[Hatteras]

WRAL TV's Bill Lesley was on the phone with an old college buddy of his from Ocracoke. The fellow owns an inn and teaches school and his family roots are on the island. All guests were evacuated and he estimates about 300-400 people are still on Ocracoke. He says it's getting pretty rough but they should be fine.

[wimpycat]

In other words, all the dingbatters left, and the natives are riding it out.

Dingbatter is a local term for "people not from around here".

My aunt and uncle and great aunts and uncles and 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins are all riding it out in Atlantic (that's not Atlantic Beach), which is right next to Cedar Island.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Yeah, they'll be fine. Great news that the winds continue to decline. Even if they happen to catch the worst of the storm, 100 mph is manageable down there. Easy to say 100 mph is no big deal from the comfort of my den, I know, but there's a big difference between, say, 100 and 120 mph, remembering that wind pressure on a structure increases as the square of the increase in wind speed. Trees, of course, would be a problem, but that's not much of a factor there.