OBX Alert l Outer Banks warned of high winds, flooding from new winter storm

Nov. 15-16, 2009

Day Five: The November Nor'easter
State of Emergency on Hatteras Island ... NC 12 won't reopen before late Tuesday ... Also closed on northern Ocracoke and in sections of Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk

The emergency declaration was issued Friday morning by Dare County Commissioner Mike Johnson, chairman of the county Control Group, after widespread flooding and some 250 yards of the island's only highway, NC 12, was seriously damaged by ocean overwash. The highway is closed from the Oregon Inlet bridge south through the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge to Rodanthe.

Ferry service between Hatteras village and Ocracoke has been suspended, the only connection to the mainland and the northern Outer Banks is by way of the Cedar Island ferry.

Soundside portions of Hatteras Village and Frisco were flooded and in Kill Devil and Kitty Hawk, where NC 12 is called the Beach Road, sections were closed due to high water.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) had said it expected to reopen the highway on Hatteras Island sometime late Sunday afternoon, but in view of the damage and the fact that work crews are limited to repairs during periods of low tide DOT now says the road won't be safe for travel again until "around late afternoon on Tuesday."

A special one lane through the DOT work area, available 24 hours a day, has been opened for 4-wheel drive vehicles in the Mirlo Beach area. It is for essential travel only and use is restricted to vehicles with 4-wheel drives.

Skies cleared on the weekend but many beach areas remained swamped by ocean overwash and rainwater. A coastal flood advisory remained in effect until 9 o'clock Sunday evening.

Beach cottages damaged and marooned by previous storms, such as these in South Nags Head, were further imperiled by the pounding surf. (Click all photos to enlarge.)

Ramp 72 at Ocracoke was closed due to flooding when the National Weather Service first issued its flood warning Wednesday, and the island lost power for several hours before it was restored.

Thursday afternoon the storm intensified, and a webcam showed NC 12 motorists on Hatteras Island having difficulty making it through the "S-curves" north of Rodanthe (left) as the incoming tide was overriding the dune line. Just last week, wind and heavy surf had flattened protective dunes at Mirlo Beach a bit south of here.

Less than two hours after the above photo, the road was completely inundated by ocean overwash and sand as the swollen high tide rolled in. DOT crews with bulldozers worked through the night in an effort to clear the road. Anticipating trouble, the state had stationed four crews on the island assigned to 'round the clock shifts.

Sand on the highway, what was left of it, was up to 3 feet deep just north of Rodanthe and Mirlo Beach where the heaviest damage occurred. This Island Free Press photo of the area was taken shortly after noon Saturday.

Some 700 to 800 feet of the highway were washed out or undermined, according to District 1 DOT engineer Jerry Jennings. “It’s the worst damage I’ve ever seen in this area,” he said.

Elsewhere, traffic along NC 12 in South Nags Head, what little there was in the wind and rain, was reduced to single lanes in many areas due to sand and pooling water on the road Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The already condemned South Nags Head cottage on the right collapsed into the surf Thursday afternoon and was sinking when this photo was taken. Notice the severe beach erosion in the foreground. The property drops off like a cliff. Though not as severe in other areas, erosion was a major in all beach towns.

Portions of NC 12 in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk, where it is called the Beach Road, remain blocked off. Earlier, heavy rain and high water temporarily closed sections of US 158 in Kitty Hawk at Cay Trail, Beacon Drive and West Kitty Hawk Road.

Duck Road flooded, as it often does, at the south end of town near Tuckahoe Drive and travel was reduced to one lane at times.

But for the most part NC 12 remained open throughout the storm from Southern Shores to Corolla on the Currituck Outer Banks, though further north toward Carova beach access in the four-wheel drive area was closed because of high surf.

Water rose auto hood high in some streets of Elizabeth City during the storm.

Still further inland, an elderly Mooresville man not immediately identified became the only known storm-related fatality in North Carolina. He was killed in his yard Thursday afternoon when a pine tree snapped off by strong winds fell on him.

Unlike hurricanes, they don't name nor'easters but early on forecasters called this one "wicked," and on Veterans Day as it developed Dare Emergency Management coordinator Sandy Sanderson said, “This is building up to be something we haven’t seen in a while."

Indeed it was.

For lack of an official name, the lingering nor'easter will simply be remembered as "Wicked."

