DARE COUNTY, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has put Dare and Hyde counties under a state of emergency, a move aimed at getting storm-battered N.C. 12 back into service on the Outer Banks.
The declaration follows two coastal storms in quick succession that tore at the highway. The most recent, a nor’easter this past weekend, pushed ocean water across the road and weakened the dunes that are meant to shield it. That came only weeks after an earlier storm in late September that also forced an emergency ferry to carry people around the damage.
Stein said the emergency order lets the state coordinate the repair work needed to make the road usable again. The governor called the highway a critical transportation link for the Outer Banks.
The governor also pressed for fixes that last longer than the next storm, writing in a social media post that the state needs long-term solutions because the road is essential to the islands it serves. He asked the Federal Highway Administration to keep working with North Carolina on the immediate repairs and to help speed up long-term plans to make the corridor more reliable. He said the state Department of Transportation and its federal partners are already working together on both the repairs and those future plans.
The storm damage has already disrupted daily life on Hatteras Island. Dare County ordered visitors off the island last Friday as the storm moved in.
Neither the governor’s office nor transportation officials have given a date for when the damaged stretch will fully reopen.
Section: More Outer Banks NC crime news
Filed under: Outer Banks NC Traffic News
