Response
Co-op Praised For Post-Irene Action
A North Carolina co-op has won raves from members for power restoration efforts after Hurricane Irene struck its Outer Banks service area last summer.
Hurricane Irene ripped apart Highway 12, the only road going to and from Hatteras Island. (Photo By: Lonnie Moore)
Nearly 95 percent of all residents thought Cape Hatteras Electric Co-op, Buxton, did a good or excellent job in restoring power to the Outer Banks island after the Aug. 27 storm, according to a recent survey by the “Island Free Press,” an online newspaper.
“Kudos, guys and gals! Wow! What an outstanding job!” wrote one of the 2,211 survey respondents from Hatteras and Ocracoke.
And this more measured, but still positive, review: “A friendly live person answered. We reported a downed power line coming from a neighbor’s house. They were there quickly to handle it.”
The storm caused $2.2 million in damages to the co-op. At one point, Hatteras Island had lost its entire transmission system, leaving all of the co-op’s 7,581 electric meters in the dark. Within one week after Irene, Hatteras Island’s seven villages were operating on generators.
“We lost mainland power and for nine days were relying on generators to power the island,” said Laura Heitsenrether, the co-op’s marketing and communications specialist.
The co-op made permanent repairs to the 115-kilovolt transmission line coming from the mainland Nov. 11.
“In 2003, Hurricane Isabel severed the highway between two of the island’s seven villages,” Heitsenrether said. “But we never had a storm cut the entire island off as severely as Hurricane Irene did. It’s nice to know that 95 percent of our members gave us a pat on the back for the efforts put forth after the storm.”
But amid the good news, many of the island’s businesses and residents are still struggling to recover. Flooding damage was especially severe on the island’s northern sound side.
“There are many islanders who have not worked since late August, and our businesses don’t start reopening until about March,” said Irene Nolan, the newspaper’s editor. “It will be a long winter for those who suffered physical damage, but just about all on the island suffered economic damage and lost income.”
And the co-op itself is still dealing with residual effects. It’s monitoring poles sitting near new inlets of water created by the storm, and it’s also coordinating with state officials as permanent plans are made to fix the temporarily repaired Highway 12.
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