I just received this newsletter from Rick Drumm, Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Ocean Realty. He said in his opening note that everyone has been emailing him regarding the conditions, so he devoted his newsletter this month with the below information:

Open for business Thursday

The Dare County Control Group Monday night announced that visitors would be welcomed back to the northern beaches beginning Thursday at noon. The Control Group acted on a recommendation generated during a 90-minute meeting in Nags Head earlier where property managers, tourism officials and restaurateurs discussed the best time to invite visitors back.

The welcoming note does not include any of the beach road area in Kitty Hawk, South Nags Head or towns on Hatteras. Duck and Southern Shores had allowed visitors to enter town as early as last Saturday, causing chaos for property managers whose companies had not yet been able to prepare to receive them.

The meeting Monday afternoon just an hour before the Control Group meeting and led by Visitors Bureau Managing Director Carolyn McCormick was an impromptu attempt to avoid similar confusion and present a unified message to visitors. Some property managers favored a Friday opening as they have not been able to even contact some of their workers who live in neighboring counties that were affected by Hurricane Isabel.

Restaurant managers mostly favored the earlier opening, but the group did reach consensus on the Thursday date.

Breach to be repaired

At the same meeting, R.V. Owens, who toured the Hatteras breach area with Gov. Mike Easley and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, reported that plans were underway to repair the breach and replace the washed-out part of NC 12.

Owens said Ridge assured the governor that no permits would be required to fill the breach. It should be repaired in about 30 days. It will take the Army Corps of Engineers five days to mobilize, and they will then spend 17 days pumping sand into the breach. When it is filled, NC DOT will need about five days to replace the roadway.

Dare County Commissioner Renee Cahoon, chairwoman of the Control Group, also reported at the meeting that a new water line bored under the sound should return service to the Hatteras Village area in about two weeks.

Kitty Hawk beach recovery will be slow

In Kitty Hawk, as was reported yesterday, the town council condemned all structures on the east and west sides on NC 12 within the town limits and passed a moratorium on any land disturbing activities on contiguous lots for 30 days.

The structures were condemned for lack of power and water, and people still in those homes were made to leave. No travel is allowed along NC 12 in town except by emergency authority of the interim town manager.

Assistant Town Manager Adrian Miller estimated that 10-15 houses were actually destroyed, and a total of 30 were probably damaged greater than 50 percent of their assessed value. He said it could take two weeks to restore power and water.

In the meantime, the building inspector will survey the condemned structures for structural damage. Those without structural damage will have their condemnations lifted once power, water and access are restored and septic service is verified. Damaged properties will require the appropriate permits for making repairs. Complicating this effort however is that the town has only one building inspector, and its CAMA officer, Damien Brink, left to take a job in Florida last month.

Nags Head brought in CAMA personnel from Elizabeth City to set up a major permit office in town hall and called in six building inspectors from other coastal communities to help with its 202 structural condemnations. Kitty Hawk's could exceed that, but as of Monday afternoon, the town had not taken steps to augment its staff.