Ferry workers getting ready to load cars onto the ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras. Photo: C. Leinbach
From our news services
HATTERAS – The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry System is looking for qualified applicants to fill a variety of summer positions on its popular Hatteras-Ocracoke route.
Positions include ferry captains, engine room positions and traffic coordinators.
“We weren’t able to hold a job fair this year due to COVID restrictions, but we still need to fill positions for what will likely be a busy summer season,” said Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon.
All positions run on week-on, week-off schedules, and dormitory housing is provided during shift weeks for those who need it.
All applicants must either have a current Transportation Worker Identification (TWIC) Card or need to have applied for one.
People interested in applying for openings should contact the Ferry Division’s Human Resources Coordinator Alma Fountain at afountain@ncdot.gov.
For a wealth of information on regional weather, visit the National Weather Service out of Newport/Morehead City by clicking here
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network, or CoCoRaHS, is looking for new volunteers across North Carolina.
The grassroots effort is part of a growing national network of home-based and amateur weather spotters with a goal of providing a high-density precipitation network across the country.
Through CoCoRaHS, thousands of volunteers, young and old, document the size, intensity, duration and patterns of rain, hail, and snow by taking simple measurements in their own backyards.
The process takes only five minutes a day, but observers help the community by supplying additional useful data to scientists and others.
In Hyde County, there are four active observers: one in Scranton, one in Swan Quarter, one in Engelhard, and one on Ocracoke.
“We’d love to have eight to 10 observers on Ocracoke to really map out the spatial differences in rainfall across the island,” said David Glenn, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Newport.
In this program, volunteers report precipitation with a simple, four-inch plastic rain gauge.
CoCoRaHS came about as a result of a devastating flash flood that hit Fort Collins, Colorado, in July 1997 when a local severe thunderstorm dumped over a foot of rain in several hours.
The ensuing flood caught many by surprise and caused $200 million in damages.
CoCoRaHS was born in 1998 with the intent of doing a better job of mapping and reporting intense storms.
Photo courtesy of NASA.GOV
Recently, drought reporting has also become an important observation within the CoCoRaHS program across the nation.
North Carolina became the twenty-first state to join the CoCoRaHS program in 2007.
“CoCoRaHS observers provided valuable data for both Hurricane Florence and Dorian,” said Sean Heuser, CoCoRaHS state co-coordinator and manager of the NC ECONet at the State Climate Office of NC. “For these high intensity events, whether they are tropical systems or afternoon thunderstorms, CoCoRaHS observers are able to fill in gaps and provide a clearer picture of where we see precipitation maximums.”
Volunteers may obtain program details and receive an official rain gauge for about $33 plus shipping on the CoCoRaHS website www.cocorahs.org.
Besides the need for the official rain gauge, volunteers are asked to review simple training modules online and use the CoCoRaHS website to submit their reports.
Vaccines await arms at the Hyde County Health Department in Swan Quarter. Photo: C. Leinbach
Hyde County Health Department on Wednesday (March 10) sent out an emergency message saying any Hyde County citizen interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of which group you fall into, should call the Hyde County Health Department at 252-926-4467 to register.
By Connie Leinbach
Ocracoke is set to receive more Moderna vaccines today to inoculate islanders against the COVID-19 virus.
Mandy Cochran, the RN at the Ocracoke Health Center who’s in charge of organizing the vaccine program, has a juggling act each week doling out the vaccines.
Interrupted ferry service on the Pamlico Sound routes due to low water near Big Foot Slough has added to the scheduling difficulties.
“With the ferries, we don’t schedule (inoculations) until we have (the vaccines),” she said. Once the health center receives its allocation, the scramble begins to get them into peoples’ arms since it has five days to use them “or we jeopardize our allocation,” Cochran said.
As of today (March 9), the health center has administered 550 doses, she said, with most of them first doses.
