Back-to-back tropical systems have left all of Hatteras and Ocracoke soggy, but few places on the islands have seen the amount of flooding that is once again causing access issues in the areas of Buxton and Frisco in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The first of the two systems — Bonnie — dropped up to a foot of rain in the Frisco area between Memorial Day Monday, May 30, and Thursday, June 2. Then, just four days later — on Monday afternoon into Tuesday, June 6-7 — Colin dropped another three inches or so on the same area.
The formation of Colin, by the way, marked the earliest that three tropical systems have formed in the Atlantic since record keeping began in 1887.
Low-lying areas of Highway 12 flooded by the rainfall have mostly dried out by now and, though some lawns in the Frisco area still look like lakes, most yards have improved to the point that they are just squishy.
Not so with ramps and some other areas of the seashore in Buxton and Frisco, where seashore officials are just having to wait for the stormwater to drain and/or dry up.
The most recent record rainfall was just plain bad luck for seashore officials who have been trying their best to deal with stormwater issues since another epic rainfall just last fall caused really serious flooding in the same areas — on Lighthouse Road, at Cape Point Campground, and at Ramps 43 and 44 in Buxton and at Ramp 49 in Frisco.
No ramps are officially closed, though the Park Service is recommending that small and mid-sized off-road vehicles stay off a few of them, and that all ORV drivers travel at their own risk on the most seriously flooded ramps.
The only area that is officially closed is the Cape Point Campground, where the water is a foot or more deep on most campsites. The other campgrounds — at Oregon Inlet, Frisco, and Ocracoke — are open, and park officials say they will open Cape Point as quickly as they can.
Lighthouse Road to Ramps 43 and 44 and Cape Point Campground is not closed, and larger vehicles are tackling the water, but all the parking areas are flooded. According to Hatteras Island District Ranger Joe Darling, some visitors are parking along the road near the Ranger Station and walking out to the beach — a pretty long hike through some deep water.
The paved access to Ramp 43 has just under a foot of water on it, Darling said this afternoon. Ramp 44 has up to 14 inches in places and is getting heavily rutted. Ramp 49 is the worst with what Darling estimates to be at least 16 inches of water — he said he hasn’t tried to drive his truck out there yet.
The Inside Road between Ramp 44 and Ramp 49 has 8 to 10 inches of water in low spots. The Pole Road in Hatteras village was also flooded at one point, but is drying up nicely. Late yesterday, Darling said, the floodwater was down to 6 to 8 inches.
The flooding is definitely causing access issues for ORVs, but it’s also an issue for pedestrians in some areas. Take the Frisco campground where the boardwalks over the wetlands out to the ocean beach have been closed because, Darling said, there was so much flooding that they were floating.
This most recent round of flooding and access issues are frustrating not only for islanders and visitors, but also for seashore officials, who have really been trying since last fall to deal with the stormwater issues in the Cape Point/Frisco area.
There was also record rainfall late last September into early October when the islands were brushed by Hurricane Joaquin and two northeasters in about a week or 10 days time.
The same areas were affected and it took weeks – and, in some places, months — for all of the water to dry up.
By early spring, all of the problem areas were good and dry, when closures began for nesting birds. With the seashore’s new buffer regulations, access to Cape Point remained open for more than a month longer than had been the case in recent years.
Cape Point Campground was in good shape and the seashore announced that all of the campgrounds would stay open until Thanksgiving.
By and large, it was a good spring for pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches in the seashore.
Now, the same areas are under water again, and many Hatteras islanders are become increasingly frustrated by the fact that nothing can apparently be done to drain the flooded areas and make all the water go away — but seashore officials are also frustrated.
Seashore superintendent David Hallac said in a telephone interview this week that he and his staff are still working on the issue of draining the flooded areas with the state’s Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources.
For seashore visitors who don’t understand what all the upset is about, I will give you the short and simple explanation to the very complicated and long-standing stormwater issue. For those who want to know more, there are links at the end of the blog to two articles that will bring you up to speed.
Before 2004, heavy rainfall, usually with tropical systems, would flood the same areas in Buxton and Frisco. The park service had a drainage system that included a series of canals and culverts and a trench dug to the ocean to drain the floodwaters.
As members of the local community remember, the system worked quite well for quite some time in an area that has been heavily manipulated by man — from the manmade dunes to the Salt Pond on the beach that was created when sand was pumped out of it to nourish the Buxton Beach back in the 1970s.
So back before 2004, it didn’t seem unusual to anyone, including apparently the National Park Service, that the drainage system — including the trench dug to the ocean — had to be used from time to time.
