Non-resident property owners may soon return to Hatteras

Nonresident property owners will be allowed back on Hatteras Island beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Hatteras Island residents were allowed to return home Monday, more than a week after Hurricane Irene made landfall.

All nonresident property owners will be required to show a 2008/2009 red re-entry permit or a Dare County tax receipt with a driver's license, a county news release said. Copies of tax receipts are available in the public information files section of the county website at www.darenc.com.

To help accommodate the expected traffic, the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division is offering 24-hour emergency ferry service. Between 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., vehicles carrying essential commodities will be given boarding priority. Commercial vehicles are urged to use the overnight ferry trips to avoid traffic congestion with residents.

Visitors still are not permitted on Hatteras Island, but re-entry is expected, perhaps after Sept. 17.