Officials from the Duke University Marine Laboratory have issued a mandatory evacuation of the facility in anticipation of Hurricane Ophelia, the largest storm to hit the North Carolina coast in more than a year.
Students were told Tuesday morning to evacuate by 5 p.m. Officials expect to reopen the Beaufort, N.C., laboratory Thursday evening and resume classes Friday morning. The reopening, however, depends on the duration of the slow-moving storm.
"We button up pretty well up here," said Michael Orbach, director of the marine lab, noting the facility could be made fairly storm-proof within a few hours. "We have long-established procedures."
Ophelia, which has rested off the North Carolina coast for the last few days, is projected to pass over Beaufort Wednesday morning. It has been fluctuating between a tropical storm and a hurricane; to be designated as a hurricane, a storm must have winds of at least 75 miles per hour.
Although Ophelia was a tropical storm as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Orbach said hurricane experts are predicting the storm could grow to hurricane strength before it hits land.
Thirteen of the 21 students who are attending the marine lab this semester will be housed at Duke in Central Campus apartments. The rest are finding shelter west of the coastal facility, mostly in the homes of family and friends, said Dominick Brugnolotti, assistant director of auxiliary services at the marine lab.
"I don't think there is any extreme apprehension at this point," Brugnolotti said.
Most lab faculty are remaining near Beaufort to take care of their families and homes, Orbach said.
At Duke, the marine lab students will have access to academic and recreational facilities with their DukeCards. Some of their dining points from their plans at the marine lab will be transferred over for use at Duke.
The students will also be given temporary parking passes.
Andrew Thaler, a junior studying at the marine lab this semester, said even though it has been fairly windy and rainy in Beaufort for the last few days, he is not worried about the storm.
"It seems like more of an administrative thing because hurricanes have been pretty bad this year, and nobody wants to take any chances," Thaler said. "Everyone who lives down here does not seem to be terribly worried."
Orbach noted that the last time officials were forced to evacuate the lab was before Hurricane Isabella hit Beaufort in September 2003.
Several islands along the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts were evacuated Tuesday.
Residents of certain districts in at least six counties in North Carolina were also ordered to evacuate. Schools along the coast were closed in anticipation of the storm.
Ophelia is the 15th named storm and the seventh hurricane so far in this year's hurricane season, which started July 1 and will end Nov. 30.
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