boarding up, sandbagging, duct-taping, you name it,” Newberry said. “Things that did not work for us in the last storm (Hurricane Florence) we are revising and trying new things.”