Hit Hard By Hurricane Irene

Belhaven To Oriental, NC On The Rebound

Hurricane Irene made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on August 27th. Two days later, Dr. Linwood Pendleton, of Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, embarked north on the Intracoastal from Beaufort, NC on his 38-foot trawler. Pendleton, along with those on a few other boats he encountered, was among the first to witness the havoc Hurricane Irene wreaked on the waterway. “Channel markers were missing; the water was full of doors, trees, telephone poles, and even fish cleaning stations,” he said.

The property around the River Forest Marina Manor house is back to normal after severe flooding during Hurricane Irene | Photo Credit (Left): Owner and TowBoatUS Captain Axston Smith). | Photo Credit (Right): Michelle Lotker

Two weeks later, Belhaven, Washington and Oriental, North Carolina, are among the waterfronts still recovering from Irene. Flooding in the area pulled up dock pilings and inundated homes and businesses. Axson Smith, owner of River Forest Marina in Belhaven and a TowBoatUS captain, echoed what many in the area were saying, “This is the worst flooding we’ve ever had, and my family has been here since 1947.”

In Washington, boats in Captain Sam’s Boatyard were lifted off of their stands by storm surge. Yard foreman Tom May said “My house is nine feet above the ground and I still had water in my living room.” McCotter’s Marina, located across the street, was described as looking like “a bomb went off” with boats and docks twisted together by wind and waves.

Left: Floodwaters reached the top of the railing on the gazebo, submerging electrical boxes along the dock during Hurricane Irene at Belhaven Waterway Marina (Belhaven, NC). | Right: Belhaven Waterway Marina back to normal and open-for-business two weeks later. | Photo Credit (Left): Courtesy, Les Porter | Photo Credit (Right): Michelle Lotker

Things are slowly returning to normal. In Oriental, John Deaton of Deaton Yacht Services, also a TowBoatUS captain, has seen the return of routine work. “This is the first day [since Irene] that we’ve had time to do any non-salvage work.”

Les and Brenda Porter of Belhaven Waterway Marina didn’t have power for 10 days after the storm due to flooding but they’re back up and running. The town of Belhaven is also looking towards the future with the construction of a dock for transient boaters in progress. Boat traffic immediately after the storm was stifled by damage to the Great Bridge Lock and forest fires in the Dismal Swamp but both routes have reopened in time for the seasonal north to south migration of transient boaters on the waterway.