Observer staff report
Help is on its way, but mother nature is holding Ocracoke up a little longer.
The repeated regional storms since early December have taken their toll causing not only suspended ferry service at times, but also overwash with extensive water and sand along parts of NC12 highway from Oregon Inlet through Ocracoke.
This has been especially detrimental at the north end of Ocracoke. The high winds blew away much of the dunes for a stretch of more than one mile, exposing underlying sandbags that were damaged from repeated water from the ocean causing several road closures and dangerous driving conditions, especially around high tides. Drivers should use extreme caution when water is on the road.
N.C. Department of Transportation would work on removing sand and water, only to face another storm battering the road, causing crews to suspend operations until the repeated overwash abates.
This adverse weather pattern will continue into the weekend as the NC Weather Forecast Office has issued severe weather warnings since Tuesday morning regarding a strong frontal system that will impact eastern North Carolina from Thursday into Friday, bringing the potential for thunderstorms, high winds and flooding.
The latest update issued early Thursday afternoon is the southerly wind gusts have been increased for the region from 30-40 mph to 35 to 45 mph and Gale Watches have been upgraded to Warnings and expanded to all sounds and large inland rivers.
There is a strong likelihood that ferry service will be suspended temporarily and parts of NC12 could be flooded.
Overwash on NC12 when it occurs, is worst around high tide. High tide on Ocracoke on Thursday will be 10:23 a.m. and 10:58 p.m., Friday 11:13 a.m. and 11:47 p.m.
Jamie Kritzer, NCDOT assistant director of communications, provided the following update on April 10:
“The N.C. Department of Transportation’s work originally consisted of repairing about 1,000 sandbags battered by several years’ worth of storms. But the sandbags have been quickly overrun due to this winter’s harsh weather. As a result, we have identified nearly 800 more bags in need of replacement.
“The additional material needed from the “swash zone (surf)” to fill 800 more sandbags requires us to modify our existing environmental permits and get approvals of those modified permits before we can move forward. Once we receive the permit approvals, we will then need to be sure we have decent weather before we can start replacing the sandbags.
“We hope to be able to receive the permit approvals by the end of the week, so we can begin replacing the 800 sandbags by early next week. One obstacle we could be faced with is 30+ mph winds, which are forecast for Ocracoke until early next week.
“Also, the N.C. Division of Coastal Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the N.C. Division of Water Resources and the National Park Service all must issue permit modifications in order for us to move forward.”
