Power problems that have left Cape Hatteras National Seashore's beaches about as deserted as they are in winter could continue another ten days, according to the local utility.
Summer vacationers to the national seashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks were mostly sent home this past Saturday as the accidental severing of underground power transmission cables greatly cut Hatteras and Ocracoke islands' power supply. One of the two cables had been spliced back together by Monday evening, while crews worked Tuesday on repairing the second.
“There’s not too many right now," seashore spokesman Mike Henry replied Tuesday when asked about the number of vacationers. "We’re almost at a wintertime operation at this point. We’ve got very few people. Mainly residents visiting the beaches right now.”
Hyde and Dare counties issued the mandatory evacuation for all non-residents from Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, effective Saturday morning, “to protect life safety during this period of lost and unreliable electrical service.”
While reservations for ferry service to and from Ocracoke were canceled for Saturday and Sunday, Mr. Henry said service between Ocracoke and Hatteras was running Tuesday, but on a reduced winter schedule. A checkpoint also was set up at the Bonner Bridge on the north end of Hatteras Island and only island residents and those with jobs on the island were being allowed to continue south from Bodie Island, he said.
“We’re waiting for the visitors to return," said Mr. Henry. "We’re not sure when that’s going to happen.”
According to Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative, as of Tuesday morning officials were still looking at a 6-10 day period before power was fully restored. In the meantime, crews were erecting an "overhead transmission line that will run from the south end of the Bonner Bridge to meet the cooperative’s existing overhead transmission line."
"The next steps will include connecting the new overhead cables in two places – to the existing underground lines just before the site of the damage and to the existing overhead lines that run the length of Hatteras Island. This is a highly technical and detailed process," read a post on the cooperative's Facebook page.
By Tuesday afternoon, meanwhile, crews were working to splice the second underground cable near Oregon Inlet.
To help meet the power needs of the islands' residents, diesel generators and portable generators had been plugged into the transmission lines.
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