Hatteras Island a Not-Quite Ghost Town After Saturday Morning Evacuation

July 29, 2017 | Local News | By: Joy Crist

Hatteras Island wasn’t quite a ghost town on Saturday afternoon after a 6:00 a.m. evacuation of visitors, but it certainly didn’t seem like a typical July atmosphere either.

Heavy showers throughout the day and cooler temps, as well as light traffic all along N.C. Highway 12, led many residents to remark that it felt more like fall – or the days leading up to a hurricane – than an otherwise busy check-in day.

There were still ample signs of life after the line of traffic flowed off the island. Local grocery stores, gas stations, and even restaurants had scattering of cars, and a healthy handful of businesses remained open. Favorite destinations like Buxton Village Books and Conner’s Supermarket in Buxton both had quite a few patrons on Saturday afternoon, but other landmarks were more or less deserted.

At 3 p.m., the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse’s vast parking lot was empty except for a lone Jeep and a family taking a couple pics in front of the structure, and the Avon Pier had just one car in its wide parking area.

Food Lion in Avon had a decent business, but nothing compared to a normal summer Saturday when the store is overflowing with customers.

In addition to the lack of crowds and reduced traffic on N.C. Highway 12, the other indication that something was amiss in the area was the new crop of “Cash Only” signs found at a number of stores and local restaurants. But plenty of establishments – with windows and doors wide open to conserve A/C -were nevertheless open.

It seems that as the island waits to hear when the evacuation will be lifted, for many business owners, it makes more sense to stay open than close.

“We’re going to keep our doors open for now,” said one Buxton store owner. “We may have fewer hours, but we’ll stay open as long as the power is on. But this really puts a hurt on our summertime business.”

Many community business owners were justifiably concerned about how a lack of income during one of the peak times of the summer season would affect their bottom line, especially considering that many were still trying to bounce back from 2016’s Hurricane Matthew. At the same time, on social media and in person, a number of residents voiced that having an evacuation was the correct call.

The island is traditionally full this time of year, and this huge population swell puts a lot of pressure on the nine generators that are trying to provide continuous power to all seven villages.

“Because of the evacuation, the load is much more reasonable,” said Laura Ertle, Director of Public Relations for CHEC, in an earlier interview. “As terrible as the evacuation is, it takes a lot of pressure off of us.”

Indeed, several Avon residents who reported not having power for up to 36 hours felt massive relief when the power was finally switched back on, (even if their fridge contents had been thrown away hours ago.)

And while there may still be outages in the tri-villages area, Avon and all areas south have had power for the duration of Saturday thus far.

It’s an eerie site to be sure to drive along N.C. Highway 12 hours after the evacuation. There’s still a fair number of out-of-state plates with coolers and turtle tops, but it takes just seconds to make a left on N.C. 12, and it’s possible to drive a mile or so without spotting another vehicle.

With the cooler temps, sparse population, and scattering of closed businesses, the island certainly looks – and feels – quite a bit different.

“I keep thinking that I need to pick up hurricane supplies and board up my windows,” said a resident customer at Conner’s Supermarket in Buxton. “We’ve been calling this [atmosphere] ‘Hurricane Evacuation Lite.’”