Outer Banks buried in sand following weekend's destructive nor'easter

Thursday, November 21, 2019
Outer Banks buried in sand following weekend's destructive nor'easter
Outer Banks buried in sand following weekend's destructive nor'easter

OUTER BANKS, N.C. -- It came. It went. And it left behind a lot of sand.

The brunt of the "no-name nor'easter," as some are calling it, focused on the coast of the Carolinas, particularly the Outer Banks.

"For much of the weekend, winds were gusting over 60 mph around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, fueling massive waves that demolished dunes, exposing homes to the brutal surf," AccuWeather National Weather Reporter Jonathan Petramala said.

In the town Avon, North Carolina, a car was buried in about 4-5 feet of sand from one of the dunes, according to AccuWeather.

Nearby, a swimming pool was filled with sand, rather than water.

"People aren't working this week, most of the restaurants are closed, that hurts everybody," Robin Mills, an Outer Banks resident, told AccuWeather.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation painstakingly pushed back against the surf to plow all of the sand off of the highway, which eventually reopened on Wednesday afternoon.

"This is the third storm like this to batter the Outer Banks since September, and it's getting expensive because, once again, property owners will need to dig out like they would for a blizzard," AccuWeather's Petramala said.

And as AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno pointed out, this may just be the beginning. "Unfortunately, the weather clock is ticking," Rayno said. "We're getting into the nor'easter time of the year. We've already had one. There's going to be more on the way."