Late Monday, the North Carolina Department of Transportation closed Ocracoke Island’s only thoroughfare “out of an abundance of caution,” as high tides brought ocean overwash flooding, the agency said in a social media post.

By Tuesday morning, the ocean had breached the dune, flooding the road in “deep water,” NCDOT said. There was no timeframe for when N.C. 12 might reopen, and ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke is suspended until it does..

Schools on Hatteras Island and Ocraocke operated under two-hour delays Tuesday morning, with high surf advisories in effect through 11 a.m. and flood watches up through 2 p.m.

Virginia braces for potential flooding, up to 4 inches of rain from tropical cyclone remnants

NCDOT reported N.C. 12 on Hatteras Island was open and passable Tuesday morning, but secondary roads in Rodanthe were “inundated with ocean overwash.”

“Additionally, over the next several days, the seashore expects varying levels of ocean overwash in Hatteras, Buxton and Rodanthe, and possibly near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge visitor center,” the National Park Service said in a news release.

In Rodanthe and Buxton, rough surf from the storm this week coupled with higher-than-usual tides due to the full moon, damaged several oceanfront homes already threatened by ongoing erosion.

The park service urged visitors to avoid the beach on the north end of Rodanthe due to debris from building materials and parts of septic systems on the beach and in the water. Authorities are also keeping an eye on several condemned oceanfront homes in Rodanthe and Buxton that appear to be in imminent danger of collapse.

The storm system was expected to reach the South Carolina coast Monday afternoon and then move inland across the Carolinas from Monday night through Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Strong winds were approaching the coast Monday morning and were expected to spread onshore.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from Edisto Beach, South Carolina, northward to Ocracoke Inlet, near the southernmost extreme of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

The low-pressure system was centered Monday morning about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Charleston, South Carolina, and about 85 miles (140 kilometers) south of Cape Fear, North Carolina. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving to the northwest at 3 mph (6 kph), forecasters said.

The system still had a chance of becoming a tropical or subtropical storm, but forecasters have said those chances may have started to decrease since it seemed to have become less organized.

In an updated hurricane outlook last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was still predicting a highly active Atlantic hurricane season thanks to near-record sea surface temperatures and the possibility of La Nina. Emergency management officials have urged people to stay prepared.

Maximum winds were expected to decrease as the low approached the coast, but tropical-storm-force winds were still expected to occur within the warning areas. It would likely dissipate over the Carolinas by late Wednesday, forecasters said.

The storm was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain in northeast South Carolina into southeast North Carolina and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in isolated spots, with smaller amounts expected across the remainder of North Carolina through Tuesday, according to forecasters.

Over much of Virginia, 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 8 centimeters) of rainfall, with locally higher amounts, were expected from Monday night through Wednesday. The hurricane center predicted the rainfall could lead to isolated and scattered flash and urban flooding, as well as minor river flooding.

The Southeast coast also could expect rough surf over the next few days, forecasters said.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Gordon weakened to a depression as it swirls through open ocean waters. Gordon could either dissolve in upcoming days or strengthen back into a tropical storm, forecasters said.

Started in 2011 in Wilmington, North Carolina, before moving north to the Outer Banks in 2016, the event takes place Monday through Wednesday at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head.

Sponsored by the Wilmington-based Cucalorus Festival, it features music, food, drinks and, of course, 14 surf-based films, including 11 shorts (3-20 minutes) and three features (40 to 90 minutes).

Many of the filmmakers will be on hand for question-and-answer sessions.

Though there are plenty of wave-riding and exotic locales in the films, they address subjects such as the environment, the world and different cultures that should engage non-surfers.

The films are at times poignant, comical and thought-provoking.

“Surfing is a great backdrop,” said Dan Brawley of Wilmington, who calls himself the “chief instigating officer” at Cucalorus, which formed in 1994. “But there are stories.”

Case in point: Ben Judkins’ feature-length, immersive documentary “The Cigarette Surfboard,” the festival’s opening film, examines littering on the beach and how “surfing can create a platform to spark ocean mindfulness and stewardship.”

Spoiler alert: The Southern California-based surfer, who will be on hand, hits the waves on a surfboard made of butts collected on the beach.

Other films in the lineup include “Walkabout: The Songlines of Surfing,” which focuses on the longstanding friendship between an Australian pro surfer and his mentor, and “Lola,” which follows a “nomadic musician-athlete” who uses the name “Goth Babe.”

Another highlight should be a three-minute film titled “Sleepwalking,” which captures a surfer hitting the icy-cold waves on the northeast coast of the United Kingdom at first and last light of the day.

Closing the three-day festival, which coincides with the Eastern Surfing Association’s annual year-end competition at Jennette’s Pier, is the documentary “Channel Man,” which chronicles the short but impactful life of an eccentric Hawaiian surfer named Col Smith who rode channel-bottomed boards (designed to give grip and speed with different faces).

“The films are about adventure and surfing, for sure,” said Zach Hanner, the festival’s director and head of the curating team (32 films were submitted) in Wilmington. “But also about finding unclaimed land to do your dance.”

Hanner also is a member of Coastal Carolina, which plays original “southern-fried Hawaiian” music.

The band, along with the accomplished dobro and steel guitar player Billy Hardeen, kicks off the festival at 6 p.m. Monday.

In addition to the films, music, surf-story-swapping and refreshments, the three-day event includes the North Carolina Oyster Trail Social Hour.

