irricane Ophelia was nothing 

 like Isabel. It was more on the scale of Alex. 

 We had sand on N.C. 1 2 in several areas 

 — Ocracoke, Hatteras Village, north of Buxton, 

 north of Rodanthe and south of the Oregon Inlet 

 bridge. In areas north of Buxton, we had three 

 to four inches of sand on the roadway. Most 

 of the sand was wind-blown. Very few areas 

 experienced overwash from the ocean back over 

 the dunes. The main issue we dealt with was the 

 high winds that lasted so long and blew the sand 

 off the beaches and onto the roads. 



eer for Dare and Currituck counties, 

 of Transportation 



LEFT: The Salter Path community on Bogue Banks 

 took a hard hit. Many homes and businesses along the 

 sound suffered severe damage. 



HURRICANE OPHELIA TIMELINE 



• Sept. 7, 2005 - Tropical Storm Ophelia named when located 1 1 5 miles east- 

 southeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. 



• Sept. 8, 2005 - Briefly upgraded to hurricane strength before losing power. 



• Sept. 9, 2005 - Storm begins northeastward motion. 



• Sept. 1 1 , 2005 - Ophelia stalls about 235 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C. 



• Sept. 1 2-1 3, 2005 - Storm makes slow loop. 



• Sept. 13, 2005 - Storm becomes hurricane again. 



• Sept. 1 4, 2005 - Ophelia's eyewall brushes the North Carolina coast near 

 the Cape Fear River. 



• Sept. 1 5, 2005 - The storm's center passes south of Cape Lookout and 

 Cape Hatteras before leaving the coast of North Carolina behind. 



Ithough Cape Lookout National Seashore did 

 not experience the level of damage that it did from Hurricane 

 Isabel in 2003, Ophelia's slow passage over the length of the 

 seashore exerted tremendous force on the barrier islands. 



A damage assessment overflight conducted by the park 

 on Friday, Sept. 1 6 revealed that Ophelia's fury cut a channel 

 across Cape Lookout Point, created a new inlet 1 .5 miles south 

 of New Drum Inlet, and significantly widened Old Drum Inlet 

 which had been almost closed. Employees of Cape Lookout 

 National Seashore have nicknamed the new inlet "Puppy Drum 

 Inlet." The new inlet will be allowed to close, or remain open 

 naturally. Coastal managers are watching to see how the Old 

 Drum Inlet and Puppy Drum Inlet interact with each other. 



RIGHT: A new inlet, nicknamed "Puppy Drum, " was cut south of Old 

 Drum Inlet on Cape Lookout National Seashore. 



HOLIDAY 2005 



