By IRENE NOLAN
The National Park Service maintenance staff members worked on the still flooded Ramp 49 in Frisco today, and by the end of the day, it was passable for off-road vehicles.
Back-to-back tropical systems in late May and early June had flooded the ramp with more than 20 inches of rainwater in places. Though much of the standing water had dried up over the past month, large trucks going through the remaining standing water made ruts and deeper holes, especially in one troublesome area, where NPS Hatteras Island District Ranger Joe Darling reported earlier this week that the water was as deep as 1 1/2 feet or 2 feet.
Passage on the Ramp was not recommended for low-clearance ORVs.
However, the Park Service graded and leveled out the ramp today, and Natalie Perry Kavanagh, whose family owns Frisco Rod & Gun and Frisco Market, said she and her mother took a spin on the ramp late this afternoon.
“Ramp 49 is definitely open for business,” Kavanagh said. It’s not a problem for standard four-wheel drive vehicles.
“We hardly got our tires wet,” she said, adding that if you meet a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, you may have to pull over and drive through what is now a “puddle” and not “a lake.”
For more photos of Ramp 49 taken this evening, go to the Rod & Gun Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/friscorodandgun/.
