PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — More than 30 people have taken shelter at a Portsmouth-area high school in the wake of rain and wind brought on by Hurrican Dorian’s arrival in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The city of Portsmouth opened a hurricane shelter for residents at I.C. Norcom High School ahead of Hurricane Dorian’s arrival in Hatteras, N.C. on Friday morning.
As of 11 a.m. on Friday, the shelter welcomed more than 30 residents into the school’s gymnasium, and had about 50 people registered to take shelter there.
Shelter staff are still registering Portsmouth residents who want to take shelter at I.C. Norcom High School throughout the storm. I.C. Norcom High School is the only shelter open in the city, and it will remain open until it’s no longer needed, said Pamela Little-Hill, the director of social services for Portsmouth.
“We are trying to make sure that we are re providing a place of safety for the citizens of Portsmouth,” Little-Hill said.
The city has equipped the shelter with officials from the Department of Behavioral Health and the Department of Health to assist residents with any needs they may have, Little-Hill said.
Mya Martin is a teenager who came to the I.C. Norcom High School hurricane shelter with her grandmother and cousins on Friday morning. Mya said that Hurricane Dorian is the first big storm she and her family have gone through since her grandfather died earlier this year.
“There’s some good people here, and they make you feel welcome,” Mya said. “So it’s a good environment.
