5,000 Isolated as Barge Strikes Hatteras Island Bridge in Storm

Near hurricane-strength winds slammed into the North Carolina coast Friday, knocking out a bridge to the Outer Banks and leaving 5,000 people isolated on Hatteras Island.

The storm, which moved northward with wind gusts of up to 92 m.p.h., prompted gale and coastal flood warnings along the state’s Outer Banks or coastal islands. Seas were reported running as high as 16 feet.

Wind gusts of 90 m.p.h. ripped a dredge from its moorings, and the vessel rammed a bridge that is the only land link between Hatteras Island and the mainland, tearing a 300-foot section from the structure. Five thousand people were cut off from the mainland, but no injuries were reported, authorities said.

North Carolina officials tried to set up emergency ferry service between the mainland and the island. The bridge may be closed for months, they said.

The bridge carries telephone and power lines to Hatteras, and the accident left some of those lines dangling over the inlet. Power was out on Hatteras and on much of nearby Ocracoke Island, home to more than 500 people.

A Dare County spokeswoman said the county hoped to restore electricity within 48 hours.

The Coast Guard plucked four people from a sinking fishing ship that had radioed for help about 20 miles off False Cape, N.C., near the Virginia-North Carolina border.

Along the Virginia coast, trees were knocked down and power was out to many homes.

The National Weather Service reported stiff gusts as far inland as Newport News, Va., and sustained winds of 80 m.p.h., with gusts up to 92 m.p.h., were reported at the south island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.