Carteret Co. Fares Well; Only Minor Damages Reported In Hanna’s Wake

By Philip Jones
Reporter
Published: September 6, 2008

Hanna started pushing in to the Crystal Coast Friday night, and her strongest wind bands battered Carteret County early Saturday morning.

Some gusts topping 70 miles an hour were reported there.

All in all, though, the county fared well.

There were reports of minor damage – the playground was leveled at the Sheraton in Atlantic Beach and a tree reportedly fell on a house on Country Club Road in Morehead City.

While many areas to the west of here saw lots of rain, the story in Carteret County was mainly the wind.

Throughout the night, waves pounded up on the shore in Atlantic Beach.

The storm surge reached the bottom of the dunes in some places, but no major erosion problems were reported in Carteret County.

“Overall, I think we fared pretty well,” said Rudi Rudolph with the Carteret Co. Shore Protection Office. “What we’re hearing and seeing so far … is that we did lose a little bit of sand off the beach and there may be a little bit of very minor dune erosion in very localized areas.”

The Point in Emerald Isle is one of the most endangered areas in Carteret County when it comes to erosion.

But town manager Frank Rush says the area fared very well throughout the storm and didn’t lose much sand.

Hanna is also being blamed for several spotty power outages, but Carteret-Craven Electric Co-op says those problems should be resolved.

A few downed trees were also reported, but none caused major damage.

Folks who live here say it’s not going to take too long for life to get back to normal.

“I think most of them are pretty much already back [to normal],” said Diana Hartman, from Cape Carteret. She and her husband spent the morning surveying the surf in Emerald Isle. “On the way, over we saw some people already out cleaning their yards and stuff. The wind feels good – it’s beautiful, it’s comfortable. You get a little sandblasted on your feet, but you know, it’s been worse. We’re just out enjoying it.”