Observer staff report
Calling it “The Wright Brothers Day Storm” for the December 17 120th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight, NCDOT crews on the Outer banks are assessing the damage Monday morning of the storm which peaked Sunday night.
Sam Walker of WOBX, using information from a weather gauge, noted this major storm on Sunday bottomed out for the Outer Banks at 985.1 millibars at 4:30 a.m. Monday, which is close to category 1 hurricane level.
Ferries to Ocracoke are suspended and will resume when safe to do so.
The NCDOT NC 12 Facebook page noted around 7 a.m. Monday morning that crews were arriving at the two closed sections of NC12 (the north end of Ocracoke Island and between Hatteras Village and Frisco) to begin clearing and assess any damage.
The remainder of NC12 is open and passable, but there are many areas of standing rainwater and blown sand on the highway. They urged motorists, if they must drive through these sections today, to use extreme caution and slow down and give the crews room to work.
Updates on reopening the road will be posted once the assessment is complete.
A quick drive around Ocracoke Village Monday morning showed no flooding, aside from the large puddles in the usual areas, some tree debris and some signs overturned.
A spokesman for Tideland Electric Cooperative said a brief power outage occurred around 10 p.m. Sunday night on the island’s south circuit around Loop Road. He and the local crew were restoring power to the holiday lights attached to the electric poles around the village.
Monday will be sunny with a high near 60 degrees and winds will diminish to the 20s with gusts as high as 45 mph. Winds will continue to diminish throughout the day as the low pressure system moves away from the Outer Banks area. Wind gusts peaked on Sunday night, with gusts of 67 mph reported in Avon and Ocracoke, according to an update from the National Weather Service
Tuesday will see a drop in temperature with a low around 41 with winds in the mid-teens to mid-20s.
Wednesday will be sunny, with a high near 48 with north winds 11 to 14 mph.
The long-range forecast into Christmas day has no rain and seasonal temperatures from the highs of mid-50s and no freezing temperatures.