Second doses are paired with the first doses, Cochran said. So, those who’ve had a first dose will be scheduled for their second shot 28 days later. The second dose needs to be administered on the day the person is scheduled for it, she said, and four days beyond the appointed date is the outer limit.
The health center didn’t receive any vaccines for the first three weeks of February owing to severe weather across the country, Cochran said.
The Ocracoke Health Center on Back Road is not doing in-person appointments. Photo: C. Leinbach
Fortunately, COVID-19 numbers in North Carolina and across the nation have been declining.
According to Hyde County Health Department’s report of Friday (March 5), the county has two active cases. Out of a total of 641 cases, 631 are recovered yet there have been eight deaths owing to the virus.
The Hyde number differs from that on the NC Department of Health & Human Services COVID-19 dashboard, which as of Monday says there are 94 cases on Ocracoke within the last 14 days.
Vaccine distribution is prioritized according to five phases. Currently, North Carolina is in Phase 3 for Frontline Essential Workers, mostly childcare and PreK-12 school workers.
Group 4 vaccinations for people at higher risk from COVID-19 due to underlying medical conditions will become eligible to receive a vaccine, as well as people in certain congregate-living settings, starting March 24.
Vaccines safe Cochran stressed that the vaccines are safe even though the time to develop them was relatively short in the history of vaccine making.
That’s because the scientific community had already had a foundation from having worked on other coronaviruses starting with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a viral respiratory disease caused by a SARS-associated coronavirus, first identified in 2003.
“It’s not like they just started (research) up,” she said about COVID-19. “Coronaviruses have been around. We’ve been able to build upon this. They stopped working on other viruses to work on this one.”
COVID-19 rampaging through the world is new to the group of viruses in the coronavirus group, she said.
The speed with creating this vaccine was also because certain groups, such as children under 18, were excluded from the trials, she said.
Moreover, the vaccine is not a “live” virus, as some vaccines are, she said.
“You’re only getting a piece of it,” she said.
She likened the two-dose process to a military campaign.
“The first dose is like showing the uniform of the invader to a group of soldiers so they know what the enemy looks like,” she said.
Then the second dose ramps up the defenses.
And everyone’s response is different, she said. Some people get a mild reaction; some not so mild, but the vaccine will not give you COVID-19.
Although the vaccines are not 100% effective, all COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have been shown to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19, and experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill if you do get it, according to the CDC website.
The consensus among public health officials and infectious disease experts is that vaccination is the best chance we have to end the pandemic and return to something resembling normal life. But its success depends on the willingness of eligible individuals to be vaccinated.
Cochran said islanders wanting vaccinations can register online or in-person—outside—at the health center.
On MSNBC last night, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky talked about the race to get as many vaccinated as possible to prevent the virus from mutating thus rendering the current vaccines ineffective.
While cases are declining, the pandemic is still raging.
Anyone who is having COVID-19 symptoms is urged to go to the Ocracoke Health Center and get tested. The health center has both tests, Cochran said.
Walensky and state officials continue to caution that the recent improvement in COVID-19 metrics in the state can be “fragile” and that the “Three Ws” are still imperative: Wear a face covering; Wait six feet apart; and Wash your hands frequently.
These measures have also helped prevent a host of flu cases here, Cochran said.
“Masks work,” she said.
Flu shots are available until April, she said.
The Ocracoke Health Center has a special number, 252-489-3622, for COVID testing or prescription refill requests only.
Islanders can also travel to the mainland and get vaccinated at the Hyde County Health Department. To get on the vaccination list, call 252-926-4467.
Recent Tweets by the NC Ferry Division alert the public to run cancellations.
By Connie Leinbach
Last week, the NC Ferry division modified its Pamlico Sound ferry routes due to maintenance issues and alerted the public via Twitter.
In the last few days, the Division has tweeted that some runs have been canceled due to low water in the Pamlico Sound, said Ferry Division Spokesman Tim Hass in an interview today.
Low water causes problems in the Big Foot Slough area to the west of Ocracoke.
