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Storm Aftermath in Kitty Hawk (11/1/12)
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| Memories of Tuesday when traffic from Rt. 158 was re-routed through our parking lot to avoid a flooded roadway |
Its Thursday morning here in Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks, and the rumble of heavy machinery and the beeps of those machines as they shift to reverse are constant in the area. The N.C. Dept. of Transportation has responded to the effects of Hurricane Sandy with unprecedented manpower and machinery to clear the area of the storm.
A survey of Kitty Hawk today shows more than 50 Dept. of Transportation vehicles working in various parts of the town. From tractors with pumping mechanisms on the back to graders, to front end loaders, to dump trucks the familiar yellow vehicles are all working from sunrise to sunset to get the roads clear, repaired, and dry.
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| Lindberg Street in Kitty Hawk at the 4 Milepost |
Between the highways in Kitty Hawk there are literally millions of gallons of seawater still in place. As I went to check a house on the Beach Road on Wednesday afternoon in my surf fishing chest waders the water level on Lindberg Avenue was above waist level on the entire stretch of road from the 2 mile post to the 4 mile post. Water depths exceeded 48″ in some areas I walked through.
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| Waist deep water between the roads in Kitty Hawk |
This picture below of the Byrd Street beach access just south of the Hilton Garden Inn gives a great indication of how much sand was moved off of the beach and onto the beach road. There is a port-a-john to the right side of the picture with sand surrounding it to the depth of 3 1/2 feet. There is a parking lot under all of the sand that is directly in front of this photograph.
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| Byrd Street Access in Kitty Hawk buried under tons of sand |
Here is a picture of the beach road looking south from just north of Byrd street in Kitty Hawk. Still lots of cleanup to do, but it can’t be done until all of the water gets pumped out of this area.
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| Standing to the side of what would be the beach road looking south |
Unfortunately the Rundown Cafe is right in the midst of the heavily flooded area and is going to have a great deal of storm water damage from Hurricane Sandy. As you can see by the picture below Rundown cafe is surrounded by water and some is standing inside the restaurant.
Reports from Hatteras Island are that the Bonner Bridge and New Inlet Bridge will require some repair that will prevent safe use. An emergency ferry service has been put in place between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe and is running at this time. Residents and service vehicles are all that are permitted on the ferry today, but visitors will be welcomed on the ferry as of Friday morning. The ferry is running from 5 AM through 9:30 PM daily and the route takes approximately 2 1/2 hours to navigate.
Roads are all passable on Hatteras Island from Rodanthe to Hatteras Village. The only problems with Rt. 12 are north of Rodanthe with breaches in the roadway just north of the village of Rodanthe, just south of the New Inlet Bridge, and of course the repairs that need to be made at the Oregon Inlet Bridge. Department of Transportation officials reported that they expect the roadway to be closed from Oregon Inlet to Rodanthe until just before Thanksgiving.
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| Kitty Hawk beach looking south |
The beaches on the Outer Banks are scarred, but beautiful today as the sun is shining brightly and the seas are nearly calm. The only sign of a storm is the scraping effect the ocean had on the dunes as seen in the picture to the left. This picture, taken at Milepost 4 on the beach looking south shows the “Pelican’s Perch” beach house sitting in the tide line now.
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| Starfish are everywhere on the OBX! |
Finally, one other benefit or bonus from the storm has been the epic “shelling” that is available to beach walkers over the last few days. Thousands of starfish have washed ashore along with sand dollars, perfect conch shells and other treasures for the savvy beach walker.
