Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, said today that North Carolina will receive $23 million to repair roads and bridges that were damaged in August by Hurricane Irene. [1/10/12 update: NCDOT says this figure covers money North Carolina already has received to pay for Irene repairs.]
In all, USDOT will distribute $1.58 billion to help 30 states with transportation expenses related to damage from natural disasters in 2011.
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N.C. 12, the Outer Banks highway that was severed by Hurricane Irene in late August, will reopen for traffic by Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation said today. [10/6/11 update: see today's story with reader comments.]
“The hope is we can do it before then, maybe Monday,” said Greer Beaty, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. “But everything is crazy-dependent on the weather. Weather could blow everything off."
Contractors have erected a 662-foot steel truss bridge over a wide gap in the northern end of Hatteras Island, known to locals as New New Inlet, that was blown open by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27. They are putting four inches of asphalt pavement on a washed-out section of the road just north of the village of Rodanthe.
The $10 million repair is a temporary fix for N.C. 12. Gov. Bev Perdue said state officials will develop a long-term solution to the frequent storm damage and repair costs for N.C. 12. ... [MORE]
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The hurricane-damaged Hatteras Island villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo will remain closed at least through Oct. 10 to tourists and other non-residents without re-entry passes, Dare County said today.
NCDOT hopes to finish repairing NC 12 north of Rodanthe by Oct. 15, restoring the mainland highway link for the 5,000 residents of Hatteras Island's seven villages. The four southern villages of Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras are open for tourists who can get there via ferry to the neighboring island of Ocracoke. ... [MORE]
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Dare County officials may have moved too quickly when they reopened four Hatteras Island villages to visitors this week.
The Dare County Tourism Board and the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce say the ferry system and the island infrastructure have not recovered enough from Hurricane Irene damage to handle the load. They asked county leaders to consider blocking any more visitors from getting ferry tickets to come to Hatteras. ... [MORE]
The state is allocating $1.4 million to help victims of Hurricane Irene replace any damaged appliances with new energy efficient models.
The money is a grant from the federal recovery act.
Only small businesses with 20 or fewer employees and homeowners are eligible to receive assistance.
Th damaged appliances must be recycled and replaced with an Energy Star-rated appliance.
The $1.4 million will be distributed through applications made online via the N.C. Energy Office website, on a first-come, first serve basis.
The website will indicate whether funds are still available. After all of the available funds have been reserved, a waiting list will start.
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Three weeks after tourists were evacuated in advance of Hurricane Irene, Dare County will allow visitors to start returning Thursday morning to some parts of storm-battered Hatteras Island – but only via ferry from Swan Quarter or Cedar Island to neighboring Ocracoke Island.
The seven villages of Hatteras Island have been closed because of heavy damage from Hurricane Irene, which severed N.C. 12 in several places north of Rodanthe on August 27.
Dare County and the state Ferry Division have allowed Hatteras residents and property owners to return to the island via emergency ferry service from Stumpy Point, but tourists and other visitors will not be allowed to use this service.
Starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, visitors can return to Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village by catching a ferry to the village of Ocracoke from Swan Quarter or Cedar Island, then driving to the other end of Ocracoke Island for the ferry to Hatteras.
Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo will remain closed to visitors until sometime after Sept. 29.
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Two weeks after they were evacuated in advance of Hurricane Irene, Hatteras Island property owners were told by Dare County officials today that they'll be allowed to return starting Saturday at 6 a.m.
Island residents were permitted to return last weekend. Non-resident owners of Hatteras property will be admitted if they can show a 2008/2009 red re-entry permit or a Dare County tax receipt along with a driver's license.
Access to Hatteras Island is by ferry from Stumpy Point. Tourists and other Hatteras visitors won't be allowed to return until sometime after Sept. 17.
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Ocracoke will reopen for business effective at 5 p.m. today, with tourists and other nonresidents allowed to return to the island for the first time since Hurricane Irene forced their evacuation.
Because visitors depend on ferry service from the mainland, their first chance to travel to Ocracoke won't come until Thursday morning, when the first ferries leave Swan Quarter and Cedar Island at 7 a.m. The ban will still be in effect when the last ferries leave for Ocracoke today.
“The island looks great,” Hyde County Manager Mazie Smith said. “We want people to come visit Ocracoke. We have a lot of tourist season left, and we hope they will come back and visit.” ... [MORE]
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MANNS HARBOR — The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division announces it will begin running a set schedule at its Stumpy Point emergency route beginning Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.
This route is for emergency responders and essential commodities only and is based on first-come, first-serve. A total of 7 vessels will be running on the route, the same number that is used during peak season. The crossing time to Rodanthe is 2 hours and the crossing time to Hatteras is 3.5 hours.
The Stumpy Point-Rodanthe schedule will be as follows:
* Departing Stumpy Point at 6:30 a.m., 8, 10, 10:30, 12:30 p.m., 2, 4 and 4:30; and
* Departing Rodanthe at 7 a.m., 9:30, 11, 1 p.m., 1:30; 3:30, 5 and 7:30.
The Stumpy Point-Hatteras schedule will be as follows:
* Departing Stumpy Point at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
* Departing Hatteras at 5:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Residents and property owners of Hatteras Island who have questions about reentry can call Dare County Emergency Management at 252-475-5655.
The Ferry Division will continue to run an amended Pamlico Sound schedule to take residents and emergency personnel to Ocracoke. Hyde County Emergency Management will allow only vehicles with a purple sticker or green sticker entry back onto the island, with purple stickers, emergency personnel, given priority.
Residents with a current valid driver’s license are also allowed. At this time, Hyde County is not allowing non-resident property owners or visitors onto the island. Those with questions about reentry to Ocracoke should call Hyde County Emergency Management at 252-926-4368.
The Cedar Island-Ocracoke schedule will be as follows:
* Departing Cedar Island at 7 a.m., 10, 1 p.m. and 3:30; and
* Departing Ocracoke at 7:30 a.m., 10, 1 p.m. and 3:30.
The Swan Quarter-Ocracoke schedule will be as follows:
* Departing Swan Quarter at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4:30; and
* Departing Ocracoke at 6:30 a.m., 9:30, 12:45 p.m. and 4.
Currituck-Knotts Island, Southport-Fort Fisher and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach routes are operating and are open to the public. The Cherry Branch route is experiencing some large debris obstacles in the Neuse River and may at times only run one boat and may not run after dark for safety reasons.
The Bayview-Aurora route is currently not operating due to electrical and structural problems with the ramps. The Hatteras-Ocracoke route will begin operating once sand is cleared off NC 12 from Ocracoke Village to the ferry dock.
The ferry reservations telephone line is currently out of service. Those travelers wishing to obtain a refund should wait until service is restored and a refund will be issued. Online reservations are also not being accepted.
Ferry information is available by calling 800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and pressing 1, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.
The latest county-by-county update from NCDOT shows that most roads closed by Hurricane Irene have reopened.
Dare County has, by far, the worst continuing road problems with major breaches and other blockages on N.C. 12, and a section of U.S. 264 closed on the mainland.