“On Sunday, a boat bumped the bottom there,” he said.
The cancelling of certain ferries wreaks havoc with islanders’ schedules, but it keeps most ferries running so that they don’t have to wholesale cancel all of the long route runs.
“We’re hoping to make as many runs as possible,” Hass said. “It’s sort of day-to-day but it’s better than canceling all trips.”
So, islanders will have to stay tuned to Twitter to find out if runs have been canceled.
The Twitter posts come directly from the various ferry terminals and all of the ferry terminals have their own Twitter feeds.
In the meantime, Hass said the Division has been talking to the Army Corps of Engineers to get the Dredge Merritt to the Slough in a couple of weeks. Right now, it’s in the Hatteras Inlet.
The last time the Merritt dredged the Slough was in September with funding help from Carteret County.
An early morning ferry in the Pamlico Sound. Photo: C. Leinbach
A Snowy Owl on a dune at Ocracoke’s South Point Jan. 14, 2021. Photo by Peter Vankevich
To read more about the birds of Ocracoke Island, click here.
Text and Photos by Peter Vankevich
This winter, Ocracoke did not get the Arctic blast and heavy snow that affected much of the country.
The relatively mild winter was a contrast from 2014 when two major snowstorms struck the island shutting down the school for several days and blanketing the island in a white shade of winter.
Adding to the excitement of an old-fashioned winter were two Snowy Owls observed almost every day from Dec. 26, 2013, to March 8, 2014. The island became a mecca for birders who flocked to the island to see them, bringing an economic boost during a slow time of the year.
Subsequently, the memories of the Snowy Owls reached near folklore level with lots of conversations beginning with, “Do you think the Snowy Owls will return this winter?”
After several years of absence, one finally appeared. Drama and anticipation began when a Snowy Owl was sighted on Dec. 29 in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, then near the Marc Basnight Bridge at Oregon Inlet.
On Jan. 7, a Snowy Owl was photographed perched on a house in Hatteras village putting Ocracoke on alert to the possibility that it would continue moving south.
Then, on Jan. 13, Walker Garrish and Elizabeth Aiken spotted the owl.
“We walk our two dogs daily at the same location at the South Point, and Walker noticed something unusual in the dunes he sees every day,” Aiken said. “It turned out to be a Snowy Owl.”
The owl was observed for a week, last seen on Jan. 19. During that time, it alternated between perching on a dune and spending time on the South Point’s extensive salt flat.
A Snowy Owl on Ocracoke Island’s South Point salt flat. Jan. 14, 2021. Photo by Peter Vankevich
The Cape Lookout National Seashore reported that on Feb. 7 one of its biologists spotted a Snowy Owl on South Core Banks. The photo of that one looks like the owl seen on Ocracoke and farther up the Banks.
Owing to bad weather and the isolated location of the owl, it has not been seen in the Cape Lookout area since Feb. 11.
Circumpolar, Snowies nest in the Arctic tundra of the northernmost stretches of Alaska, Northern Canada and Euro Siberia. The normal wintering range is difficult to know, but it is believed some stay in the darkened Arctic. One can only imagine the challenges of covering hundreds of miles of the dark winter Arctic in search of these owls.
They are well-suited to withstand the cold. Their entire bodies including toes are covered with soft, fluffy feathers, and their feet have extra thick pads. They also have superb night vision to locate prey.
What is known is that others migrate south and winter throughout Canada and the northern areas of the United States.
Every year some migrate farther south than their normal wintering range. When that occurs in large numbers, it is called an irruption.
That winter of 2013-14 was one of the largest Snowy irruptions in a century with sightings as far south as Florida and even in Bermuda.
The cause of irruptions is complex and not fully understood. Some species may migrate farther south when their food crop is scarce.
Snowy Owl on Ocracoke Island, Jan. 14, 2021. Photo by Peter Vankevich
This year, several not normally seen northern bird species were seen in North Carolina, especially Pine Siskins. Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, Red Crossbills and Red-breasted Nuthatches have appeared at bird feeders and in parks.
