Hyde County Outlines updated Ocracoke re-entry procedures

September 14, 2019 | Local News

Hyde County is working very closely with the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division to discontinue the manifest process implemented at the outset of the event and transition to a reservation system administered by the ferry terminals. Starting Saturday, September 14, 2019, sound route ferry reservations will be taken daily from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm at 1-800-BY-FERRY (1-800-293-3779). The Hatteras Ferry Terminal does not have a reservation system and vehicles will be placed in the stacking lanes using the priority system listed below. With this transition scheduled for tomorrow morning, the Hyde County Mainland Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been closed as of September 13, 2019 at 8:00 pm.

Given the extensive damage to infrastructure in Ocracoke, the County of Hyde is requesting the continued enforcement of entry/re-entry restrictions and priorities at all ferry terminals delivering passengers to Ocracoke. Therefore, Ocracoke entry/re-entry will be restricted to the following priorities:

PRIORITY I

County/State Requested Resources
Emergency Personnel
Medical/Clinic
National Park Service
County Employees
Code Enforcement Officers/Inspectors
Department of Transportation
Power Company
Debris Removal
Sanitation
Mail and Parcel

PRIORITY II

Insurance Adjusters
Contractors
Distributors/Suppliers/Vendors
Volunteers

PRIORITY III

Residents
Non-resident Property Owners
Local Business Owners and Employees
School Employees/Staff

All contractors, insurance adjusters, and state missions will be validated by Hyde County and a list will be provided to NCDOT Ferry Division on a continual basis. Contractors and insurance adjusters should email validation@hydecountync.gov with their credential/license and client list to be validated by our permits office. The permits office will be available to verify credentials from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Since the new reservation system is being implemented on the weekend, credentials will be validated by email through this weekend. Going forward, contractors and adjusters attempting to access the island on a weekend must have their credentials and client list validated by 5:00 pm on Fridays. If the required information is not validated before arriving at the terminal, then boarding will not be granted.

Individuals seeking entry/re-entry must have the appropriate Hyde County issued re-entry tag or a valid North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Ferry Division issued priority pass. Expired re-entry tags will be honored as an acceptable means of establishing priority for this event. The Hyde County re-entry tag colors are as follows:

Emergency Personnel (Red)
Infrastructure (Yellow)
Resident (Green)
Non-Resident Property Owner (White)

If a commuter fails to produce the aforementioned credentials, they will be required to show evidence of residency or property ownership.

The restrictions and priorities will be effective until new instructions are issued or the access limitations are terminated by the County of Hyde. As such, law enforcement officers will enforce the restrictions and priorities on all ferry routes delivering passengers to Ocracoke until further notice.