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By Mike Baker
RODANTHE, N.C.
Coastal residents and vacationers shrugged off the fading effects of Hurricane Earl and got ready to enjoy Labor Day weekend Saturday as officials reopened the main highway linking the Outer Banks to the mainland.
Hundreds of cars packed onto the Bonner Bridge as N.C. 12 reopened around 7 a.m. The traffic also was slow because some pools of water remained on the road.
The highway had been closed since overnight Thursday when water and sand blown by Earl blocked the route. Workers had to use bulldozers to help clear it and had to wait for some of the water to drain.
The closure meant people who did not leave Hatteras Island and its seven villages before the storm were cut off from the mainland. While some homes flooded because of the storm, no injuries or major damage were reported.
Most traffic Saturday morning headed south onto the island, as visitors made their way in to enjoy the final weekend of the summer vacation season.
Wayne Hammond, a 47-year-old mechanic from Baltimore, said he was initially supposed to vacation with his family for a week starting Thursday.
After the storm passed Friday, he and his family began their trip south, staying in Kitty Hawk that night and then getting to Hatteras Island shortly after authorities reopened the highway.
"There's always better weather after a hurricane," Hammond noted.
Benjamin Voyles tried to make it down to the island village of Buxton on Friday after the storm had passed, hoping to begin a Labor Day weekend fishing getaway. When officials kept the road closed, he and a friend stayed in a Nags Head hotel. They then made the drive down the Outer Banks shortly after authorities reopened the bridge.
Ferry service from the mainland to Ocracoke Island and from Ocracoke Island to Hatteras Island also resumed Saturday morning.
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Speaking of Hatteras Island....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_mFzqchC_8
Please take a few minutes to watch this...
Dare's disregard
They definitely betrayed us here on Hatteras. Whose brilliant decision was it to not stagger re entry to Hatteras and Ocracoke?? Our cleaners could not get here to ready houses, our store employees were stuck behind all the visitors, our supplies had not been delivered. We know how to get things done quickly, all we needed was a 5pm or even a 3pm full reopen with aforementioned residents and employees allowed on at 7. As it was, the ferries were not even allowed time to return before hundreds had lined up to wait, rentals were still boarded, some in need of extraction, pools full of debris and pool furniture as we wait for our people an goods to be able to get through with the masses.
So the decision was to make as many people p’d off and unhappy as possible??
These folks could have spent money while they waited in Nags Head as your story mentions and allowed us to ready their vacation for them.
Ludicrous quote:
Allen Burrus of Hatteras village, vice-chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, said that “Hatteras Island will remain closed until everything was back under control. Isabel taught us that lesson.”
Sir, you are full of crap.