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Due to the high winds, all ferry departures from Ocracoke, Cedar Island and Swan Quarter have been canceled until further notice due to severe wind conditions.
For more information call: 252-928-5311, 252-225-7411, or 252-926-6021
For more on this storm system, click here
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are expected to receive impacts from a coastal storm starting this evening through Monday.
Here are some additional information and tips:
The National Weather Service (NWS) is predicting moderate to significant coastal flooding and strong winds along the Outer Banks.
Sound side flooding most likely will occur Friday evening into early Saturday and ocean side flooding most likely Saturday through Monday.
Strong wind gusts, prolonged periods of dangerous seas and significant beach erosion, are all possible.
The NWS website has more: www.weather.gov/mhx
N.C. Highway 12 on Hatteras Island will likely become flooded and impassable around times of high tide due to ocean over wash and erosion. Travelers should monitor the N.C. Ferry Division website and Twitter for potential ferry cancellations.
National Park Service facilities and services, including off-road vehicle (ORV) routes at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, are not expected to close during the potential storm.
Beach-goers should use extreme caution during both high and low tide conditions.
Potentially dangerous ocean debris may wash ashore and buried items may be exposed during this weather event.
For current weather-related information, listen to NOAA weather radio, local radio, and media for updates and advisories.
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The National Weather Service is reporting that a coastal storm bringing gale force winds is expected to stall off the Mid-Atlantic coast over the weekend, bringing elevated to significant impacts along the Outer Banks.
Thursday will bring up to a half-inch of rain, but it is the winds that will increase beginning Thursday evening and will remain elevated until Sunday that could cause coastal flooding, tumultuous seas and significant erosion.
The N.C. Ferry Division, already plagued by multiple cancellations of the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island to Ocracoke runs due to low water and shoaling, indicated that this system could cause further disruptions to service that could include the Ocracoke Hatteras runs into Sunday.
Warnings suggest areas along Highway 12 in Dare County may become impassable, especially during periods of high tide. In addition, scattered power outages are possible.
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By Peter Vankevich
The deadline for getting on the Hyde County 2018 election ballot ended today at noon.
Conspicuously absent were two long-time county commissioners, Dick Tunnell, Swan Quarter Township, and Vice Chairman Barry Swindell, Currituck Township. They were the only two commissioners of the five members that were up for re-election.
In Tunnel’s place, two candidates have filed for Swan Quarter. The are Joseph (Joey) Williams and James (“Little Brother”) Topping. Only Ken Collier filed as a candidate for Currituck Township.
Angela (Angie) Todd, current Ocracoke director on the county’s Board of Education, will be on the ballot.
The Ocracoke Sanitary District has three seats up for election. Current board directors William Caswell, Ronnie O’Neal and Flavia Burton have filed for re-election.
Hyde County Sheriff Guire Cahoon will seek a second term. He is the only candidate listed.
Unaffiliated candidates running by petition must have their petitions turned in to the Board of Elections office by noon on the day of the primary, Tuesday, May 8.
The Observer will have more to report later with comments from the candidates.
The Ocracoke School PTA Variety Show, at 6 p.m. Friday (March 2) in the school gym, will once again showcase the talents of island youth. Admission is $5.
Students, ages pre-K to high school, will sing, dance, and play guitar, ukulele and keyboards.
Last year, high school junior, Corey Yeatts, wowed the audience with a virtuoso guitar performance of “For the Love of God,” by Steve Vai, as did Maren Donlon with her vocals.
Last year, the PTA revived the variety show after several years of dormancy. Admission proceeds benefit the PTA.
Wednesday (Feb. 28) at noon is the deadline to file with the Hyde County Elections Office for this year’s elections.
The list of candidates that have filed so far is below, and Viola Williams, Hyde County Board of Elections director, said she has paperwork for one more candidate not on the list. Missing from the list are two incumbent Hyde County commissioners, Dick Tunnell, Swan Quarter Township, and Barry Swindell, Currituck Township.
So far, Swan Quarter Township has two candidates, Joseph (Joey) Williams and James (Little Brother) Topping. Ken Collier is the sole candidate for Currituck Township.
Angela (Angie) Todd, current Ocracoke member of the Board of Education has filed.
For the Ocracoke Sanitary District, which has three open seats, only William Caswell has filed.
On Jan. 4, 2018, the U.S. Dept. of Interior announced plans to open waters off of North Carolina and other Atlantic Coast states to offshore oil and gas exploration and development.
The state is under a 60-day public comment period on the Draft Proposed Program. The comment period ends on March 9. After the 60-day comment period, there will be a 90-day public comment period on the proposed program and draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).
Finally, there will be a 60-day period for the President and Congress to review and approve the final program and draft a decision. See a more detailed graphic on the process and its timeline.
Hyde County hosted a public comment meeting with the Secretary of the NC Department of Environmental Quality, Michael Regan, on Feb. 20.
It will hold another public comment meeting on March 5 at 5 p.m. before the monthly Board of Commissioners meeting. This will be held at the Hyde County Government Center and the Ocracoke Community Center.
Citizens can also submit comments online or via mail/hand deliver to the Bureau of Ocean Management.
Bridge dedications can at times be mundane, with the usual dry speeches, a ribbon cutting or sign unveiling and a photo opportunity.
But that was not the case Tuesday on Hatteras Island, as the dedication of the Capt. Richard Etheridge Bridge was not only educational, it was inspirational, and at times emotional, for those in attendance.
