RODANTHE, N.C.
Hatteras Island's only highway was reopened to all traffic Tuesday, after crews struggled for five days to keep the ocean from washing over it.
A long-term fix for N.C. 12 will be slower-going now, said state Department of Transportation division engineer Jerry Jennings.
"Basically, we're going to phase that work to accommodate traffic," he said. "We're making every effort to restore the road before the Thanksgiving holiday."
Tide permitting, the gravel lane will allow all vehicles, including trucks and non-four-wheel-drive cars, to get on and off the island 24 hours a day.
All ferries will resume normal operation today, and the emergency ferry runs between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe have been discontinued.
Gov. Beverly Perdue made a brief visit to Mirlo Beach on Tuesday morning, when she signed an emergency declaration and toured other damaged areas of the county.
The preliminary damage estimate provided by Dare County is $5.2 million - most in Nags Head, Rodanthe and Buxton - not including loss of land, costs for debris removal, or for most of the sand removal. In addition to ocean overwash, there was soundside flooding and rainfall pooling.
At least three houses were destroyed and 312 were damaged; of those, 71 are uninhabitable. Two motels in Buxton also sustained major damage.
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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Can't stop the beat
Can't stop the barrier islands from doing what they want that's how they got there in the first place.
Start planning for a bridge
North Carolina needs to start planning for a new bridge. Mother Nature intends to split Hatteras Island in two and she IS going to win out one of these times.
We are planning
The new bridge has been approved for a couple of years now. It is the enviromentalist that have closed most of the beaches here that refuse to allow the new bridge to be built.
Just cause we are on a small island doesn't mean we are dumb! The nation seems to want to protect birds & turtles more than we citizens. Species have been going extinct for millions of years, toytoa give the audebon society $4,000,000 so they can close out beaches and pretend they want to protect the birds.
You should have seen the president of the local chapter telling the DOT that they couldn't put the sand road in where the marsh USED TO BE! The guys at the DOT told him to stick it. WAY TO GO DOT!!