MANNS HARBOR — The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division today activated the emergency route between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe. Currently the ferries are not running a set schedule, but are taking the top three priorities as announced by Dare County and will begin a set schedule tomorrow. Also, the Pamlico Sound routes will return to a normal schedule tomorrow under specific re-entry guidelines.
Emergency Route
Wed., Oct. 31, a schedule will be in place to assist Dare County with re-entry. According to Dare County Emergency Management, Priorities One, Two and Three will have access to and from Hatteras Island. Visitors will not be allowed to enter Hatteras Island yet, but will be allowed to depart. Essential commodities, as determined by DCEM will have top priority.
Photos: Damage along NC 12 in Dare County
Priority One includes – Essential personnel (utilities, government, assessment teams, medical/health care), white Disaster Re-entry Permit/Critical Personnel Pass required;
Priority Two includes – Hatteras Island residents (must have a valid NC driver’s license with Hatteras physical address), personnel of crucial businesses (Orange re-entry permit/Priority II personnel pass required); and
Priority Three includes – Non-resident property owners and employees of Hatteras Island businesses (2012-2013 Burgundy reentry permit required)
There will be law enforcement in place at the emergency route to determine re-entry status. Please contact Dare County Emergency Management at (252) 473-5655 for additional information on re-entry guidelines.
The Emergency Route schedule beginning Oct. 31, 2012, will be:
Departing Stumpy Point at 6 a.m., 8, 10, noon, 2 p.m., 4 and 10; and
Departing Rodanthe at 7 a.m., 9, 11, 1 p.m., 3, 5 and 7.
There may be areas along NC 12 that are impassable at this time due to sand and water on the road, but NCDOT continues working and expects to have all areas of NC 12 south of Rodanthe cleared before the 7 p.m. ferry departs Rodanthe.
Pamlico Sound Routes
There will be two return runs at 4 p.m. today from both Cedar Island and Swan Quarter to Ocracoke and a 4 p.m. run from Ocracoke to Cedar Island. Beginning tomorrow, the Pamlico Sound schedule will return to its normal fall schedule of four departures from each side at Cedar Island-Ocracoke route and two departures from each side at Swan Quarter-Ocracoke route. The schedule beginning tomorrow is:
Departing Cedar Island and Ocracoke at 7:30 a.m., 10, 1 p.m. and 4;
Departing Swan Quarter at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.; and
Departing Ocracoke to Swan Quarter at 7 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
According to Hyde County Emergency Management, visitors will not be allowed entry at this time but will allow the following:
Emergency Personnel – Hyde County red re-entry tag or purple priority re-entry sticker;
Infrastructure – Hyde County yellow re-entry tag or purple priority re-entry sticker; and
Residents – Hyde County green re-entry tag or green resident re-entry sticker.
For re-entry questions, please call Hyde County Manager at (252) 542-9283 or Hyde County Public Information at (252) 542-0842.
Hatteras-Ocracoke Route
The Hatteras-Ocracoke route will begin operating once sand is cleared off NC 12 from Ocracoke Village to the ferry dock.
Ferry information is available by calling 800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and pressing 1, or via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.
