Hey does anyone know if I would be able to drive down to Rodanthe or Frisco right now if I wanted? I know the road got blown out in a few spots, just didn't know what the status of repairs was or how driveable it was if not, so if someone on the OBX can let me know that'd be great. Probably going to just charge VB weds. and thurs. but I'd like to know my options in regards to heading south if I decide.
As far as I have heard. 12 is closed to visitors. Only property owners and insurance ajusters are allowed to go on the island. Until the theisland sept 17th so far, which could be subject to change.
since i'm curious, let me google that for you. might be a while pic is from this gallery. with all due respect to those who lost all...wow, check out the surf in the original versions Updates & visitor ferry info here: http://twitter.com/#!/ncdot_nc12 http://www.ncdot.gov/travel/nc12recovery/
Only a 2.5 - 3 hour ferry ride will take you down that way. The end of the month or the first of October is when they think it MIGHT be open. Check out www.outerbanksvoice.com to stay updated with it. To be honest though, with the swell forecast for the next few days I don't think it's going to matter if you could get down there or not...it's going to be large and in charge up and down the coast.
Frisco and Rodanthe are closed to all non residents. the farthest you can go is like as soon as you get off the Bonner bridge. pretty much as soon as you get off it there are armed guards and tents. almost like a zombie apocalypse.
Why don't you guys go down there and help cleanup before you worry about invading their beach again, just saying.
You can check the progress here: http://www.ncdot.org/travel/nc12recovery/ Sounds like the two temporary bridges they are building will be done in early Oct.
To be fair, it's really all of ours beach and no ones. In 1962 when the ash wednesday storm pulverized the outer banks there were only a few hundred or so familes on the whole island. The whole island was like pea island except for the few houses that were tucked back into the trees and hardly visible anyway. Even in the 80's it was nothing like it is today, but by the late 90's it had mostly become the vacation island it is today. So very few people have historically lived there as permanent residents. Even fewer did before the tourism had started, which is pretty ironic if you think about how bad the locals say the tourism traffic is in the summer (it's treacherous, but they chose to live there.) Very few people there have "ancient bloodlines" connected to the outer banks. The only ones that do are the fishermen. Most of the build-up that has occurred there since (and in complete ignorance to the damage done by the ash wednesday storm might I add) has almost entirely been funded by families North of there. Primarily the money has come from affluent families in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The OBX is truly a no mans land. Sure it's beautiful and quaint down there in the summer, and most of the winter. But it shouldn't be a permanent settlement like it has become and we will eventually see why that is. If a big storm like Katia, or Katrina, hit the obx and all those people that didn't leave for Irene stayed again... there would be thousands dead. It's like the 'locals' don't know the history of their 'own' island. I hope the big storm doesn't happen in my life time but odds are a big one will hit and do more damage than most want to believe.
I have a 1961 US Dept. of the Interior pamphlet on the national seashore. To quote 'by an act of congress August 17, 1937, authorized this national seashore area and excluded eight villages from the federal area and left sizable expansion room around each to permit their independent growth as tourist centers.'
Sobering assessment Glassjaw. Unfortunately, if you utilize these and the fact that the OBX are migrating islands as evidence for limited residencial development, you are labeled some greenwing liberal nutjob who is antijobs and antiamerica. Often those accusations come from these "locals" who set up their monstrosity of a house on the oceanside instead of doing what the real locals do on the protected soundside.
the ash wednesday storm was an ocean event from a nor'easter. nags head/kdh/kitty hawk took the brunt of it. the hurricane irene flooding was a wind driven sound water event. there was very little damage to buildings from the wind. some of the old timers in the tri-villages were the worst hit as they haven't seen flooding like this since the 1940's and were living in older houses built low to the ground.
that NC 12 recovery site is pretty cool. I like the before/after scroll/wipe pictures. Does anyone know if they plan to fill the Pea Island "breach" (new inlet)? I know that temporarily there will be a bridge, but just wondering what the long term plan is.
Nevermind... Just clicked through to some more pics of them filling it in. Wonder how that'll hold under Katia swell? (they may get to redo some work)
I do have historic bloodlines going back about 350 years. They even named a city after my family. You are right about where the money comes from, and they don't care how much devastation happens as long as the profits keep rolling in and they can hang out for a week or so every summer. I OCMD is so much nicer, you should check the surf there.
Why go? If your hell bent on getting there you could take a ferry from Southport or Cedar Island to Ocracoke and then Hatteras. But if your not a resident, a home owner or a volunteer there's not much reason to tie up avenues of transportation for those or are.
you can go to ocracoke but only residents and then out of town property owners will be allowed back in the first wave of people coming from ocracoke to hatteras village.