However, in 2004, the Park Service received a letter and violation notice from the state Division of Water Quality. Seashore officials shut down the drainage system and have not used it again.
Complaints from the community and from visitors over more than a decade, for the most part, were not addressed by park officials until Hallac arrived in January 2015 as the new superintendent.
After last fall’s record rainfall, Hallac and his staff began digging into the files, unearthed the correspondence between the state and the park, which apparently just ended in 2004. They invited state officials from the Division of Water Resources to visit the park. The state folks came and toured the flooded area.
One of them was Robert Tankard, assistant supervisor in the regional office of the state Division of Water Resources. He told reporter Catherine Kozak earlier this year that it seems that the Park Service staff read only the first few paragraphs of the 2004 notice of violation, which suggested that one alternative was closing the culvert. But, he said, other options were named further down in the document.
?They could have done this easily by just providing us a plan and providing us the water level they were going to maintain,? he said. ?But they took it upon themselves to plug it.?
Tankard, who had signed the 2004 violation notice, said the violation expired long ago. The state folks invited the seashore to submit a drainage plan, which was done earlier in the spring.
But the state refused to approve the seashore’s plan to drain the flood-prone areas behind the dunes because, state officials said, it would violate a rule that forbids connecting water bodies and another standard that protects wetlands.
?The bottom line is they thought the ability for us to cut a ditch to the ocean is not permissible,? Hallac said in April article. ?We also can?t pump from the pond to the beach.?
Tankard told reporter Kozak in April that Hallac was advised to get an elevation survey done at Cape Point, which will help answer questions about what will work under regulatory requirements.
?All we have said is ?You need to protect the wetlands,?? Tankard said, relaying the conversation with Hallac.
If the Park Service uses a weir, he added, it is critical that a certain level of water be maintained in the wetland.
The state’s response was a surprise to many who interpreted what was said during the first conversations over the winter as an invitation to the seashore to submit a plan that would be quickly approved. Many in the community don’t think any plan other than digging the trench to the ocean will work since the contours and elevations of the area have changed so much in the past 12 years.
Hallac is more diplomatic about the fact that the state threw cold water on the plan it invited the park to submit.
“We appreciate the idea that came from the Department of Environmental Quality, and we will evaluate it to see if it will resolve the issue.,” Hallac said.
Hallac said this week that the park is proceeding with gathering the elevation data that the state wants. Park staff have located some older LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data and will add a ground survey to that.
“We’re attempting to do that soon — perhaps in the next few weeks,” he said.
At this point, there are no guarantees that the state will permit what needs to be done, but Hallac has made it clear that he will continue to work with state officials and provide what they ask for in an attempt to solve the issue.
And he gets extra credit for being the first superintendent in 12 years to push the issue this far with the state — which is where the buck apparently stops now.
Meanwhile, there is nothing for locals and visitors to do but wait until the water drains and evaporates — helped along by a forecast for the next week for so of hot and sunny weather, maybe with a good breeze to help the wet areas dry up a little more quickly.
Hallac remains focused on the many areas that are still open and very accessible in the seashore. He is correct that there only a few areas affected by the floodwaters, but they are also some of the most popular areas on Hatteras Island with locals and visitors.
Those with ORV permits who want to drive to the beach, Darling said, should look at Ramp 55 on southern Hatteras Island. He also mentions Ramp 38 north of Buxton and just south of Avon. North of Avon, there are several ramps without flooding problems where stretches of beach are open to driving.
If ORV drivers really want to get out on the beach in Buxton, all of the ORV route is open except for the very tip of Cape Point where colonial waterbirds are nesting. Darling suggests using Ramp 43 instead of 44.
There are also areas for pedestrians to get access to the beaches without flooding problems, including the lifeguarded beach in Buxton and the beach at the old site of the lighthouse in Buxton.
On south Hatteras, pedestrians can park and have a short walk to the beach from the Frisco Pier area, the Frisco bathhouse, and the Sandy Bay parking area on the east edge of Hatteras village.
There are also areas for folks to park and walk over to the beach at all of the ramps on Hatteras and Ocracoke.
The Park Service’s new Beach Access Status Report is updated daily and includes resource closures for nesting birds and information on such problems as floodwaters.
It’s just going to take some time — and patience — before all of the areas that folks want to use are dried out.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here for the Seashore’s Beach Access Status Report, which is updated daily.
RELATED ARTICLES
Park Service offers plan to address flooding in Cape Point area
UPDATE: State tosses cold water on NPS plan to address flooding
