ROANOKE ISLAND, N.C.—With Hurricane Erin moving farther away from his state’s shores, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein announced that all major response assets gathered and staged on the Outer Banks, including hundreds of National Guard members and rescue teams from other communities, would be demobilized.
“They were not needed, and they ... will be going home to be with their families this weekend,” he said during a press conference at the Dare County Emergency Operations Center on Aug. 22. ”So I want to thank all of our state’s hard-working public servants, all of the local officials and local first responders who have done everything they can to prepare for this storm. And let’s just count our blessings that this was not the one.”
The governor spoke to members of Dare County’s emergency management, law enforcement, and the media after touring Hatteras Island, which was hit hardest by the offshore storm.
Life-threatening surf thrown onto its beaches broke through the island’s iconic and strategically defensive wall of sand dunes, flooding the area, shutting down ferry services, and making State Road 12—the only road on and off the island—impassable.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the island, and property damage was reported, but no lives were lost, the governor said.
“We saw some businesses that took it on the chin, some homeowners experienced real damage to their property. But my goodness, North Carolina dodged a bullet with Hurricane Erin,” Stein said. “She was just a few more miles offshore, and that made the difference [between] widespread devastation and what we experienced today.”
However, authorities recognized that there was still significant recovery work to be done. North Carolina Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins joined the governor at the press conference and confirmed that State Road 12 was still closed, but teams were working around the clock to rebuild the dunes and clear the road.
“We all know that NC 12 is the interstate of Outer Banks,” he said. “It’s the life, love, life, blood of our banks, and is important to us that we help that recover to pre-storm conditions. We will continue to work on that until it’s done.”
Hopkins said that at the time of the press conference, there appeared to be no physical damage to the road itself beyond being covered by sand and water. He also confirmed that some ferry routes have resumed service.
“We’ve been able to restart the routes across the sound from Swan Quarter in Cedar Island,” he said. “Started those about noon today, and right now, we’re running that for essential personnel and residents only, and we'll open that up to others, as Howard County gives us word that we can.”
Meanwhile, all of Dare County, North Carolina, remains in a state of emergency, as well as under a coastal flood warning.
Beaches north of Hatteras Island were open, but violent waves continued to crash and foam before the beachgoers gathered on the now-narrowed stretch of sand between the waves and the dunes. Red “No Swimming” flags waved at the public access points.
