McCrory declares State of Emergency for 66 counties ahead of Hurricane Matthew

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — North Carolina is getting ready for another storm threat, as Hurricane Matthew makes its way through the Caribbean and heads north toward the southeast coast.

With much of eastern North Carolina now in the cone of uncertainty of Matthew’s forecast path, state leaders are working on the potential threat.

Gov. Pat McCrory and NC Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry gave a briefing this afternoon at the state Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh.  Gov. McCrory declared a State of Emergency for 66 counties ahead of Hurricane Matthew.

Sprayberry said the storm will create issues for NC even if it doesn’t make landfall here. He says many areas of our state are already saturated right now from all of our recent rain.  Sprayberry says his office is doing daily conference calls with local counties. Emergency management is going to be staged and ready to respond this Thursday night. FEMA has already employed a team for this state.

State Troopers are also looking at where their officers are deployed Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He said there are a lot of events in NC right now that are putting a strain on our resources.

Gov. McCrory also reminded residents to have your emergency packs available. That includes flashlights, batteries and other essentials needed to weather the storm, so you’re not waiting until the last second to gather everything. He also said he hopes the state is over-responding to the storm.

The WWAY StormTrack3 Weather Team continues to track Hurricane Matthew. Get all the latest details in the WWAY Hurricane Center.