Trivette appointed Judge

His wife reports that Kitty Hawk attorney Robert Trivette, a former assistant district attorney, received a phone call from the governor's office Friday afternoon informing him that Gov. Perdue has appointed him a District Court judge for the First Judicial District.

Trivette will fill the vacancy created when Judge J.C. Cole of Hertford was recently elevated to Superior Court.

"We are very excited!" Donna Trivette told friends. Her husband, she said, "will be sworn in before the end of the year" and assume his new position on the bench January 1st.

NC & VA College Football Saturday:
Appalachian State 27, Elon 10
Army 22, VMI 17
Boston College 14, Virginia 10
Campbell 17, Valparaiso 3
Clemson 43, NC State 23
Coastal Carolina 41, Presbyterian 37
Florida State 41, Wake Forest 28
Georgia Tech 49, Duke 10
Hampton 25, Florida A&M 0
James Madison 17, Massachusetts 14
Liberty 51, Gardner-Webb 28
Marist 14, Davidson 6
Norfolk State 21, Delaware State 16
North Carolina 33, Miami 24
NC Central 18, Winston-Salem 10
Old Dominion, open date
Richmond 49, Georgetown 10
Virginia Tech 36, Maryland 9
Western Carolina 24, Eastern Kentucky 7
William & Mary 20, New Hampshire 17

Sunday Nov. 15, 2009:
East Carolina at Tulsa, 8:30 pm

1st Round High School Playoffs:
(Area games were postponed; results of games played Friday)
* 1-A East Pairings:
(#16) Mattamuskeet (1-8) at (#1) Manteo (11-0)
(9) Plymouth (7-4) at (8) Jamesville (5-4)
(12) Chocowinity Southside (4-7) at (5) Williamston (9-2)
(13) Northampton-East (4-7) at (4) Wallace-Rose Hill (9-2)
(10) Columbia (5-4) at (7) North Edgecombe (6-4)
(15) Pinetown Northside (3-8) at (2) Creswell (10-0)
* 1-AA East Pairings
(13) Perquimans County (4-7) at (4) Pender County (9-1)
Pender 49, Perquimans 7
* 2-A East Pairings:
(9) Pasquotank County (7-4) at (8) Louisburg (8-3)
Louisburg 27, Pasquotank 13
(11) Newport Croatan (6-5) at (6) Tarboro (10-1)
(10) Farmville Central (6-5) at (7) Whiteville (7-3)
(15 Burlington Cummings (4-6) at (2) Kill Devil Hills First Flight (9-2)
* 3-A East Pairings:
(16) Currituck (1-10) at (1) Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (10-1)
(10) Washington (6-5) at (7) Western Alamance (8-3)
Western Alamance 21, Washington 6
(15) Jacksonville White Oak (6-5) at (2) Hertford (11-0)
* 3-AA East Pairings:
(9) Winterville South Central (8-3) at (8) Rocky Mount (6-4)

Bonner Bridge replacement behind schedule
The chief operating officer of the state Department of Transportation says replacement of old faithful with a new bridge across Oregon Inlet is six to eight weeks behind schedule. Many would say its years overdue.

Nonetheless, Jim Trogdon told a meeting of the Dare County Committee to Replace the Bonner Bridge by telephone Tuesday that construction of a new bridge is still scheduled for completion in 2014.

The Pea Island refuge manager continues to call plans to build the new bridge parallel to the current one “incompatible" with the refuge. And Trogdon said "We’ve had strong indications that the (Southern Environmental Law Center) is considering a lawsuit.”

But, he said, “We have a high level of confidence from attorneys that the approach we are taking is legally defensible.”

Better than Candy
A middle school in Goldsboro, North Carolina, didn't raise much money selling candy last year, so it began selling grades – with the endorsement of its principal.

A $20 "donation" to Rosewood Middle School would get a student 20 test points – 10 extra points on two tests of his or her choice. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D.

Principal Susie Shepherd said a parent advisory council came up with the idea, and she approved it. Were the parents of the inmates running the asylum? Seems they were for a while.

That was before Raleigh's News & Observer ran a story Wednesday. Wayne County school administrators then stepped in and ordered Ms. Susie to stop the grade-selling immediately and return any money collected. The school district said further action will be taken if deemed necessary.

