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Steve Helber / AP
Officials survey the damage to Route 12 on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Aug. 28. Hurricane Irene swept through the area Saturday cutting the roadway in five locations. Irene caused more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast to reportedly lose power over the weekend, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Steve Helber / AP
The road is washed out on the north end of Route 12 on Hatteras Island, N.C., Aug. 28.
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Poor rich b astards. Now they will go to the government for a bailout.
Here's my dollar from my social security check!
your rant is misplaced.
You're an idiot (imho). I doubt very much if the houses shown in the picture are owned by local folks. These houses are probably owned by investors from other parts of the eastern US. You should try putting your brain in gear before engaging your mouth (or keyboard in this case).
My goodness there are a bunch of snarky culture warriors spouting off about this! I am one of those "rich" people who own one of the houses along the Hatteras coast. We invest here to have a vacation home for our families and as rental properites for other families to enjoy. We provide employment for the year round, generations-old inhabitants of Hatteras and the seasonal workers as well. We pay for FEMA flood insurance and for additional insurance through a high risk pool established by the State of North Carolina. As someone pointed out, Highway 12 is the only route onto or off of the island, which is largely a National Park; there are seven small villages strung along its length separated by many miles of undeveloped parkland. Cutting the road off would indeed be like cutting off Yellowstone. Your misguided class warfare grows tedious.
People that live in flood plains, coastal hurricane areas and National Parks should do so at their own risk. Rebuild your own highways and bridges. Don't ask the "gummint" to bail you out. Wealthy multi-home families have spent the last 20 years bleeding the middle class and the country dry while lining your own pockets with tax breaks and loopholes. We don't have time or money to save your sorry butts now. The only thing misguided about class warfare is that you declared war on us long before we ever declared war on you.
The bridge onto the island didn't get wiped out; a couple of sections of the road that the year round inhabitants of Hatteras Island use every day got breached. You don't think the Hatteras Islanders, many of whose families have been there for hundreds of years and who pay taxes, should get their road rebuilt? MkeMike, if Karl Marx were here, he'd thank you for your useful idiocy.
Hatteraslandowner - I don't live there but I am a huge lover of the OBX - I hope the road can be fixed because I intend to spend what little disposable income I have at the outer banx next summer and the summer after that and the summer after that God willing. the residents of outer banks are tax payers and understand the risks involved of living there as well as the investors who own property there. It is a beautiful place.
To the haters - NC relies on the tourists for their economy and the US economy as well. Be nice!
People who live on the island don't need the hard road as much as the people who own those ugly five bedroom rental investment barns.Who in their right mind would build a million dollar made o f sand house on
a barrier island
The people who live and work on the island don't need the hard road as much as the rich dudes who built those ugly five bedroom rental barns. Who in their right mind would build a million dollar house on a barrier island made of sand where the closest rock is 4000' down?
The local government keep rebuilding the same road after each hurricane. Can people see that mother nature is telling them to leave.
You can't live in the Atlantic Ocean!!!
What a waste of money!!!
r u dumb?
Now, now, HumanNature, we each have our roles to play. Your role, as I sense you already know, is to.... pay and.... well, that's about it. Survive!
What in the world!!?? Are people really saying this crazy stuff??!! OK, People have loss homes, first or only home or a vacation home, What the hell is yalls problem? Are you really saying that these people don't deserve to have the roads rebuilt? Ok, you live on a road that you have to cross a river, which floods, and the state you live in says "Not our problem", We fixed it 5 times! Really people, really! Get a heart, some people save all their lives to get a second home, I don't have one, but I know if we can ever find the $$ to do it I will! These RICH people as yall put it work for their $$ and how are you to tell them what they can do with it!! I'm sure they pay a whole lot of taxes on a second home! Are you human!!?? Do you have a heart?? Just asking!!??
Wow - I know that NC 12 (or Highway 12 as we say down here - we don't use the phrase or designation "Route" for roads) get's damaged or sometimes wiped out during a bad storm, but this one really did some damage this time.
To wygit - please check your facts before posting a comment. That part of the state where the Outer Banks sits (part of which is considered part of Dare County) just happens to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at 17.1% with a medium income level of only $49,000 a year.
meruncc13
Those houses don't look like they belong to POOR POOR people!!
My ssa is only one quarter of your poor medium income. Sorry they are rich to me!!!
To all who feel I should leave my home for some place that won't cost the tax payers of which I am one.
