N.C. 12 washes out at Mirlo Beach; third house collapses

Nearly 800 feet of pavement has been lost on N.C. 12 at Mirlo Beach on Hatteras Island, and ocean overwash continued to spill onto the road even at low tide, North Carolina Department of Transportation division engineer Jerry Jennings said early afternoon Saturday.

Until the surf calms down, he said, road repair will be almost impossible.

The road, the only highway on the island, was closed late Thursday and is not likely to be reopened this weekend, Jennings said. About 5,000 people live on the island year-round.

Located on the north end of Rodanthe, near the favorite surf spot known as “S-Turns,” the breach essentially trapped people on the island and prevented emergency vehicles from responding there until the ferry began running Saturday.

“We’re really at the mercy of the ocean,” Jennings said. “This is the worst damage that we’ve had at Mirlo.”

The NCDOT Ferry Division began running the Hatteras-Ocracoke route for emergency transportation Saturday. It’s running every hour to accommodate motorist evacuation, according to a news release.

No reservations are required and motorists will be transported on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the release. The emergency schedule will continue until N.C. 12 becomes passable.

The third house in as many days in South Nags Head collapsed early Saturday morning as another high tide battered the Outer Banks coastline; other houses stranded in the surf and along the oceanfront appeared threatened or doomed.

Exposed septic tanks, pieces of deck and steps, tattered sand bags and large amounts of debris were strewn around houses and spread up and down the shoreline. The beach was severely eroded, with much escarpment where the high tide sliced sand away.

In Kill Devil Hills, an older oceanfront house fell onto the beach, destroyed by the powerful waves at high tide. Another to the north lost its walls and floors to the heavy surf, leaving the back of the house exposed.

Jerry Stephens, 59, said he remembers that in the ‘60s the house, located on N.C. 12 near Walker Street, was the “Sun Glow Motel.” He said he recently helped the owner rebuild the now-destroyed rear section of the house.

“Yesterday, there was about an inch crack in here,” Stephens said, gesturing at a gaping hole on the side of the building. “And I came out here this morning, and the wall was gone.”

Further north, Kitty Hawk beaches suffered severe erosion, but there were no reports of houses going into the ocean, said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Perry. Water on the road - in places more than several feet - has been the immediate problem in Kitty Hawk, he said.

“It’s mostly overwash between the highways,” Perry said. “It kind of surprised us. We thought we had seen the worst of it.”

The NCDOT Ferry Division has also revised the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter schedule and the Ocracoke-Cedar Island schedule.

The new Ocracoke-Swan Quarter schedule is as follows:

• Departing Ocracoke today at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.;

• Departing Ocracoke Sunday and Monday at 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.;

• Departing Swan Quarter today at 5 p.m.; and

• Departing Swan Quarter Sunday and Monday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The following runs on the Ocracoke-Cedar Island route have been canceled for Sunday and Monday:

• 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. departing from Ocracoke; and

• 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. departing from Cedar Island.

The following runs will take place as scheduled:

• 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. departing from Cedar Island; and

• 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. departing from Ocracoke.

Changes are dependent upon tidal conditions and will continue until N.C. 12 reopens, according to the NCDOT news release.

For more information, call 1-800-293-3779 or 511 or visit www.ncferry.org or www.ncdot.gov/traffictravel.

Pilot writer Kathy Adams contributed to this report.