There is Popular T-shirts On Hatteras Island along the Outer Banks in North Carolina, “there is one road. Sometimes there is one road” – enjoying a constant battle with Mother Nature and the thin-paved ribbon that connects the narrow barrier islands of the world.
Mother Nature will probably win this week. Hurricane Erin It is expected to stay hundreds of miles offshore, but it is still sending waves crashing over 20 feet (6 meters) of waves over the island’s vulnerable dunes.
The small ribbon on the highway called, so even without a hurricane warning, authorities ordered evacuation of Hatteras Island and the Ocracoke Islands NC 12 Perhaps torn and wash away in some places, sequestering the village for days or weeks.
Around 3,500 outside bankers living there have previously handled the quarantine. However, most of the tens of thousands of vacationers are not the case.
“We haven’t seen waves of that size in a while, but the vulnerable spots have become weaker over the past five years,” said Reed Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Institute, a group of several universities that study outer banks.
The outer bank is defined by water
In a fundamental sense, they are sand dunes high enough to exceed ocean levels when many of the Earth’s glaciers melted 20,000 years ago.
Barrier Island In some locations it ranges from 30 miles (48 kilometers) from mainland North Carolina. To the east is the vast Atlantic Ocean. To the west is the sound of Pamlico.
“Water, water everywhere. It really resonates with the outer bank,” Corbett said.
The most constructed and populated portion of the Outer Bank is north around the head of Nags and kills Devil Hills, not under evacuation orders. To the south of Oregon’s inlet washed away by the 1846 hurricane is Hatteras Island, and its only connection to the mainland is NC 12. South there is Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by boat or plane.
The first highway to arrive in the area was built over 60 years ago. And the Outer Banks began to boom as vacation homes dotted with 6,000 square feet (550 square meters) of the floor from the quaint fishing village to the present strip fishing village.
It’s difficult to maintain the highway
For a good day, what looks like a snow blower or street vacuum cleaner brush waits for the side of the NC 12, scooping and sweeping away the constantly blowing sand.
when A storm is comingsounds are heard as they pass through the sea or through the dunes, washing large amounts of sand and debris on the road. In more extreme cases, the storm can even split the pavement or create new inlets that require temporary bridges.
NC Department of Transport spent more than $1 million a year on regular maintenance Leave NC 12 open During the 2010s. It also spent about $50 million over ten years repairs after the storm.
But Dare County, which includes most banks in the state, brings $2 billion in tourism revenue per year. Therefore, the cleanup and repair cycle continues.
Repairs take time. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 both reduced the entrance to Hatteras Island, and the ferry required two months. After more routine Nor’easterrs, it may still take a few days to resume NC 12.
Erosion is constant
Storms aren’t the only ones that affect the island. As the planet warms up Polar ice melts and ocean levels rise threaten the outer banks. Most of the land is at a distance of several feet above sea level, and every inch of sand is counted.
In the town of Rodante, the farthest in the Atlantic, the stirring sea swallowed more Dozens of houses Since 2020. Officials believe that at least two vacant homes are likely to be lost if the waves from Erin are strong enough to be predicted.
The outer bank is still home
Sherimiller Gates waited for the outer bank table to make money as a college student in the late 1970s. She remembers a house without air conditioning, televisions and mobile phones. And she worshipped it.
“I love water. I love the wild of it. That’s how I want to live my life,” the respiratory therapist said.
It is a lifestyle that is accepted by many people. The region’s shorthand, “OBX,” appears in many places as a source of pride, including the first three letters. License plate Published by the state.
Sequestration contributes to a sense of community. Gates has seen people unite many times when connections with the outside world are cut off. And there is always the appeal of living in a place where others just visit.
“There are things everywhere. There are earthquakes, snowstorms and floods. Look at the poor people in western North Carolina,” Gates said. “There are so many things that can happen to you. You feel like you have to find a place that feels like home.”
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This story has been updated to correct the words in the final quote from “lizard” to “blizzard.”
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Associated Press author Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia and Julie Walker in New York contributed to the report.