What were the pioneers thinking when they left their safe homes in Boston for the fertile land along the Mississippi; the folks who moved to the midwest for a better life right smack dab in the middle of tornado alley; those Green Mt. boys who loved the mountains and rivers of Vermont; don't forget the gold rush that was responsible for the settling of California, didn't they do their research on earthquakes; how dare the greedy who developed the coasts of Florida where you probably have spent a winter or two getting away from you doldrums. By the way, where do you go on vacation? No doubt it is in the middle of a safe haven where nature allows you to make all the decissions. So, can we all congregate in your back yard. I hope you have room for our boats, a place to ski, a mountain to climb, wide open and rolling hills, allowing our minds to unwind and spirits to glow.
I doubt we would enjoy what you call home, we'd be boared out of out wits. The only problem I have with where I live is that I have nowhere to go on vacation, I'm already here. Something for you to ponder; I taught school for 35 years, worked a second job for most of the time to save enough for a retirement in the sun. How dare you call me someone undeserving of a place to live. I pay much higher insurance rates than people from the interior who demand an infrastructure of highways, tunnels, railroads, subway systems, dams, bus stations and airports that my taxes support of which I rarely use but don't covet your need of them.
If for example you reside in a large metropolitan area, safe from mother nature and a terrorist lights one up, maybe you should rethink your habitat.
It's not the local government! It's FEMA, USDOT, and the COE!! If you believe that there's a cost share, your dreaming. How much money has the state ever paid back? It's YOUR TAX DOLLARS that keep being spent. As long as the floor insurance program is around, and Congress will keep it around, people will continue to live in areas that are prone to disaster and WE will keep subsidizing them with TAX DOLLARS. If you cannot afford the insurance without the government subsidizing the insurance program don't build there!!
if you look you will find that the u.s. does not insure high risk areas anymore. people in dare county have and always will take care of themselves and others who need help. hopefully someday you can say the same.
They still get a lot of taxpayer assistance with rebuilding. It's dumb for taxpayers to support the folly of building a house, or a road, upon the sand.
disaster prone areas?......where do u live pal.....neverland? ANY WHERE u live has a disaster prone something......so here its Hurricanes. They should build a raised road or something. the day b4 Irene hit we had an earthquake.....
hatter ass landowner, talk about misguided, at least in Yellowstone the ocean won't come in and take you highway year after year...........
it's not like yellowstone is sitting on top of a potential supervolcano or anything..oh wait that's right yellowstone has about 1500 measurable earthquakes EVERY YEAR..but no highways taken away so that's a relief
also having been to hatteras island 20-30 times, the rte 12 almost never washes out like this in the northern sections of the island (the second picture is right as you enter rodanthe, the northern-most town on the island), so saying the highway gets taken away year after year is extremely inaccurate
I have visited Hatteras Island on several occasions and the above posts generalize to a fault, but since that is the game here goes. Most of the folks who live there year 'round scrape by with multiple jobs working 60 hour weeks minimum. They have lived there for generations and they are (pre-Irene) struggling to deal with a confiscatory Department of the Interior that, at the behest of the Audubon Society, elevated the Piping Plover above families and their independent, hardscrabble way of life that depends on the sweat of one's brow and the goodwill of trusted neighbors to survive in a tough environment. The State of North Carolina has a tidy profit center in the Outer Banks through the tax revenues that its attractive beaches generate when the weather is favorable.
Those of you who see the year 'round residents of these communities as having a hand out are sadly mistaken. The watermen of Hatteras Island and their families are salt of the earth and there are precious few communities in the United States that would not immediately benefit from the inmigration of the work ethic and spirit of self-reliance that permeates this challenged culture.
I totally agree with Gofish56. We have been visiting Hatteras Island for 20 years and it is a wonderful area with great people who work hard to make a living. It is wonderful to see so many Mom & Pop stores and great shopping in terrific art shops and other local shops. I'll bet if this storm hit in a foreign land people would be wanting to send aid and taking up collections. The movie stars would be running to show how much they care. But, when it is your own people all I see is a lot of jealousy. Hatteras Island is a wonderful place and the people who live there need to see some compassion.
Gofish, you are absolutely correct. Handyman, you are absolutely uninformed. Being opinionated is not the same as being informed.
It's the coast. The state & government protects and pays for these roads because a NATIONAL PARK is located along most of it, not to mention the Hatteras Lighthouse. It would be like closing the only road into Yellowstone! Yes, people should not be allowed to keep rebuilding in this area, but i blame the insurance industry for providing resources to home owners at a cost not equal to what the expense should really be.
Go to Hatteras Island and really experience it and then you will fell as many do that this amazing area must be preserved at any cost.
Preserve it how? By building roads and bridges?
Nature can preserve herself. It's only when someone puts an expensive house on the beach, a dumb idea, that taxpayers need to come in and save the day. Actually, if you can do it with OPM, i.e. other people's money, it's not so dumb. The Outer Banks really are beautiful.
