Hurricane Irene's Effect on Carolinas & New England

[Mark Sedenquist]

I looked at making a new thread, but... all of the discussion seems on-topic (same "road trip").

How did your beach house fare?

Mark

[Foy]

.......and they all profess to want to take shelter there during bad weather.

She's a circa 1948 2-story cinder block cottage with the windward (north) side cut into the back side of a major dune, so the windward side is but 1 story above ground. Low, hipped roof. Not much of a wind signature amongst the much newer and twice as tall houses on each side. Downstairs floor is some 9' above mean sea level. We're fond of saying "if we get a storm surge into the house, we're talking NOAH". The historic high was not from a hurricane, but from a nor'easter known as the Ash Wednesday Storm, back in 1962. Even then the surge was > 1.5' from getting inside. The surge from Isabel was inches below Ash Wednesday, and the November 2009 nor'easter was inches below that. Irene's storm surge was inches below Isabel and '09, but that was as measured in Norfolk, some 10 miles west/southwest, and closer to places at which the wind piles water up in estuarine creeks. We're a goodly distance from estuarine creeks.

Foy

[glc]

I looked through the official news releases and message boards, and it looks like Portsmouth had downed trees and considerable damage, but it's not wiped out. It should be accessible from Ocracoke when they get the ferry landings dredged back out and Ocracoke back open to the public. Getting from there to the Atlantic ferry is going to be a different story - the beach and dunes took big hits.

[Mark Sedenquist]

The Bunker seems well-situated. Have you been able to return to it since the storm?

Mark

[Foy]

The wife and I drove up on Sunday morning, departing at 0545 and arriving at 0915, early since we correctly assumed few traffic signals would be working and we wanted to get up there before lots of people started stirring.

We got the boards down and stowed, cleaned up the yard, joined the neighbors on the beach, spent the night, and departed at 0430 Monday morning. Power was back on when we got up at 0330. It's all good.

Foy

[Foy]

Looks like the plan involves temporary military bridges. Construction estimated to be between 14-21 days, with onset only after US Fish and Wildlife Service approves, as the land between Rodanthe and Oregon Inlet is mostly within Pea Island Nat Wildlife Refuge.

More later,

Foy

[Foy]

The NC DOT is now projecting earliest traveler/tourist access to Hatteras Island (and Ocracoke?) to be 17 September. Temporary bridge to be installed just below Oregon Inlet within Pea Island NWR and filling-in of new inlet on the north edge of Rodanthe. Projected temporary bridge completion date is "end of September".

Residents and property owners being allowed back, in stages, starting tomorrow (Sunday). The ferry ride from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe is shown to be 2.5 hours and Stumpy Point to Hatteras Village at 3.0 hours. With projected traveler access beginning 17 September, one can only assume that'll be by ferry, either from Ocracoke to Hatteras or from the new "temporary" Stumpy Point ferry landing.

More later,

Foy

[glc]

I doubt that it would be from Stumpy Point - too long a voyage to be able to handle any kind of volume.

[Foy]

I doubt that it would be from Stumpy Point - too long a voyage to be able to handle any kind of volume.

As of Saturday, 3 September, Ocracoke Island (lying in Hyde County, south of Dare County which includes Hatteras Island and the Nags Head to Duck, NC beaches), is allowing resident access only. Noted is the fact that "there is no access to Hatteras Island from Ocracoke Island at this time", and the NC DOT Ferry division updates exclude mention of the Ocracoke-Hatteras ferry.

That leaves Stumpy Point-Rodanthe and/or Stumpy Point-Hatteras Village as the only two routes on to Hatteras Island. I am not aware of any plans to re-open the ferry landing on the north side of Oregon Inlet, likely because all this does is cross the inlet to the landing at the foot of the Bonner Bridge at the north tip of Hatteras Island, miles north of the breach/new inlet at Pea Island NWR and that at Rodanthe. I am further not aware of the existence of a navigable channel for large ferries for the 10-15 miles down the Sound from the north side of Oregon Inlet to Rodanthe.

Bottom line seems to be: If Hyde County re-opens Ocracoke to travelers/tourists by the time Dare County does the same for Hatteras Island, presumably the NCDOT will bring them from the existing landings at Cedar Island and Swan Quarter, thence across the short-hop ferry to Hatteras Island. I must imagine the plan is to keep the Stumpy Point-Hatteras Village or Rodanthe emergency route running at least until the new inlets are bridged or filled, as accessing Hatteras Island from Swan Quarter is much farther from Dare Co than is Stumpy Point, and is darn near a day's drive shorter than going all the way west, south, then east to Cedar Island. The "Down East" part of Carteret County from Beaufort, through Davis, Sea Level, and Atlantic to the Cedar Island landing was on the northeast quadrant of the storm and was badly flooded and wind-damaged, to begin with.

Foy

[glc]

I think the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry will start running again when they get several feet of sand cleared off the road near the east end of Ocracoke and they get the ferry landings fixed and dredged.