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Hurricane Erin is moving northeast, away from North Carolina’s coast, but flooding impacts will linger in the Outer Banks.
North Carolina Highway 12 remains closed on Thursday in the Outer Banks as crews work to remove water and sand from the roadway.
Tim Hass, Communications Officer for Division I of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, shared an update Thursday on the efforts after Hurricane Erin brought overwash to N.C. Highway 12.
“We have not seen any indication of pavement damage at this point,” he said. “However, there is still pavement that is covered with water and sand. And, until we’re able to clear that off, we won’t be able to make a final determination of as to whether there is any pavement damage or not.”
Hass said if N.C. Highway 12 has pavement damage, it will stay closed longer. It’s unclear when it will reopen.
The state Department of Transportation closed N.C. Highway 12 from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras Village on Wednesday evening. The closures are still in place due to ocean overwash and dune breaches from Hurricane Erin.
Hass shared where he saw the worst damage after surveying the Outer Banks on Thursday afternoon.
“The worst that I saw was just north of Hatteras Village, where the water came up basically halfway up the hubcap of an NCDOT truck,” Hass said.
Hass said damage was also bad at the north end of Ocracoke Island.
Dare County Manager Bobby Outten spoke after Hass on Thursday.
“We’ve got a large amount of water over the road,” Outten said. “[The] DOT has done a wonderful job getting that cleaned up, but we’ve got another high tide [Thursday night].”
Outten said county leaders expected a breach of the dunes near Hatteras Village.
“It looks like it was water and sand,” Outten said. “We are hopeful it is not the pavement because the pavement takes longer to repair to provide access.”
Outten said he was hopeful the pavement wasn’t breached.
Hass said Outer Banks crews have 13 front-end loaders, three motor graders, six bulldozers, two excavators and 19 workers. He also said the area has other resources on call.
Floodwaters, overwash and high surf conditions
Video from a Buxton resident shows floodwaters covering the streets in a Hatteras Village oceanfront neighborhood, and video near the Hatteras Inn in Buxton shows driveways covered in sand and damage to the lower level of a beach home.
A photo from Hatteras Inn showing grills buried in overwash shows just how deep the sand is.
Conditions at the Outer Banks worsened late Wednesday and overnight, when high surf pushed feet of water over some roads and pummeled vulnerable oceanfront homes and businesses.
“It was washing through all the parking lots, through motels, the houses,” said Outer Banks photographer Donny Bowers, who sent images of the flooding to WRAL News. “I saw a bunch of debris, pieces of treated wood and boardwalks, and it was washing basically from the oceanside a good 300 yards in.”
The state Department of Transportation closed N.C. Highway 12 from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras Village on Wednesday evening. The road remained closed Thursday.
“Conditions are too unsafe for people to be driving in,” the NCDOT posted. “If you come across any floodwaters, turn around, don’t drown.”
Conditions should begin to improve over the coming days.
“We’ve definitely seen the worst of it,” WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said.
On Thursday, WRAL News crews were stationed at the Oregon Inlet at the Basnight Bridge, where barricades and “road closed” signs were placed.
At 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, the NCDOT posted the following updates on N.C. 12:
- Kitty Hawk: No issues, minor blown sand, roadway is passable.
- Pea Island: Some overnight overwash and deep blown sand on roadway. Section closed.
- Buxton North End: Overwash occurred most of last night and during this morning’s tide. Sand and standing water on roadway. Section closed.
- Hatteras: Major overwash with dune breaches at yesterday high tide. Deep sand, water, and debris covering the roadway. Section closed.
- Ocracoke – Major overwash. Large sections of the protective dune are flat. Section is closed.
- Rodanthe – Significant overwash on several secondary sections.
“Crews will be out working to clear what they can,” the NCDOT posted Thursday morning. “As of now we do not have an ETA on reopening the highway.”
According to North Carolina Emergency Management, Crisis Cleanup has launched a hotline, 910-218-1569, to connect households in need of cleanup and repairs with volunteers.
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