Latest news with #ErikHeden
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Eastern NC preparing a hurricane season officially underway
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — Hurricane season has begun and meteorologists with the National Weather Service are anticipating an active year. Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service Erik Heden stressed how long the season is and how important it is to be prepared early. Heden said the category of a hurricane should also not determine how well you prepare or how seriously you take a storm since it only relates to wind. He said 85 percent of hurricane-related deaths are due to water. 'During Florence, we also learned that we had a whole lot more flooding in areas that we've never had flooding before,' Carteret County Emergency Services Director Stephen Rea said. 'It's the whole county that's vulnerable.' Rea said it's important to have a weeks' worth of supplies in a hurricane preparedness kit including food, water, batteries and a weather radio. It's also important to have a strong evacuation plan. 'A shelter is a safe place, but it should be your last resort. It's not a hotel. It's not going to be a comfortable location,' Heden said. 'Try to go to a hotel either out of state or out of the area or all the people that come and visit you at the beach? Go visit them.' The National Weather Service is hosting a hurricane community forum at the Pine Knoll Shores Town Hall June 17th at 10 a.m. You can register here. Learn more about Carteret County's emergency preparedness here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Carteret County hosts Hurricane Preparedness Expo
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — Local, state, and federal experts provided resources and information for the upcoming hurricane season during Carteret County's Hurricane Preparedness Expo. Hurricane season officially starts June 1st, but May 4th-10th is National Hurricane Preparedness Week. The National Weather Service says there have been hurricanes as early as May. Some of the best ways to be prepared is by creating a family plan, creating an emergency kit stocked with at least a week's worth of supplies, and having a reliable way to evacuate. Carteret County officials also let residents notify them if they are medically fragile. The form can be found here. 'It provides us with the necessary information of whether they need to go to the hospital, to a medically fragile shelter or just need transportation,' Emergency Services Director Stephen Rea said. Erik Heden with the National Weather Service says that 85% of people that die in a hurricane do so because of water, whether it's through storm surges, flooding or rip currents. 'Some of the biggest misconceptions are people don't want to leave the area because they think it's going to be extremely hard to get back,' Heden said. 'You'll make it back and safety is first. We always stress we can replace your house, we can replace your car, we can't replace you.' You can find more on the county's hurricane preparedness resources here Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
People preparing ahead of possibly severe thunderstorms across Eastern N.C.
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — It's Severe Weather Preparedness Week and Eastern North Carolina is preparing for a storm system that could produce tornadoes. 'Lightning, while we don't issue warnings for those, that's one thing in ENC that everyone will see,' National Weather Service Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden said. 'I know tornadoes get a lot of notoriety, but we get thunderstorms 40-50 days of the year, so we get quite a lot. The rule with that is when thunder roars, go indoors. If you can hear thunder, you are at risk.' Heden said having a severe weather plan is just as important for severe storms and tornadoes as it is for hurricanes and flooding. He said preparing before the storm arrives and then being ready are keys to being safe. 'The day of, make sure your phone is charged up, make sure it's not on DND if the threat for storms is at night,' he said. 'Have multiple ways to get warnings. You can get them on your phone or a NOAA weather radio. Start a few days before pay attention to the forecast. The day before, is it normal or severe, then the day of, have all your devices charged and ready to receive warnings.' As Spring is approaching, it's a key time to be prepared for severe weather in Eastern North Carolina as there can be many different forms of weather issues. 'Typically, our strongest storms, March, April and May,' Heden said. 'That is where we have had some of our bigger tornadoes. Tornadoes are a threat, intense rainfall, large hail, as sometimes we have had ping-pong or baseball-sized hail, very, very large. High winds, large hail, tornadoes and intense rain are kind of the biggest threats we get for severe weather in ENC.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
