Richard Neal - the man who owns this whole thing - talked as a wind turbine buzzed in the background. Even from this height, you can’t see land. Once I got up there, I went up the metal steps to the helipad, and then even higher up to the very top of the light tower: 133 feet above the water. Today, if you want to go up in the tower and you don’t have a helicopter to drop you off, you have to get hoisted up 80 feet from the boat below by sitting down on a tiny little seat attached to a rope. The coast guard built Frying Pan Tower in the 1960s to warn ships about the shallow water nearby, but the coast guard stopped using it 15 years ago. It looks like a pizza box that sits on top of four skinny metal legs with something that resembles an airport control tower on one corner - that’s where the actual light is. To get to this destination, you have to charter a boat, and then ride for an hour-and-a-half out into the Atlantic Ocean.įrying Pan Tower is an old Coast Guard light tower that sits 32 miles off the coast, southeast of Wilmington. Neal couldn’t head out there this week because of work, but wishes he could be there like he has for other powerful storms.Īs part of a collaboration between Our State magazine and WFAE to highlight stories from across North Carolina, Our State’s Jeremy Markovich took a trip to Frying Pan Tower this summer for a first-hand look at a facility that’s weathered storm after storm. It’s called Frying Pan Tower, and he owns it. Most recently it was sold in a government surplus sale and became a hotel (the " most dangerous hotel in the world," according to Conde Nast Traveler).This week we’ve heard public officials urge caution and mandatory evacuations as Hurricane Florence approaches the Carolinas.īut Richard Neal of Charlotte would rather be out to sea in his home away from home – an old Coast Guard light station 32 miles off the coast. It was manned by 20 coast guardsmen, who lived there full-time until 1979. Frying Pan Tower is a former light station run by the U.S. Of the video that is being streamed live of Florence, some of the most dramatic so far is coming from the Frying Pan Ocean Cam mounted on Frying Pan Tower located in the Atlantic Ocean, more than 30 miles off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Perhaps seeing the hurricane's destructive force will serve as motivation for people to donate to the cleanup effort lawmakers are predicting will be necessary after the storm passes.ĭonations to the American Red Cross can be made here, and here is another list of charities that will be supporting residents in communities impacted by Hurricane Florence. It all creates dramatic footage to watch from afar. Roy Cooper of North Carolina said Thursday.Īs Florence gets closer, the Atlantic Ocean churns more violently and winds strengthen. “My message today: Don’t relax, don’t get complacent, stay on guard,” Gov. On Thursday, people who remained were being told it's still not too late to get out of the region, but time is running out. Officials in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have issued mandatory evacuation orders for residents in many coastal communities – all together more than 1 million people live in these evacuation zones, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. LATEST: Live beach cams continue to track Hurricane Dorian up the coast of the Carolinas Winds are forecast to surge up to 105 mph and meteorologists are predicting as much as 10 trillion gallons of rainfall will pummel the region. as it's expected to make landfall in North Carolina sometime overnight Thursday or early Friday morning. Hurricane Florence is making steady, intimidating steps toward the Southeast coast of the U.S.
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