OUTER BANKS, N.C. — Mother Nature is continuing to leave her mark on the Outer Banks through a coastal storm whose impacts began to be felt Saturday. A frightening ferry ride shook visitors going from Ocracoke to Hatteras on Saturday, and now N.C. 12 is temporarily closed from the Marc Basnight Bridge to Rodanthe after ocean overwash broke through the dunes near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.
"I've been on rough weather rides before, but nothing like this," said Finley Austin, who was visiting Ocracoke last week for a friend's memorial service.
Austin has been going to Ocracoke since 1982, bought a house there in 2005 and lived on the island from 2015 to 2021.
"It was a scary experience and one I hope to never go through again," said Samuel Reid, who visited Ocracoke from Raleigh with his wife last week.
Austin and Reid were both on the ferry ride from Ocracoke to Hatteras Saturday afternoon. The ride came with waves from the sound breaking over their cars.
"At one point, a wave hit my windshield, and there was a fish in it, and I saw this fish fly up off of the back of my windshield," said Austin, whose car was positioned right at the front of the ferry.
"We were in what would be the fourth row on that ferry, and our car was getting pelted with seawater. We knew that the people up front were probably taking the brunt of it," said Reid.
The brunt of it is exactly what Austin's car was taking. Another wave came crashing down onto her windshield and shattered it.
"Came down and just crashed right along the top of my windshield, and it just crushed it in," said Austin.
That's when Austin began signaling for help.
"I was afraid to just get out on the deck because it was so rocky and so windy, and I just started blowing the horn," said Austin.
"We heard a horn go off, and somebody leaning on the horn, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and then we heard screams for 'help me'," said Reid.
A fellow rider realized what was going on and alerted the ferry crew, which snapped into action to help Austin.
"I saw some crew members coming, so they were getting me out," said Austin.
Austin is thankful for all the help she received on and off the ferry during the frightening experience.
Since then, Austin and Reid have voiced concerns about the ferry ride, specifically about the ferry operating in those conditions and crews packing cars so tightly. Reid also said he was told to stay in his car instead of being allowed to go into the seating area.
News 3 asked North Carolina Department of Transportation Communications Officer Jamie Kritzer about those concerns. As for the operating conditions, Kritzer said, "The decision to run is up to the captain, and the winds were not too high for safe operation at that time."
Regarding concerns about cars being packed tightly and recommendations for riders to stay in their vehicles, Kritzer said, "When cars are being moved on to the ferry, the vehicles are parked as efficiently as possible. There are times where we will choose to back people up from the front barrier. We were also trying to move as many people as possible off the island while also accounting for their safety. What had happened there was standard operating procedure during inclement weather, people were allowed to go to the lounge seating area, we recommend that either way, they stay inside an area and not walk the deck."
Kritzer said safety is always NCDOT's top priority and that he understands riders were shaken by the experience.
"This was unusual. These kinds of of situations where you have a wave that that kind of comes up and and breaks over the side of the boat is not a typical occurrence," said Kritzer.
Reid said even a big payout wouldn't entice him to experience a ferry ride in these conditions again.
"Right at this moment, if someone offered me a million dollars to go back to Ocracoke and told me I would have to go across that same rough water, the answer would be no," said Reid.
Austin had quite a trek to get back home to Richmond, including paying for a ride up and having to stay in Nags Head on Saturday night until her cousin could pick her up and drive her home.
But she's looking at the bright side of the experience, even with questions remaining about what will happen to her car, which still sits at the ferry terminal in Hatteras.
"I don't want to minimize what happened to me. It was real, and it's a pain, but you know there's a lot worse things that are going on because of these storms," said Austin.
As for N.C. 12, it remained temporarily closed from the Marc Basnight Bridge to Rodanthe on Tuesday after Monday's high tide cycle led to a breach in the dune near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center and made the road unsafe for travel.
Kritzer and NCDOT do not have a timeline for when it will reopen because the coastal storm is still lingering. Though crews continue to work to reinforce the dunes near the visitor center, high tide cycles continue to determine when the road will be safe to reopen.
"The forecast is calling for higher tides tomorrow than what we have seen so far, so we could be looking at more overwash and more breaching of the dunes, so we'll just have to see," said Kritzer.
A roughly 1,000-foot stretch of Highway 12 in this area was damaged during the late September nor'easter. The area was entirely rebuilt, and Kritzer said it remains OK right now, but time will tell what impacts this storm could bring.
"So far we have not seen any damage to the pavement, which is good news, and it's also a credit to the hard work that a lot of our crews have been doing. Just kind of keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go well and that whatever happens, the road stays intact. But I guess time will tell," said Kritzer.
NCDOT continues to encourage drivers not to test the road during the closure because conditions are dangerous and can turn deadly at any point.
Click here to see how we use AI at WTKR News 3.