Close off the Outer Banks, large numbers of Dovekies and Razorbills, normally seen in winter well out to sea and farther north, have been present.
Unlike some other bird species, in the case of Snowy Owls, according to the website Project SNOWstorm, a large collaborative research project that focuses on Snowy Owls, it is a myth that it is hunger or lack of their normal sufficient food sources that drives these owls south.
Rather, it is the opposite. The root cause is abundance of food during the summer breeding season. When high populations of lemmings, voles, ptarmigan and other Snowy prey are easily available, it leads to larger clutches of eggs and many more fledglings who are forced out of established territories and move south as the colder weather approaches.
Always a popular local news item when they appear, one gained international attention as it was seen briefly in the North Meadow ballfields area of New York City’s Central Park on Jan. 27.
The last official sighting there was in 1890, which news reports then also indicated an irruption year.
When Snowy Owls show up south of their normal range they tend to move around as the one seen on the Outer Banks has done this year.
So why did the two owls stay so long on Ocracoke back in 2014?
With the expansive salt flat and dunes then covered in snow, it looked a lot like their home court: the tundra.
Sunset on Ocracoke Island’s South Point, winter of 2014. Photo by Peter Vankevich
Peter Vankevich is the Christmas Bird Count compiler for Ocracoke and Portsmouth islands and author of the Birds of Ocracoke profiles for the Ocracoke Observer.
The NCDOT is looking to train more highway construction workers to maintain the state bridges and roads, such as Route 264 above on the way to Swan Quarter, Hyde County. Photo: C. Leinbach
To catch up on Ocracoke news and much more, click here
From our news services
Raleigh – The N.C. Department of Transportation is looking for more skilled highway construction workers and has begun new Highway Construction Trade Academies around the state. The academies aim to address the growing need for skilled labor to help safely build and maintain our state’s roads and bridges. “Our goal is to target women, minorities and other disadvantaged populations, including veterans, the disabled, and residents of our poorer Tier 1 counties where there’s a need for such training and jobs,” said Vanessa Powell, who administers the program for NCDOT’s Office of Civil Rights. “The course combines a mixture of safe classroom, virtual, hands-on and work-based learning formats.” The HCTA program is a minimum four-week, full-time training course that initially will be hosted by community-based organizations statewide. Participants will be provided training on specific jobs as well as how to conduct job searches. They will also receive supportive services such as needed emergency short-term housing, day care and transportation assistance. The first two programs are being hosted at Passage Home in Southeast Raleigh and the Opportunities Industrialization Center in Rocky Mount. Three additional academies will come online shortly in James City, Fayetteville, Charlotte and Greenville. The class includes basic construction math, written and interpersonal skills, the OSHA-10 certification, and other more advanced skills such as flagger certification. Plans call for five more HCTAs in Wilmington, Robeson County, the Triad, Asheville and Morganton. Each will be longer eight-week programs. As with all such HCTAs, the two Western North Carolina sites will be located in a major highway construction project area, namely I-26 in that instance. It is projected that a workforce shortage of 60 %, or 500,000 skilled highway construction workers, will exist over the next decade across the United States. The trend for North Carolina is similar, partly due to retirements of an aging industry labor force. A non-traditional labor supply is part of the answer for this essential sector.
Applications for the program will be available at each site as they continue to open around the state. The program is being funded by the Federal Highway Administration.
Ocracoke has had a quiet winter, Jason Daniels, captain of the Ocracoke Hyde County deputy sheriffs, reports.
Daniels recently gave a talk about island life to the Christian Aid Ministries volunteers who have been on the island since the fall helping to build and rebuild island homes destroyed by Hurricane Dorian.
“They had some very good questions,” Daniels said.
He also spent some time helping an islander regain his driver’s license by traveling to Washington, Beaufort County, with the man.
