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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 Johnston County landfill at 680 County Home Road in Smithfield will accept vegetative debris related to Hurricane Irene from residential customers at no charge,  today through Sept. 10. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. through 4:45 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.

For more information, contact the Solid Waste Division at 919-989-4750.

Here's the latest update from Progress Energy on the power outages caused by Hurricane Irene, as of 9 a.m. Monday. At the bottom are some contact information, resources and safety pointers for consumers.

Progress Energy expects to restore power to about 95 percent of customers impacted by Hurricane Irene by midnight Tuesday, the Raleigh company said in a release.

Some customers in the hardest hit areas --including Zebulon, Selma, Spring Hope, New Bern, Jacksonville, Morehead City and Kinston -- could not see final repairs completed until Thursday.

Progress crews have restored service to about 330,000 customers since the storm first arrived on the North Carolina coast Friday.

About 120,600 customers remained without power as of 8 p.m. Sunday night. The largest number of outages were in the following counties: Craven, Carteret, Wayne, Nash, Onslow, Lenoir, New Hanover and Franklin.

At the peak, a total of 280,000 Progress customers were without power Saturday afternoon.

During the storm, 14 transmission lines and 22 substations were damaged, Progress reported.

About 98,000 Progress Energy customers are without power in North Carolina as of 7 a.m. today (Monday). That's down from a peak of 280,000 at 2 p.m. Saturday.

To address the numerous inquiries involving road closures and to prevent an overload of inquiries into 911 communication centers, it is requested that people seeking the status of roads closures dial 511 or go to www.ncdot.gov/travel.

The Red Cross has closed some of the evacuation shelters it opened Friday for Hurricane Irene.  All residents staying at these shelters have safely returned to their homes. Here's an update.

The Johnston County Building Inspections Department will be open Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. for residents who have storm damage that requires a permit for electrical reconnections.

The department is at the Johnston County Land Use Center at 309 East Market Street in Smithfield. The main entrance is at the rear of the building.

If you have questions during those hours Sunday, or between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, contact the department at (919) 989-5060.

This photo from Sandra Poly in Cary makes this a good time to remind everyone: Do not touch a downed power line, or even approach it. More details:

The Homestead Aquatic Center in Chapel Hill will open at 1 p.m. today (Saturday) after a morning closure due to a power failure.