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.
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Erosion!
For "Erosion"...why does it matter when or where the house was built. If your grandfather built a house that is now in a flood zone, why do you expect me to help pay for you rebuilding it? I choose to live outside of the flood zone. If you choose to live in one take responsibility for the damage that occurs. Do not expect my taxes to rebuild your home and your beaches. It is Mother Nature and you can not win. This will oontinue to happen.
Your way
Lets look at life in your terms...You climb a ladder at work and fall and break your back....Then you want my tax dollars to pay you disability..WHY SHOULD I DO THAT??? I didn't climb the ladder you did. Bet you dont like it from that angle, huh???
Erosion
Not all the people who lose houses in the flood waters are people with money. Some of the people have had this property in their families for generations. Look at an erosion map over the last 20 years. Many houses were not built on the beach but built far from it. The beach is getting closer to our homes, not the other way around. Many of the tourist who come here want to pay big dollars to be able to step out their door onto the beach. They want to sit on their deck and watch the sun come up over the ocean. As the house gets closer to the shore, it becomes more valuable rental property. Law of supply and demand by the american consumer dictates putting hoses closer to the shoreline. For people who build their houses in the dune line to accomplish this, I do not feel sorry, however, for people who live here, and there house is 1/2 mile closer to the shore than it was when their great grandfather built it...that is another story...perhaps you should do a little research on the island prior to venting about having to pay for the price of others.
Who should pay
Let the people who want to live there pay, not taxpayers who do not. All the risk and the rewards should be handled by the people who choose to live there. Right now, as it is, the people with homes on the beach get all the benefits but they don't shoulder all the risks. If private insurance companies aren't willing to insure structures near the ocean or in flood prone areas, why should people who choose to build on safer, more stable ground have to pay for those take such risks?
Dare County's response
Just found out Dare county has NO shelters? I have friends stranded on the other side of the bridge sleeping in their car without access to bath or shower facilities. Emergency management snidely offered that motels are open. This is from someone who is probably getting double time pay to someone who has been unable to find work for 2 months. Look how hard hit we've been with unemployment down here--almost 30% in Salvo. There is not money for food anymore and the best they offer is 'go to a motel'? As though this would not have occurred to them in the last 4 days had it been possible?? We were blithely informed that there were no Red Cross approved shelters since every school and public building are in flood zones. ? How does this prevent the county from opening a school gym themselves? We've certainly paid enough for these new campuses, they should be available to us. The counties performance through this is shameful. Hatteras Island is always at the end of the list but apparently everyone is this time. If we were all developers our welfare would surely be considered. Let's put our officials in a car for 4 days without a shower or bath an low on food, see if they think a shelter s
I get what your saying
I definitely can understand your anger with the shelter issue, but on the other side of that coin storms like this one and most that we get in this area dont appear overnight..You generally have a 3-4 day window to pack up and go! So shelter or not it is the individuals responsibility to find a safe location to go. Also the lack of shelters in the OBX area is not new news. There have never and Im willing to bet will never have any. But Im pretty sure VA Beach has at least 2!
Hatteras as two separate islands
One of these years, Hatteras Island is going to be two separate islands. Storm after storm has cut the island in two. One of these times, Mother Nature is going to have her way and it will be two islands.
You're paying!
They keep building in these places because you and I keep paying them to re-build. Federal flood insurance, that we all subsidize, will pay these and many other owners to re-build over and over in risky areas. There is no risk to them. You are paying for it. Your tax dollars at work! Doesn'tit make you feel good?
You are right
So I guess in your opinion FEMA is also a rip and well hey while were at it lets get rid of welfare, and medicaid and medicare, and hell who needs social security and disability and road maintenance and for that matter education...obviously didn't do you any good! WHO NEEDS ANY OF IT!!!
Flood Insurance & Living on the Coast
I understand the comments above but...
What about just about all of Norfolk and Portsmouth?... so much of Tidewater area is impacted, not just the beaches here on OBX... Are you going to limit building in downtown Norfolk / Portsmouth???
Mark your incorrect
Most of those homes were built many yrs ago when there were high dunes plus 100yds of beach if not more in some places! That was in the 60s and 70s. As a kid we use to be able to drive the beach from Kitty Hawk to Oregon Inlet, go across the bridge and do the same from ther to Hatteras Inlet. If you had a problem on the beach there were sometimes 500 + yds to get to the road. The houses were NEVER built that close to the water!!!!
Washed away...
I am always wondering why these folks keep building in areas where they KNOW that high winds and high waves can wash their homes away...obviously the insurance companies are not charging enough...consequently WE all have to pay insurance rates in the long run. Absolutely ridiculous!!!
FOR YOU
We rebuild for the same reasons you would rebuild if a tornado,hurricane,typhoon...you get the idea...came in and destroyed your hometown...Maybe if all these wonderful tourists that like to come down and visit but then complain about having their taxes go to rebuild our homes...would think about it that way...might clear up some of your confusion!
They build on the edge of the ocean because
They know that suckers like us are substiziding their insurance. But yet we can't even afford our own flood insurance after paying homeowners. Doesn't sound fair does it? It isn;t
The people that continually build on the edge of an ocean are usually the ones that can afford to. So you could say it's about the rich folks doing what they want and the middle class struggling folks just schlepping thru hurricanes and nor-esters and then begging the insurance companies to cover what the policy says it would.
Time to think about the environment anyhow. So it's time to stop building on the edge of the ocean. It isn't about money anymore. It's about doing the right thing.
Flood Insurance is paid
Flood Insurance is paid entirely by policyholders. You are correct on the homeowners though. It's a tough call but even in places away from the beaches there is still extensive property damage from storms. Just remember Isabel. That damage was widespread inland.
Flood insurance
All flood insurance is handled by the federal government through the insurance companies. No insurance company anymore is willing to take the full risk of places that are built in flood or storm damage prone areas anymore. That means that taxpayers are paying for people to rebuild their homes in such places. This should completely stop. If people want to live in such places, they should take over the complete risk of doing so or find private insurance companies that will.