Chapel Hill crews are taking final steps to prepare for the expected effects from Hurricane Florence later this week.

The major hurricane has been barreling toward the North Carolina coast in recent days, prompting evacuation orders and sending residents scrambling for emergency kit supplies.

The latest forecast modeling shows Florence is now expected to stall near the coast of the Tar Heel State before turning toward South Carolina, but that has not left central North Carolina in the clear. Orange County and the surrounding area could still see dangerous winds and flooding.

“Despite the slight change in the storm’s track, Hurricane Florence could still cause significant damage to our community so all of us need to continue to prepare for this as a major weather event,” Town of Chapel Hill emergency management coordinator Vencelin Harris said in a release Wednesday afternoon. “The ground is already saturated. With additional rain and even moderate winds, we could easily see downed trees and power lines. Your safety continues to be our top priority.”

Chapel Hill is opening a call center at noon Thursday for non-emergency questions and information sharing, according to the town.

Several communities in Chapel Hill are flood-prone during times of heavy rains. And the town is initiating voluntary evacuations in some of those areas, including Camelot Village on South Estes Drive and the South Estes/Ridgefield public housing community on South Estes Drive Extension.

Chapel Hill Transit will operate shuttles from bus stops in downtown Chapel Hill on Franklin Street at the Varsity Theater and Columbia Street at Rosemary Street to transport residents to the emergency shelter at Smith Middle School. The shelter is scheduled to open at 6 p.m. Wednesday and the shuttles will be running from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Chapel Hill Transit will suspend services until further notice beginning on Thursday, according to the town.

“Chapel Hill Transit makes every effort to safely operate all services during inclement weather,” according to the release. “We are committed to announcing any decision to change services promptly to give customers as much lead time as possible to plan accordingly.”

The town is also ceasing all parking enforcement at all town-owned public parking facilities beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday. That will include allowing parking at on-street parking meters and in public lots through Saturday, when conditions will be re-evaluated. But the town is asking that residents avoid moving their vehicles to downtown public parking structures before the storm, because they will be used for emergency vehicles and operations.

The Park & Ride lots on Eubanks Road and at Southern Village will be open for public parking.

More information is available here.

Photo via Town of Chapel Hill

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