Outer Banks Evacuation: Outage Forces 10,000 Tourists Out | Time.com

Outer Banks Evacuation: Outage Forces 10,000 Tourists Out | Time.com

An estimated 10,000 tourists face a noon deadline Friday for evacuating an island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people searching for a place to eat, stay cool or to resume interrupted vacations.

The Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative said in a news release Thursday that PCL Construction told the utility it had driven a steel casing into an electric transmission cable while working on the new Bonner Bridge on the state's coast, inadvertently cutting off power to Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for all visitors on Ocracoke Island effective at 5 p.m. Thursday. Hyde County public information officer Donnie Shumate said the main concern was for their safety, adding that officials want to get visitors off the island by noon Friday.