5 p.m. Wednesday update: N.C. 12 has opened on Ocracoke Island and from the Bonner Bridge to Rodanthe. The Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route has resumed service with an amended schedule as follows: from Hatteras: 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight; from Ocracoke: 5:30 p.m, 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Transportation officials said that if roads remain open, ferries will return to schedule Thursday.
Noon Wednesday update: Transportation officials said just after noon Wednesday that N.C. 12 had been opened from Bonner Bridge to Rodanthe. The road was still closed on Ocracoke.
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Original report follows below:
OUTER BANKS — The North Carolina Department of Transportation said Wednesday morning that N.C. Highway 12 was again closed to all traffic between the Bonner Bridge and Rodanthe, as well as on Ocracoke Island between the pony pens and the ferry terminal as a result of severe overwash during the night.
The closure is a lingering effect of the nor’easter that arrived Friday and continued to bring high surf to the islands through early Tuesday morning.
Here’s a look at NC 12 this morning just north of Rodanthe. Our crews are working hard to get sand off of the road and back onto the dunes both here and at the Pea Island Visitors Center. We are still working toward/hoping for a midday opening. pic.twitter.com/rtFmZXBziu
— NCDOT NC12 (@NCDOT_NC12) March 7, 2018
N.C. 12 on Hatteras Island had reopened Tuesday evening, but closed again a little more than 12 hours later as sand and water from surf reaching heights of 13 feet covered the road, the Outer Banks Voice reported. State Ferries across Hatteras Inlet resumed Tuesday evening, but were suspended again Wednesday because the road closure.
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Due to the re-closing of Highway 12 on both Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route is temporarily closed. We will resume service as soon as the roads are open again.
— NCDOT Ferry Division (@NCDOT_Ferry) March 7, 2018
NCDOT officials were working toward a midday reopening of the highway.
NCDOT said Tuesday afternoon that crews clearing N.C. 12 between Rodanthe and the Bonner Bridge found no structural damage to the road, leading officials to predict the road would reopen quickly.
Ocracoke Postmaster Celeste Brooks said Monday that no mail had been delivered or sent since Friday, nor packages delivered via UPS or FedEx, the Ocracoke Observer reported. UPS service finally made it to the island on Tuesday, she said.
