Reprinted from Island Free Press
After photographer Don Bowers, who has been documenting storms in the northern Buxton beach area for decades, visited the shoreline Wednesday, he said that this week’s low-pressure system has caused more damage there than he has seen since he moved to Hatteras Island in the mid-1960s.
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“In the 1970s, we had two big nor’easters that came through and pummeled the (Buxton) area, but we didn’t have as many houses back then,” he said. “This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it.”
Other areas of Hatteras Island were not as severely affected by the storm, but northern Buxton has had multiple cycles of oceanside flooding, particularly during recent high tides, since Monday.
The damage stretches from the northern Buxton border to the now-closed Buxton Beach Access at the end of Old Lighthouse Road.
As of Wednesday, Bowers reports that there are at least a dozen septic tanks that have been recently exposed.
There are a half dozen exterior staircases that have been washed away from homes, multiple broken water pipes, and extensive and miscellaneous debris.
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Many side streets in the area remain flooded, while the pilings of oceanfront homes are submerged in ocean waters.
At the site of the former Navy and Coast Guard military base, which has been an area of concern since petroleum smells and sheens started appearing in the fall of 2023, the presence of old infrastructure has noticeably increased in the past several days.
Former remnants of concrete buildings, pipes, cables and other debris from the 1956 to 1982 Navy Base have been a continual sight since two offshore hurricanes brushed the Outer Banks in early September 2023.
As of Wednesday, more infrastructure along the shoreline has been revealed, and the petroleum smell has returned.
“I’ve been out there many times, and it smelled bad today – worse than it has before, I think,” Bowers said.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore personnel expanded the size of the closed beach area near the Buxton Beach Access on Sunday, and a revised precautionary public health advisory was issued for the area on Monday.
The Outer Banks may get a brief and minor respite after days of strong northeast winds, elevated surf, and accelerated erosion Wednesday afternoon, but a second low pressure system is expected to impact the Outer Banks starting late Wednesday night.
Additional overwash and erosion are possible in the next several days, and N.C. Highway 12 may be impacted in northern Buxton and other areas with vulnerable and compromised dunes.
For more information on the forecast, visit the National Weather Service.
This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.