Local and state officials gathered before a standing-room-only crowd in the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Building to speak about the significance of the concrete bridge over the breach of Pea Island by Hurricane Irene in 2011.
And they remarked on the even more significant namesake of the span–the first African-American keeper of a U.S. Life-Saving Service station more than a century ago. Etheridge was born a slave in 1842 and served in the Civil War for the Union Army at a key battle outside Richmond.
He then returned home to Dare County and eventually ascended to keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, crewed by an all African-American unit that was credited with saving countless lives, that once stood not far from the bridge that now carries his name.
“It’s fitting that, even though it’s been more than a century since his most heroic moment, Capt. Richard Etheridge will continue to play a role in keeping people safe along this stretch of coastline,” said N.C. Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon.
The U.S. Coast Guard posthumously awarded Etheridge and his crew the Gold Lifesaving Medal for the heroic rescue of those on board the E.S. Newman during a hurricane in 1896. A Coast Guard cutter is also named in Etheridge’s honor.
The Pea Island Preservation Society presented their “Freedmen, Surfmen and Heroes,” which has been performed for Dare County school students and other groups chronicling Etheridge’s life story.
Part of the presentation retold the story of the Newman rescue, and interpreters James Charlet and Linda Malloy brought the story of the heroic efforts of Etheridge and the surfmen in his charge to life.
The bridge, formerly known as the Pea Island Interim Bridge, was completed last year to replace a temporary metal bridge built and open to traffic just six weeks after Hurricane Irene’s sound side storm surge sliced through Pea Island.
The Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound were connected by a 200-yard-wide, 6- to 8-foot deep channel one month later, but the cut has since naturally healed itself, just like New Inlet did decades ago just to the south.
“Thank you to the family members for lending us that name,” said Dare County Manager Bobby Outten. “And thank you, NCDOT, for putting that bridge in for us.”
Efforts to name the bridge for Etheridge were first spearheaded by former state transportation board member Malcolm Fearing of Manteo, then got a huge boost from a group of Kitty Hawk elementary school students who embarked on a letter-writing campaign.
“I can’t think of a more appropriate way to honor Black History Month than to name this bridge the Capt. Richard Etheridge Bridge,” said Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert Woodard. “I hope every Outer Banks resident that crosses this bridge thinks about his legacy and shares his story with everyone in their vehicle.”
Feb. 25, 2018
The Ocracoke Observer received 13 awards Thursday night at the annual North Carolina Press Assn. awards banquet in Raleigh. Topping the list was third place in General Excellence for its website. More than 400 in the newspaper business statewide attended.
The Observer competed in the Online newspaper division and was one of eight online newspapers that won awards. The winning stories were published from October 2016 to September 2017.
Because the Observer’s prints from March to December, its NCPA membership is in the Online division.
Online papers the Carolina Public Press placed first, and the Charlotte Agenda captured second.
Observer co-publisher and Editor Connie Leinbach received three first place awards:
Sports Feature writing for “Ocracoke basketball star Sydney Austin captures state title in new sport,”
Best Lede for “Painter Douglas Hoover captures island moments in time; new works in Down Creek Gallery Wednesday.” (“Lede” is newspaper jargon for the first sentence in a story.)
And for Feature Photography for “Cloud spotting on Ocracoke Island, or…. ‘Excuse me. Your umbrella is in front of my cloud!’
Co-publisher Peter Vankevich won second place in Spot Photography for his photo of an Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department volunteer in the story “Fire guts Ocracoke home,” and third place in Spot Photography for “Spotted on Ocracoke: A Great Horned Owl.”
He also won third place in Arts and Entertainment on the feature for “Heard on Ocracoke: Lipbone Redding.”
Leinbach received second-place honors in Online Breaking News coverage for her stories last July and August on Ocracoke’s power outage; in Arts and Entertainment reporting for “What’s a dingbatter? New Ocracoke Alive show at Deepwater Theater explains all,” and for Best Lede for “Billfish get a life in Trixie’s Fineries.”
She captured third place in Feature Writing for “Young birders join in local Christmas Bird Counts,” and third place in News Feature Writing for “International friendship and water blend in 75th British Cemetery Ceremony.”
In the Editorial Writing category, Vankevich and Leinbach received third place for “So, what’s it like on Ocracoke in the winter?”
The conference featured workshops and speakers, including North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein and Tim Moore, General Assembly Speaker of the House.
More than 100 news organizations submitted over 3,000 entries in the yearly contest that encompasses the smallest to the largest newspapers across the state.
Last year, in its first year of contest eligibility, the Ocracoke Observer received six editorial awards, including two first places.
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MANNS HARBOR – Due to shoaling issues and low water depths in Big Foot Slough, the North Carolina Ferry System is temporarily implementing size and weight limits on vehicles using the Cedar Island to Ocracoke and Swan Quarter to Ocracoke routes.
Effective immediately, no vehicles over 40 feet will be allowed on the Pamlico Sound routes, and each departure will carry no more than 25 vehicles. The restrictions will remain in place until the Army Corps of Engineers can complete a dredging operation in the channel.
“The safety of our passengers and crew is always our top priority,” said Ferry Division Director Harold Thomas. “We hate to impose these restrictions, but it’s the only way we can continue to operate the Pamlico Sound routes safely until channel conditions improve.”
The dredging operations are expected to be complete in one to two weeks.
