Outer Banks highway reopens after sand banks up to 6 feet high are scraped away

North Carolina’s Outer Banks highway reopened midday Thursday, after state crews removed as much as 6 feet of sand piled atop the pavement in the past four days.

However, travelers are warned “there will still be standing water and sand in several locations,” according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The highway has been closed much of the week due to flooding caused by Hurricane Teddy. State crews cleaned off the sand several days in a row, only to see high tides bring it back hours later.

“Good news this morning: For the first time in many days, we did not see significant overwash from the overnight high tide cycle!” NCDOT tweeted Thursday. “That means progress from yesterday remains intact.”

Hurricane Teddy did not make landfall in the U.S., but waves generated by its 100-mph winds topped 17 feet off N.C., causing flooding and beach erosion on the Outer Banks. The storm’s impact was compounded by “King Tides,” a term for abnormally high tides that occur as the moon’s orbit is nearest the earth, according to NOAA.

State officials reported parts of NC 12 were covered with ocean overwash on Saturday, but they did not close sections until Sunday when motorists began to report being stranded by water. Photos tweeted by NCDOT showed sand on the highway reached nearly to the road signs.

OBX Today reported Monday that the tons of sand and ocean overwash did not cause “structural damage to the roadway,” something that could have delayed the reopening even longer.

NC 12 is the only highway connecting the Outer Banks islands (with the help of ferries in some spots), and the Ocracoke Observer reports some out-of-state tourists were stranded for days as they waited for the road to reopen.

Among the tourists were Katie and Matt Oldhouser of Virginia who spent “most of their honeymoon this week in the Hatteras Ferry Terminal parking lot,” the news outlet reported.

This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Outer Banks highway reopens after sand banks up to 6 feet high are scraped away."