Some Hatteras Island villages will open to visitors Thursday

HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C.

Visitors will be allowed to re-enter certain Hatteras Island villages starting Thursday morning, but they’ll have to take ferries from Cedar Island or Swan Quarter to Ocracoke Island, and then the Ocracoke-Hatteras ferry, Dare County emergency management announced Monday.

The entry is only for those headed to Avon, Buxton, Hatteras Village and Frisco.

Visitors headed to Salvo, Rodanthe and Waves will not be allowed back to those communities until sometime after Sept. 29, according to an emergency management bulletin. Visitors who had planned to head to those places in the next couple of weeks were being urged to seek accommodations elsewhere in Dare County north of Oregon Inlet. For help, contact the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau at 1-877-629-4386.

Hatteras has been largely cut off since Hurricane Irene cut through N.C. 12 in two places. While an emergency ferry route has been operating from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe, visitors will not be allowed on that route. Meanwhile, the road is undergoing emergency repairs.

The ferry from Swan Quarter or Cedar Island requires a reservation and there is a fee. Call 1-800-293-3779, or go to www.ncferry.org. Visitors should make round-trip reservations.

Meanwhile, the emergency ferry continues to serve critical personnel, insurance adjusters, vendors with essential commodities, residents and non-resident property owners only. Between 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., ferry personnel will give boarding priority to vehicles carrying essential commodities. Commercial drivers are being asked to use the overnight ferries to avoid congestion.

Recovery information is online at www.darenc.com.