Former Hurricane Isolates Thousands on Outer Banks

Several thousand people who ignored evacuation orders were stranded along North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Wednesday after Tropical Storm Dennis washed out part of the lone highway on the barrier islands.

National Guard troops braved gale-force winds to haul supplies to residents of four isolated beach towns on Hatteras Island but could not reach others stranded south of a three-quarter-mile section of state Highway 12 swept away by the storm.

“It was a mandatory evacuation, but it’s their own personal choice. It’s their home and it’s the decision that they make, knowing all the dangers,” Dare County emergency spokeswoman Martha Wickre said of the stranded residents.

Dennis was centered about 90 miles east of Cape Hatteras at nightfall. The storm’s maximum winds dropped to about 60 mph as it meandered westward at nearly 3 mph. The winds extended out about 145 miles from the center and over the shore.

Large ocean swells and a storm surge pushed tides 3 to 5 feet above normal and flooded areas along much of the coastal mid-Atlantic region. Rough surf and rip currents closed beaches to swimmers as far north as Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.

In Nags Head, N.C., every oceanfront property was damaged in some way, including 120 houses that were uninhabitable and 70 that will be condemned because of dune erosion, said the town’s housing inspector, John Braband.

Along the Outer Banks, a 150-mile-long stretch of barrier islands, many sections of Highway 12, which runs nearly the length of the islands, were flooded. Other portions were covered with deep sand. The three-quarter-mile stretch north of Buxton was washed away.

An additional 700 people were stranded farther south on Ocracoke Island, where ferry service was halted until winds subsided.

In “Operation Dawn Push,” eight North Carolina National Guard troops loaded water, fuel and ready-to-eat military style meals into a Humvee, a military tanker truck and two other trucks and shipped out early Wednesday.

The fuel was delivered to Hatteras Island’s water treatment plant for generators that will be used to restart the facility.

The troops found that waves had cut across the narrow neck of the island just north of Buxton, a roadside island town of motels, beach homes, gas stations and a diner in the shadow of the historic Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The lighthouse, which was moved away from the beach this year, lost a window to the storm and its foundation was under water Wednesday night.

The continually gusting winds prevented military helicopters from delivering food, water and fuel to residents who had ignored evacuation orders and found themselves stranded.

The state Air National Guard had loaded two helicopters with cases of ready-to-eat meals that will be airlifted once the winds subside. A C-130 cargo plane may be called in to airdrop supplies on Ocracoke Island if ferries--usually the only way on and off the island--cannot sail soon.

The tropical storm was expected to continue to drift west toward the Outer Banks overnight, then turn southwest and parallel the North Carolina coast over the next two days, retracing its northward track.

President Clinton on Wednesday declared nine North Carolina counties eligible for federal disaster funds.