In anticipation of Hurricane Florence, the N.C. Forest Service has announced that DuPont Forest will be temporarily closed starting at noon on Friday, Sept. 14th. As of right now, the plan is to reopen the forest on Monday. When and / if that changes we will update you right away. Please see the message from the NC Forest Service below for more details.
As of right now the DuPont Forest Festival is scheduled to take place on Sept. 22. After the storm passes through, the NC Forest Service will assess the damage. Our hope is that there is minimal damage and we can hold the Festival as originally scheduled. Our back up date is Sept. 29th. Stay tuned for updates!
Hurricane Florence Updates:
TEMPORARY CLOSURES:
Safety concerns for the public and employees are prompting temporary closures in several state forests, county and district offices across the state. The North Carolina Forest Service will continue closely monitoring changing conditions from Hurricane Florence and determine any additional temporary closures. Pending further assessment, all NCFS offices and state forests are scheduled to open Monday.
The following state forests in North Carolina closed or will close at:
- Bladen Lakes State Forest – closes at 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 14, 2018
- DuPont Recreational State Forest – closes at noon, Sept. 14, 2018
- Holmes Educational State Forest – closes at noon, Sept. 14, 2018
- Jordan Lake Educational State Forest – closed at 5 p.m., Sept. 13, 2018
- Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest – closed at 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018
These N.C. Forest Service county offices are temporarily closed:
- Beaufort
- Bertie
- Brunswick/New Hanover
- Camden
- Carteret
- Columbus
- Craven
- Currituck
- Dare
- Duplin
- Hyde
- Jones
- Lenoir
- Martin
- Onslow
- Pasquotank
- Perquimans
- Pender
- Robeson
- Tyrrell
- Washington
Please refer to the following for any further announcements or updates:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCForestService/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ncforestservice
- Web: ncforestservice.gov
ADDITIONAL RESOUCES AND INFORMATION:
- Hurricane Florence – Raleigh RSOI: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6200/
- NCFS Situation Report: http://www.ncforestservice.gov/fire_control/sit_report.htm
- Recovering from Storms Information: Who can help – http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Managing_your_forest/damage_recovery.htm
- C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services:
- Agriculture weather emergency hotline: 1-866-645-9403 (staffed 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily)
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCAgriculture/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCAgriculture
- Disaster updates: http://www.ncagr.gov/disaster/
- C. Emergency Management:
- Ready NC: https://readync.org/EN/Index.html
- Web: https://www.ncdps.gov/ncem
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCEmergency/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCEmergency
- If you need assistance for Hurricane Florence, help is available. Please text FLORENCE to 898211 to reach a 2-1-1 call specialist 24/7 through the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.
