NC Highway 12 Damaged in Nor'easter Ida at the S-Curves in Mirlo Beach

On the Outer Banks, as many as 5,000 residents of Hatteras Island were stranded when 800 feet of road along NN HWY 12 at Mirlo Beach was destroyed in the Nor’easter Ida this past weekend. Officials began transporting emergency vehicles and evacuating motorists via ferry Saturday.

My son and I travel to Hatteras Inlet frequently for the excellent surf fishing and as we go through the S-Curves north of Mirlo Beach, there is always a line of cars and surfers going over the dune for the excellent surfing in this area. Now, part of the road and the dunes are gone and the surf at low tide is eating away at Hwy 12.

Also, 3 houses have collapsed in the surf in Nags Head close to Oregon Inlet.

In Kill Devil Hills, an older oceanfront house fell onto the beach, destroyed by the powerful waves at high tide. Another to the north lost its walls and floors to the heavy surf, leaving the back of the house exposed.

Further north, Kitty Hawk beaches suffered severe erosion, but there were no reports of houses going into the ocean, said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Perry. Water on the road - in places more than several feet - has been the immediate problem in Kitty Hawk, he said. "It’s mostly overwash between the highways,” Perry said. “It kind of surprised us. We thought we had seen the worst of it.”

The NCDOT Ferry Division has also revised the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter schedule and the Ocracoke-Cedar Island schedule.

The new Ocracoke-Swan Quarter schedule is as follows:

• Departing Ocracoke today at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.;

• Departing Ocracoke Sunday and Monday at 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.;

• Departing Swan Quarter today at 5 p.m.; and

• Departing Swan Quarter Sunday and Monday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The following runs on the Ocracoke-Cedar Island route have been canceled for Sunday and Monday:

• 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. departing from Ocracoke; and

• 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. departing from Cedar Island.

The following runs will take place as scheduled:

• 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. departing from Cedar Island; and

• 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. departing from Ocracoke.

Changes are dependent upon tidal conditions and will continue until N.C. 12 reopens, according to the NCDOT news release.

For more information, call 1-800-293-3779 or 511 or visit www.ncferry.org or www.ncdot.gov/traffictravel.

You can see some great pictures of the Mirlo Beach damage by Bryan Elkus.