Weakened hurricane cut Hatteras Island highway, pounded fishing piers.
While Hurricane Irene had weakened to a Category 1 storm by the time it reached the North Carolina shore last Saturday (Aug. 27), it proven to be a very damaging storm.
In fact, some are calling it the most-damaging Category 1 hurricane ever.
Almost a week after the storm, many are left without electricity, many with homes too damaged to live in and part of the state is still without access.
Dare County Emergency Management announced yesterday afternoon (Aug. 31) that Hatteras Island would not be open in time for the traditional tourism Labor Day Weekend.
Dare County authorities have an office set up to help transfer reservations to locations in Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, all of which fared well in the storm and were open
Full information on Dare County is available online.
Transportation to Hatteras Island by road was severed by two breaches of Highway 12. One was just north of the Mirlo Beach section of Rodanthe, while the other was immediately beside the refuge headquarters on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The breach at the wildlife refuge cut a small inlet. There also was a severe breach in Highway 12 between Ocracoke Village and the Hatteras Inlet Ferry, so that route was not immediately available.
North Carolina Department of Transportation officials have established a temporary ferry landing at Stumpy Point on the Dare County mainland, and are transporting supplies, emergency personnel and work crews to Hatteras Island. Several emergency generators are working on the island, and more have been transported.
Electrical availability is minimal, and the residents who stayed are being asked to conserve electricity to avoid overloading the system. A curfew also is in place.
Capt. Jay Cavanaugh and mate Jeremy Hicks, of the charter boat Bite Me in Hatteras Harbor Marina, said houses and boats in Hatteras Village weathered the storm surprising well.
They said they had put the outriggers and other equipment back on the Bite Me, and were ready to go fishing as soon as fishermen could be allowed back on the island.
The communities in east Carteret County were hit harder than any of the TV coverage showed.
“There was 3 to 4 feet of water in my yard in Straits, and it was worse in the communities farther east,” Capt. Noah Lynk of Noah’s Ark Charters said. “I lost a refrigerator and lawn mower and some things in my shed that got submerged, but the house was high enough it wasn’t damaged.
“As soon as the water went down and the wind slowed on Saturday afternoon, our neighborhood was out cleaning up, and everyone pitched in for a couple of days until all was done.”
The storm surge was deep enough that a large steel-hull trawler that broke its lines washed onto Highway 70 east of Stacy in eastern Carteret County. Many homes also were flooded by the unexpectedly high water.
However, Capt. Matt Lamb of Chasin’Tails Outdoors and Charters on the Atlantic Beach Causeway in Atlantic Beach said everything depended on location.
“We were fortunate that the store didn’t have any water intrusion, and (we) were back open for business on Monday as soon as access to the beach was opened,” Lamb said. “The situation at my house was different: The house fared well, but the road to it flooded and didn’t drain. That kept the electricity off even though the lines had been repaired. We couldn’t get back to the house until the town pumped the water off the road on Wednesday.”
Reports from fishing piers mixed
The Bogue Banks fishing piers took a big hit, while the Sheraton Pier in Atlantic Beach that already had been shorted from damage sustained in previous storms lost most of the remaining pier.
At this time the Sheraton Pier remained closed. A call requesting information on plans to rebuild or not, was not immediately returned.
Oceanana Pier in Atlantic Beach lost its terminal end, but was reopened early in the week. A call requesting information on plans to rebuild or not was not immediately returned.
Bogue Inlet Pier lost about 250 feet of its terminal end, but was reopened early in the week. Owner Mike Stanley said today (Sept. 1) that another section at the end of the pier, where a piling were missing, had been secured and that it would be open for fishing by Labor Day Weekend.
Stanley also said he plans to rebuild the end of the pier over the winter.
Docks, artificial reefs take pounding
Dr. Bogus of Talk Radio FM 107 in Morehead City said he walked the beach at Bogue Inlet on the west end of Emerald Isle several mornings, and reported that there were lots of boards floating by in the current. The boards had apparently broken free from the many docks along Bogue Sound during the storm.
Bogus said the boards were bristling with lots of nails, so he advised caution in any water-related activity.
In the early days of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ Artificial reef Program, old tires were strapped together to form structure for the reef. After about 20 years or so the bands break and the tires scattered about the reef. Now it seems like every storm or nor’easter more tires wash up on beached near the nearshore reefs.
This storm was no exception, as tires again washed up along Bogue Banks in Carteret County, along with Oak Island and Holden Beach in Brunswick County.
Evacuation of boats smart move
Boat owners took the threat seriously, and that saved lots of damage.
Capt. Randy Ramsey of Jarrett Bay Boatworks said they stored more than 220 boats at their Beaufort boatyard and another 41 at their boatyard in Brielle, N.J. All fared well, Ramsey said.
He also said it was hectic in Beaufort as the service department hauled and secured more than 150 boats in two days as the storm approached.
Unexpected flooding off Albermarle Sound
Communities on the Albemarle Sound, Pamlico River and Neuse River experienced severe flooding, also.
Downtown Oriental along the Neuse River, downtown Belhaven on the Pungo River just off the Pamlico River and downtown Washington on the Pamlico/Tar River reported several feet of water got into many businesses.
Capt. Tommy Rickman of Southport Angler Outfitters in Southport said his dad has a place on the Pamlico River near Aurora, and that he went there right after the storm to help clean up and repair.
“I was amazed at the damage,” Rickman said. “There are 18 houses at the end of the road where my dad’s place is, and 10 of them had serious damage. At least eight were not really livable in their current condition.
“The water came up high and destroyed everyone’s docks and got in all the sheds and lower levels. It must have been head-deep in the yards.”
Doug Leister left Morehead City and went to New Bern. Many times that would have the right move, but this time the storm pushed all the water from the sound up the rivers, and the Neuse and Trent Rivers flowed into many New Bern neighborhoods that were thought to be safe.
Some were flooded deep enough that residents had to be evacuated by boat.
Leister said he was on a tall-enough foundation to escape any flooding, but it was mid-week before the electricity was restored.
Limbs knock out power in southern portion of coast, marinas survive unscathed
Surprisingly, there was extensive tree-limb damage from Jacksonville and Camp Lejeune to the South Carolina border, but only low-level flooding and not too much wind damage because the storm was farther offshore and wasn’t pushing a huge storm surge at that point.
Power outages across southern North Carolina were widespread from limbs falling on power lines, and there were places in which it took several days to get power restored. Some places experienced so much low-level flooding that drinking-water supplies were questioned, leading to boil-before-drinking orders for water.
From the Topsail Island beaches to the South Carolina state line, the ocean fishing piers came through with minimal damage, at most. All were up and running within a couple of days, and are expected to be crowded over the Labor Day weekend.
Southern North Carolina marinas also escaped much damage. The Brunswick Islands Saltwater Classic fishing tournament scheduled for Saturday (Sept. 3) out of South Harbor Village will go on as planned.
“The host marina, South Harbor Village Marina, weathered the storm in good shape,” Terry Adkins of Bluewater Promotions said. “The weather looks good for the weekend, so the Brunswick Islands Saltwater Challenge will be held as planned.
“The Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament, scheduled for Sept. 16-17 in Atlantic Beach, will also be held as scheduled.”
One of the oddities of Hurricane Irene was how much damage the weakening storm did inland. Power outages and tree damage was common as far inland as Raleigh and Rocky Mount. Trees and power lines were toppled and leaning badly in Wilson and Greenville.
This damage delayed getting help to the coastal areas immediately, as electric service and tree removal had to be completed in the inland areas to ensure the main power lines were ready to carry power to them.
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