It's official:
Two in, two out by just three votes
Election squeakers in Hertford and Southern Shores were almost identical
The Dare County Board of Elections on Tuesday certified last week's municipal elections, including Southern Shores write-in candidate George Kowalski's victory by only two votes over incumbent Councilman and mayor pro tem Brian McDonald.
In nearby Pasquotank County the day before, newcomer Lillian Anne Holman was certified as the winner by just one vote over veteran Hertford Councilman and town vice mayor Horace Reid.

"You always feel badly when you lose," said Reid, "but if that’s what the people want, that’s what they’ll receive." McDonald was of the same mind. "There's no point torturing people with a recount," he said, "if it won't make any difference."

Southern Shores Mayor Don Smith was a bit less contained about his landslide loss to former mayor Hal Denny. Asked by The Virginian-Pilot if he will seek office again, Smith replied, "No way! Are you kidding me, after dealing with these kind of lunatics?"

Veterans Day Aftermath
"Why not, instead of commemorating Veterans Day," asked CBS curmudgeon Andy Rooney, himself a veteran, on the CBS television program 60 Minutes, "we establish and work on what we could call a No War Day?...a day like that would be worth celebrating."

It was an echo of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, whose march through the South was one of devastation. "War is hell!" he later told a graduating military class. Yet, Rooney's voice was that of today – of a nation and much of the world weary of war and its terrible consequences.

It was also a forlorn voice. It expressed the eternal hopes and prayers of mankind for peace on earth. But mankind being what it is in its innumerable varieties, No War Day is as unlikely as every last man and woman on earth going to heaven when their last day comes.

Instead, we commemorated Veterans Day in honor of all who have served this nation and the many who have given their lives to help preserve our dedication to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
– Adapted from The Coastland Times, Nov. 10, 2009

Beach Lifestyles – a go-cart track in Corolla?
The man who has dotted Dare County with eye-catching – some say eyesore – Wings variety stores from Duck to Nags Head and Buxton plans to add his special touch to Corolla in neighboring Currituck County.

If granted a special use permit by the county, Israel Golosa intends to plant a 3.3-acre fun park in the upscale beach community that will include an arcade, a 36-hole miniature golf course and a go-kart track. Residents are excited about the idea, to say the least. A report...

Office Closed
Camden Sheriff’s Sgt. Wilton Forbes locks the door last Friday to the Sheriff’s satellite office on Main Street in South Mills.

Sheriff Tony Perry said he closed the 12 by 24 square-foot leased office because water damage, mold and odor made work impossible inside. “I could smell it,” Perry said. “It was really bad, and I knew that it was time to do something.” (Daily Advance photo)

YMCA building in Maple to cost $12 million
The center as planned will be both a Currituck County recreation facility and a YMCA that will open no later that December of 2011, according to The Daily Advance.

Currituck officials have reportedly agreed to a deal with YMCA of South Hampton Roads in which the county will construct a 50,000 square-foot building and the 'Y' will provide up to $10,000 for "design and development" in return for a 30-year lease on space for its center in Maple.

The newspaper said construction is expected to begin in December of next year and quoted the Y's chief operating officer as saying “We want to build a YMCA in the middle of Currituck that gets people to drive” from different places in the Albemarle area. For a member living in Camden but working at Currituck County airport, he said, it will be only a mile-and-a-half drive to the YMCA.

Health Care
A hospital for sea turtles
The Star-News of Wilmington reports that a construction company of that city will design and build a 14,200 square foot facility to be known as the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center at Surf City on the southern Outer Banks.

The center will include 45 rehabilitation tanks, a laboratory, a surgical suite with an X-ray and an observation deck so the public can witness the care given sea turtles such as this loggerhhead, of a species that has been on the federal endangered list since 1978.

Corolla flood control more costly than expected

Daily Reports
Avalon Fishing Pier Reports
Cape Hatteras Fishing Reports
Oregon Inlet Fishing Reports
Golf Courses, Conditions
N.C. Lottery Results

Things to See and Do:
* Thursdays: Currituck County Yoga Class, classes are held twice weekly, 5:45 - 6:30 p.m. at the Cooperative Extension Building. Call 232-3007 for more information.
* Saturday, Nov. 14: 29th Annual Kitty Hawk Turkey Shoot, 9 a.m. at The Promenade, sponsored by the Fire Department Association.
* Tuesdays: Bingo, Kill Devil Hills, at the Lions Club starting at 6:30 p.m.
* Wednesdays: Bingo, Kill Devil Hills, at the Colington Fire Department, 6:30 p.m., doors open at 5:30.