I agree, when you say you vac. in the Outer Banks in Nags Head to me thats not the Outer Banks. Highway 12 through Pea Islane all the way to Hatteras Village, THAT to me is the Outer Banks. If you have never been in that area you need to go to see how quiet and reserved it is. No malls, no restaurant chains. One grocery store, lots of little shops. That area is a little piece of heaven to me. If you've never been their you need to go and see what were all talking about.
Everybody needs to understand that it is a National Park. The US appropriated it for this purpose. I do not own my beach; it is owned by the US government. I get snarky letters from the Park Service about renewing my walkway permit regulalry; they sound like MkeMike and make you think they resent anyone but them even being there. The seven small villages are separted by, in most places, miles of undevelopable national seashore. When you talk about not rebuilding, you are talking about 1) depriving the 2500 people who live there year round of their only road, and 2) shutting down a National Park.
wygit, The people that own those vacation homes are not from the outer banks. Most are from the big cities up the coast. They are wealthy people's investment properties. I'm with "MERUNCC13" , you should get your facts straight before ranting.
It's ridiculous to keep spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to rebuild Hwy. 12 from the Ocracoke Ferry to Nags head. Let it be what it is - an inviting, off-shore, "outer banks" destination serviced by NC Ferrys and/or privately-run ferry services from the mainland. The whole lore of the outer banks is it's remoteness and distance from the everyday, run of the mill ocean escapes that people trek to along the eastern seaboard. Noone could love 'Ocracoke' more than me, and one of the lores of Ocracoke is that is is 'somewhat' remote, 'somewhat' off the beaten path - and most of all, the home of many first-class people whose families have inhabited Ocracoke for centuries. I love NC but it's just plain stupid to keep rebuilding Hwy.12 every time a hurricane comes through - come up with another solution - preferably one that restores the serenity and the remoteness of the outer banks instead of constantly rebuilding an out of place blacktop highway that is 'guaranteed' to be washed out almost annually.
Jerry Keenehan, Philadelphia
@ Jerry - You have a point and I agree with you up to a point, even though the state created the ferry system to service the Outer Banks, we should re-build Hwy 12, as some people really need the road to get to work and don't want to wait on the ferry from the mainland. Other than that, you make some really good points.
We gotta get taxpayers off the hook though. Perhaps we should sell NC 12 to the folks in Hatteras, Avon, etc. They can take over maintenance and collect a toll or tack a fee onto unit rentals to recoup. Road washouts there are so common that we cannot treat it as we would an unforeseen catastrophe. The Outer Banks move naturally. Those who build fixed structures on it should assume all the risk. Good luck.
DarnThatDream
Speak for yourself!!!
Trust me, when I say that my taxes will not be paying for those folks who want to live in the Atlantic Ocean!!!!
Even the sharks are telling everyone to stay out of their neighborhoods!!!!
@MerUNCC13 - Don't worry about wygit. He/she will never will be happy with anything or anyone. Their only enjoyment in life is to criticize others and kick around their misery.
@wygit - Bring it. There is nothing that you can say that will change my mind that you are a miserable person who enjoys complaining and criticizing. You are not part of the solution.
Jerry, Even if there was additional Ferry Service to serve Hatteras Island (besides that between Ocracoke and Hatteras) you would still have to have a road to get you around on the island with all the houses and businesses on the island - that is unless you are planning on tearing all those down and having nothing out there, which isn't at all feasible.
I'm a working stiff guy and I have a house on Hatteras Island. There is a lot more to Buxton than just wealthy hedge fund operators trying to hide income. There are generations of residents who live and work there just like many do elsewhere. There is a great school system and thousands of kind full time residents who love the ocean and the life. Before you condemn people for not choosing your way of living, take a moment and see what we've found. Not perfect. Sometimes difficult....but it is worth the effort. Take away the insurance and such and you still won't find these people leaving. Just won't happen. The investors will flee but not the residents.
BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!! is it any wonder that we can't get anything done in this country?? I was raised to believe that I could complain about anything, as long as it wasn't just complaining..Good Lord people can't we even come together in the midst of a national tragedy like this one, I guess if it was in your back yard the story would be a whole lot different...Oh but you would never have this tragedy happen to you, would you? TRAGEDY let me count the ways it dumps on all of us in one form or another!! Then we could all find fault with SOMETHING you should or shouldn't have done if you weren't such a "lazy, selfish, ignorant, and foolish american" Then that's when you would stand back in total shock, wondering "how could people in this country be so insensitive?" "Love your neighbor as yourself" Now is not the time to throw these people under the bus, there'll be plenty of time here soon for all the experts and you fine folk to give your pearls of wisdom..Just remember the old saying "there but for the grace of God go I"
People need to strengthen shores.
In Wisconsin, we have a law that prevents anyone from building within 400 feet of the natural water line. This is because the public owns the beaches, not individual wealthy landowners.