“I like helping people,” he said. “We’re about helping people.”
Daniels said he hopes to add a fifth deputy soon.
Daniels reported the following infractions from Dec. 1 to Feb. 15: one DWI; two damages to property; and one minor vehicle crash with no injuries.
The Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department reported the following calls during the same period: two medical responders; one medevac; and two alarms for general assistance—one for a fuel spill at the gas station and one to help an individual who had fallen out of his boat at the NPS boat ramp.
Raleigh—Gov. Roy Cooper today issued an executive order that will establish flexible work search requirements to help bridge the employment gap during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive Order 200 establishes a flexible work search requirement for all new claimants who apply for unemployment benefits on or after March 14.
With the recent end of the Extended Benefits program for state unemployment under federal law, this step will ensure that out-of-work North Carolinians can access job seeking assistance available through NCWorks and other state-sponsored job search programs.
The order directs the Department of Commerce to interpret work search laws flexibly to account for burdens posed by COVID-19 that could affect a job seeker’s ability to satisfy search requirements. The department is also directed to establish a broad set of reemployment activities that qualify for a claimant’s job search.
“More jobs are being created as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, and people who are out of work need help getting them,” Cooper said.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, more than $10 billion in unemployment benefits has been disbursed to North Carolinians through multiple state and federal benefit programs, despite the state providing among the fewest weeks of state benefits in the country.
In his COVID-19 relief budget announced in February, Cooper proposed expanding state unemployment benefits, which are still among the lowest in the country. Since the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance is high and the ongoing need of North Carolinians out of work due to the pandemic is so great, he proposed that the maximum duration of benefits be increased to 26 weeks and the maximum benefit be increased from $350 to $500 per week.
For assistance searching for work in North Carolina, job seekers can contact NCWorks for remote services at NCWorks.gov or call 1-855-NCWORKS.
North Carolina expects to receive 80,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s (Janssen) vaccine beginning on Wednesday, the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services announced today.
Photo by Shutterstock.
The federal government on Saturday authorized the one-shot vaccine.
“A third COVID-19 vaccine means North Carolina can get more people vaccinated sooner, which will save lives and slow the spread,” said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy K. Cohen.
Like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines currently in use, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine protects against virus-related hospitalization and death, according to a press release issued today.
There are possible temporary reactions, such as a sore arm, fever, headache or feeling tired and achy for a day or two. All of the COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized were built upon decades of previous work on similar vaccines.
This increased supply will help to ensure the equitable distribution and access to COVID-19 vaccines in every community in the state, the release said.
This vaccine does not require extreme cold storage. As a result, it can be more easily shipped, stored and administered, factors that will help to increase the number of vaccination sites and make them more accessible.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners will hold their monthly meeting tonight (March 1) in the government services center in Swan Quarter and online for the public starting at 6 p.m.
Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, public attendance at Hyde County Board of Commissioners Meetings will be provided electronically. The meeting will be available to watch via Facebook Live or listen to via a phone dial-in for those without reliable internet access. Video of the meeting will also be posted to its website, http://www.hydecountync.gov as soon as possible following the meeting.
The commissioners are accepting public comments for all meetings and hearings via a web submission at https://forms.gle/qWzxU8EXfaQDahWp6 or by leaving a voicemail at 252-926-5288. Submissions must be received at least one hour prior to the start of the meeting for the first public comment period. Submissions submitted after that and prior to the second public comment period will be read or played during the second public comment period. Comments on Facebook are not considered public comments for the meeting as they are not always monitored.
The live stream will begin when the meeting is called to order. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view the live stream. Viewers can access the county’s Facebook page by going to the following website https://www.facebook.com/HydeCountyNC.
To use the dial-in option, call 605-562-0400 or 717-275-8940, enter the following access code 882 1001, and press #. These are not toll-free numbers but you are typically not charged for long-distance when using a cellular phone.
The agenda is below and background information is available on the Hyde County website here.
