Back to Normal after Hurricane Dorian

Damaged Nags Head Pier. The last 10 yards or so of the pier have disappeared.
Damaged Nags Head Pier. The last 10 yards or so of the pier have disappeared.

Hurricane Dorian is gone, thank goodness, and the cleanup is going very well. The northern Outer Banks completely opened to visitors this afternoon and hopefully Hatteras Island will follow suit in a few days.

Ocracoke, though, is going to take a while to cleanup and get ready for visitors. Initial reports seem to indicate there was record flooding from the storm surge. That much water, about 8’, does a lot of damage and the mess that has to be cleaned is time consuming and kind of yucky.

The northern Outer Banks got off pretty easily. There was some damage, but nothing catastrophic, unless of course, a tree is resting on your roof. There was, thankfully, very little of that.

There was some damage though.

Both the Avalon Pier and Nags Head Pier lost part of the pier. It appears to be about last ten yards in both cases. Avalon Pier has already said they are going to rebuild. We haven’t heard anything from Nags Head Pier yet, but it’s a really popular fishing site, so hopefully they will also be rebuilding.

Dominion Power is getting high marks for getting power restored as quickly as they have. One of their most remarkable feats has been replacing every power pole along the Causeway between Nags Head and Manteo. 

Every pole was taken out. Some were shattered like matchsticks, others leaned almost to the ground. Not count on how many poles there are, but there were a lot there.

Mostly, though, life is pretty much getting back to normal now that Hurricane Dorian has passed.

The ESAs are this coming week beginning on the 15th. Held at Jennette’s Pier, it’s the largest amateur surfing competition on the East Coast and one of the largest anywhere.

We’re back to almost normal on the Outer Banks. See for yourself how special life on a sandbar is a when you reserve your Joe Lamb, Jr. & Associates home.

Dorian Is Not a Welcome Visitor to the Outer Banks

Closeup of Hurricane Dorian’s forecast track as it passes the Outer Banks.

As visitors go, Hurricane Dorian is not the kind we like on the Outer Banks. The best we can say for him is he’s not going to hang around for very long.

Unfortunately his visit is pretty miserable.

Here on the northern Outer Banks where are Joe Lamb, Jr. & Associates homes are, we’re getting hit with some very heavy rains and some good very strong tropical storm force winds. The hourly forecasts that we’ve been reviewing indicate the worst of Dorian will be happening about midmorning until noon tomorrow.

That’s when the winds will be the strongest—50-55 mph. And that will be sustained for about four hours. Not very pleasant…actually downright unpleasant…but we should get through it just fine. 

The current prediction is for a 4-7’ storm surge along the oceanfront. That level of surge coupled with waves up to 12’ in the surf zone means there will be overwash and the Beach Road will probably be impassible for a day or so.

We could be wrong on that. In Dare County the beaches have been nourished and beach nourishment does do a very good job of protecting homes and infrastructure, but there is s limit to how much it can do.

On the northern Outer Banks we’re  doing ok, although we would certainly be doing better if Dorian was not paying us a visit.

Down on Hatteras Island, though, it looks like it’s going to be a different story.

With little deviation, the forecast track of Dorian for the past 24 hours has the eye of the hurricane clipping Hatteras Island. The latest track places the eye over Buxton tomorrow morning.

The good news—or at least what passes for good new in this situation—is that Dorian is picking up speed. The last report we had was that the storm was moving NNE at 13 knots or 15mph. The forecasts are all in good agreement that the acceleration will continue, Dorian will be here an gone relatively quickly.

We’ll have to see what emergency management says, but hopefully our visitors—the ones we son enjoy hosting—will be back on the Outer Banks next week.