States with ocean frontage would do well to establish similar rules. Not only does it preserve the coastline and protects every citizen, but it prevents the ugly development of McMansions hogging the coastline, as seen in the photos.
Also, if you don't have money for my Medicare or Social Security that was promised, then I don't have money to rebuild Hwy. 12 in NC. You folks are all for states rights until there's a calamity. Then, it's get the "gummint to hepp me quick!"
I am not asking the GOVERNMENT to HELP me (that's how you spell those two words by the way) I am not an idiot (I can spell and pronounce big words like government) and I am definitely a tax paying middle class American and I live on Hatteras Island. My house is just fine post Hurricane Irene as it was post several other Hurricanes.
There are disasters in all parts of the USA-lets close down Kansas due to the possibility that once every few years there will be a tornado to wipe out a town.
I was so happy to have power back earlier today, but some of the comments here make me wish I'd never logged on. Dig deep- into your heart- not your wallet and see if you can find some compassion for your fellow humans.
I have no problem with my tax $ fixing the road to Hatteras. I live 1 mile from the beach in NJ and cant even use it as its all developed and all private. Yet, our tax $ not oly pay to protect the multi million $ homes on the beach, if you try and walk on the sand in front of the governement built beach you will be arrested by local police. In Hatteras, anyone can freely use the beach or ocean rgradless of where they live. As long as access if free and unrestricted to the public its fine to fix it. Look at what your federal tax $ pay for beach replensihement in NJ if you want to gripe.
Its a little bit of heaven I would like to see saved!
Isn't it a blessing that God created us last! Can you imagine what this world would look like if we had been first?
One of the 10 top beaches in the United States. Don't think we should be letting go of that!
One of the 10 top beaches in the United States. Don't think we should be letting go of that!
No one is letting go of the beach. We'd just like to see the bridges, roads and McMansions eliminated. Development too close to the seashore is ruining it. Nature has a way of reclaiming what is hers. Until people wise up and realize this, we'll be throwing tax dollars into the ocean, into volcanos, and into fault lines, trying to create beautiful second homes for wealthy people that could care less about the rest of us and would cut our throats if it meant they paid lower taxes.
If the Corps of Engineers comes in and determines that the Outer Banks are uninhabitable in places where the sea has come in, no one will be able to rebuild there. I live in Florida and the peninsula I live on took a direct hit from Andrew. The Corps came in and condemned the properties and it took an act of Congress to allow residents move back in. It is called the Royal Harbour Act, part of the Congressional record. So far we are safe but that could change.
My mother lost her house in Katrina and the county bulldozed her whole neighborhood. No one has ever moved back there.
I hope that is not what these people face.
…If we really are concerned with “preserving the seashore” then we should keep man out, but that’s really not anyone’s motivation. “Follow the money”
I’m torn on this, and I hate to admit it as an Objectivist supply sider, but no one really feels too sorry when someone incurs damage to one of their many pieces of investment property.
Also, just like the folks in CA and other places, don’t build, or more importantly, rebuild your homes in areas of routines river floods, wild fires, mud slides, hurricanes etc. and look for any sympathy or financial help from public sources. The Indian tribes were smart enough not to settle in these areas after the first few seasons.
But as always, “follow the money”. NC, like VA needs the tourist industry dollars, especially now since the FDA has driven the tobacco industry to China, South AM and Russia. So new roads will be coming to an outer banks near you real soon
Sounds like some people on here need sometime else to take up their time! I have found that most of the people who complain are most of the problem! What happened to a kind word or helping thy neighbor? Some of you people turn my stomache! There has been some comments about THINGS PROMISED, you mean check, RIGHT, go work for yourselves!
Dear MkeMike: Karl Marx thanks you for your useful idiocy.
MkeMike,
Sounds like you think no one should build on fault line either. Maybe if you ever visited the Outer Banks you would understand why people love it so much.
The locals don't need the hard road as much as the rich who build those ugly ,five bedroom rental barns. Who in their right mind would build a house on a sand dune where the closest rock is 4000' straight down? The I got money investment crowd, that's who. They can care less about the fragile beauty of the banks!
Don't keep inviting these mean, jealous people to come and see OBX for themselves! I am not rich by far, but I love to visit and stay there a few days a year. I hope they can get it all together again some how. Anywhere you lilve now has a chance for horror to happen by mother nature. Doesn't Yellowstone have "Old Faithful"? What does everyone think that is? LOL. There are SO many natural things happening EVERYWHERE I can't believe people are complaining because it really could be your turn next wanting that help from anyone. Yes and I agree I don't think the locals are rich, they work hard to make it a nice place to live and visit. And I'm sure that this area generates LOTs of tourism money to NC.