A message to our off-island property owners and visitors

Here at Island Free Press, we have been overwhelmed with e-mails and comments from readers who want to know when they can get back to Hatteras to check their property and when they can get on Hatteras and Ocracoke for their planned vacations.

Dare County Emergency Management lines are also ringing off the hook, and folks are calling and e-mailing county officials.  Real estate management companies have also been overwhelmed with questions.

The very simple answer right now is that we don?t know the answer to the question.

Ocracoke residents who evacuated returned early last week after the Aug. 27 hurricane. Non-resident property owners were allowed back on Ocracoke last Saturday.

Hyde County has made no announcement about visitors yet, but you can be sure the county officials are discussing the issue right now and conferring with Ocracoke businesses about when they are ready and staffed.

Ocracoke was not heavily damaged, and now that Ocracoke is off emergency generators, visitors could be allowed back much more quickly than on Hatteras.

All residents who evacuated Hatteras Island should be able to get back by tomorrow in a re-entry process from Stumpy Point via ferry that started on Sunday.

The first order of business on Hatteras and Ocracoke was to stabilize the power infrastructure.

For a week, after power was restored, the only power was coming from emergency generators. 

Re-entry on Hatteras, even for residents, had to wait until there was enough power to accommodate them.

Late yesterday afternoon, the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative switched from the generators to the newly repaired 115kV transmission lines.  Power is now again flowing down the island from the north to both islands.

The next priority of Dare County officials is to get non-resident property owners back to Hatteras.  And that is what they are discussing now, consulting with folks in each of the villages to have their input.

I would advise that you keep checking Island Free Press, where you can find the most complete and up-to-date news about Hatteras and Ocracoke. 

Continue to check the Dare County website, www.darenc.com, where the home page is completely devoted to recovery from the hurricane.

You can also check the website of your rental management company, if you have one.  All of their website have posted timely information.

If your property is managed by a company, someone should have already called you to inform you of the condition of your house.  Rental companies are taking care of emergency repairs right away.

When you do return to Hatteras, you will need your 2009 non-resident re-entry sticker or a copy of your tax bill, which can be obtained on the Dare County website.  Look under public information files.

You will also need proper identification.

You can look for an announcement of some sort for non-resident property owners, maybe as early as tomorrow. 

It looks good that you may be able to return by the end of the week.

Hatteras officials have announced that there will be no visitor entry through Sept. 17.

They are not willing to announce a set re-entry for visitors beyond that date.

The governor has said that Highway 12 will be repaired with a temporary bridge within a month.  It could be sooner, and, then, of course, it could be later.

There is discussion of letting visitors into the southern Hatteras village, perhaps by ferry through Ocracoke, after Sept. 17.

Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo will probably not be ready by that time, though Avon could be.

Please know that the problem is not that we don?t want to see you back.

Everyone wants to see you back.  Our economy is suffering badly without you. People need to go back to work.

We?ve been two weeks without visitors, and lost the Labor Day weekend, the last big weekend of the summer season.

However, we can?t have visitors back until all of our businesses can support you.

Grocery stores are open, but supplies are coming in by ferry, sometimes slowly.  But all stores are getting restocked.

Restaurants have to clean up, restock, and get their staffs back.  The same is true to the real estate management companies, who had cleaners and other personnel evacuate.
And all of these folks need some time to attend to their own property.  Even if it was not damaged, the sound tide causes a mess and everything in the refrigerator probably needs tossing.

We ask our visitors to keep checking Island Free Press, where you will find the most complete reports and most up-to-date news.  Also keep checking the Dare County and rental companies? websites.

And please don?t try to sneak onto the island by ferry, by private boat, or by airplane.

You will probably be caught and turned around.

State troopers are checking identification at ferries.  Private boats are being checked for unauthorized passengers.  The Park Service, at the request of the counties, has closed the airspace over the islands, and law enforcement is patrolling the airports.

If you do manage to sneak on, don?t expect to be welcomed by your neighbors or by the islanders.

Dare officials say that they know some have gotten here ? especially off-island property owners ? but they are not sure how since the island is buttoned down.

The county has enough to do without rounding all of these people up, but if you are one of them, your neighbors know you are here and probably are not happy.

Anyway, please consider this blog my answer to all of you who have contacted Island Free Press. 

We are constantly in touch with county officials and will send out the news as soon as we get it.

You can get information a little more quickly by following us on Facebook and Twitter where we post bulletins quickly, while preparing a more complete article.

Look for the Facebook and Twitter icons at the top of the Front Page.

We hope to see you soon.