NC 12 detour opens after storm damage leaves hundreds waiting for Outer Banks ferry

An approximately three-mile line of vehicles stretched through Rodanthe on Monday as hundreds of vacationers sought to board the emergency ferry leaving Hatteras Island on the North Carolina coast.

Last week’s nor’easter — a coastal storm with the strongest winds blowing from the northeast — severely damaged portions of North Carolina Highway 12, the only road connecting Hatteras Island and the northern Outer Banks.

Dare County officials declared a state of emergency (opens in a new tab) for Hatteras Island on Saturday, barring visitors and non-resident property owners from entering.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced it would open a temporary one-way gravel detour for NC 12 at the Pea Island Visitor Center on Wednesday, allowing northbound traffic through a single-lane stretch. For visitors who expected to leave Saturday, that meant days of uncertainty over food, medications, and responsibilities back on the mainland.

On Sunday, NCDOT began operating the emergency ferry (opens in a new tab) route between Rodanthe and Stumpy Point. Three vessels with room for about 25 to 30 vehicles, depending on the cars and trucks that are onboard, are transporting passengers back to the mainland.

The fleet can move about 250 vehicles in 24 hours, according to Dare County, and the crossing itself takes about two hours.

“There’s definitely just an air of frustration, and it’s understandable,” Island Free Press editor-in-chief Joy Crist said. “That frustration grows the closer you get to the front of the line, because that’s where people have been waiting 24 hours.”

Based on Hatteras Island, Crist has been reporting on the storm and its aftermath. She covered a Virginia couple who invited (opens in a new tab) hundreds of other stranded visitors and local residents to their wedding on Saturday.

Crist has also shared updates on the recovery process and talked to visitors waiting for the ferry.

“The silver lining of that is that there’s been so many local volunteers and organizations that have just been going up there and grilling out and handing out hot dogs and snacks and water,” she said.

‘We’re dumping money into the ocean’: Outer Banks seeks state help for long-term NC 12 fix