It’s designed to raise awareness of the oyster industry in the state and its impact on tourism.

“It’s a pretty chill environment,” Brawley said in describing the festival.

North Carolina Aquariums and Dare Arts are partners in the event. See surfalorus.org for details and ticket information.

Beginning Monday, N.C. Department of Transportation crews will reinstall offseason speed limit signs along sections of N.C. 12 on Hatteras Island, weather permitting.

Speed limits in areas through the tri-villages of Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo and Frisco on Hatteras Island will return to 45 mph from their seasonal limits of 35 mph. Offseason speed limits also will resume in several areas of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, including near the Haulover Parking Lot south of Avon, NCDOT said in a news release.

Speed limits on the section of N.C. 12 from Duck to the Currituck County line used to change seasonally, but last year they became 35 mph year-round due to safety concerns.

Though summer tourism has slowed on the Outer Banks this month, NCDOT advises motorists to continue driving with caution, as there are still many motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians as well as many visitors through the fall months.

The lower seasonal speed limits will return in May.

At first, Nawal Baker thought she’d been bitten by a shark.

The 30-year-old Henrico resident and a friend were swimming in the ocean Sunday by Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head when she felt a severe pain on her foot. Knee deep in the Atlantic, she feared she was about to be pulled under, and yelled for her friend to get out of the water while heading for shore herself.

“I was looking down initially, because the water is so clear, and just as I looked up, I felt something. I was 100% sure it was a shark,” she said.

When she got out of the water, there was a “good amount of blood,” and it looked like someone had stabbed the top of her foot with a pencil. It didn’t take long to figure out the culprit was a stingray, not a shark.

“It looked like nothing, but the pain was indescribable,” she said.

Baker credits Debbie Wilson, a paramedic from Virginia, for keeping her calm as she was treated on the beach before being taken to the hospital.

“Debbie held my hand from start to finish, my eyes were on her the whole time,” Baker said.

Ray stings are relatively uncommon on the Outer Banks, local experts say, but do happen — we just don’t always hear about them.

“When our staff gets stung while teaching surf lessons, we simply have them soak their foot in a bucket of hot water, which helps immensely,” said Daryl Law, spokesman for Jennette’s Pier.

There are several types of stingrays in the waters around the Outer Banks and coastal North Carolina, with the Atlantic stingray the most common, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. A video from Jennette’s Pier on Sept. 1 showed several butterfly rays in the water around the time Baker was stung.

Rays are bottom-feeders with flattened, oval bodies and a long, venomous spine for self-defense. They can reach up to 6 feet long, but most are roughly 2 feet when encountered, the DEQ website said.

Law said people often confuse stingrays and harmless skates, noting rays “have whip-like tails that possess a sharp barb shaped like a long fingernail. Skates have sticker-like bumps on their tails but no stinging barb.”

Treating Baker’s sting began on the beach with hot packs, then continued in the hospital with immersing her foot in nearly scalding water, which helps neutralize stingray venom. Baker said she went into the ocean “knowing full well” she was sharing the water with plenty of sea creatures, but she didn’t expect an encounter with a stingray.

“The most traumatizing thing was thinking there was a shark and trying to shove my friend out of the water,” Baker said. “I genuinely thought that was the last moment of my life.”

Now, Baker’s thinking about getting a stingray tattoo on her foot when the wound heals.

Wildlife experts say ocean swimmers and waders can avoid rays by doing the “stingray shuffle.”

“Just shuffle your feet across the bottom and stingrays will feel the vibration and swim away, decreasing chances of being stung,” Law said.

A 0.3-mile stretch of beach in Buxton already had been closed for more than a year, with the expansion adding about a quarter of a mile more, the park service said in a release.

The beach is now closed from the southern end of beachfront homes in the village of Buxton at the end of Old Lighthouse Road to south of the old lighthouse jetties. The closure includes the beachfront in front of the southern groin and the Old Lighthouse Beach parking lot.

“The closure may change over the coming days based on ongoing field observations,” the release said.

Park rangers noticed “strong petroleum smells” Thursday morning along Old Lighthouse Beach, near the former U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard facilities just north of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse’s original site, the park service said.

They also found erosion from strong winds and wave action this week “uncovered significant quantities” of concrete, rebar, wires, PVC and metal pipes, metal fragments, and cables at the former military site.

“Soil and groundwater that is apparently contaminated with petroleum from historic military use of the site is now exposed to the beachfront during low tide, and wave action during high tide,” the release said.

All Buxton visitors should stay out of the area, the park service said.

Rangers reported observations of the petroleum exposure to the National Response Center, operated by the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and other state of North Carolina agencies that assist with pollution response, the park service said. The park service also requested assistance from the Regional Response Team, an interagency team that can help coordinate response and provide technical advice during oil spills or pollution events.

On Sept. 1, 2023, the park service closed two-tenths of a mile of beach near the exposed debris, then expanded the closure in March to roughly three-tenths of a mile.

In May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed one pipe at the site thought to be leaking petroleum on the beach. Cleanup efforts have stalled as federal agencies and the military grappled with who is responsible.

The site is part of a 25-acre area the park service formerly leased to the military. A Navy base operated there from 1956 to 1984 on a submarine monitoring project kept classified until 1991. The facility was then used as a Coast Guard base until 2013 before returning to park service control.

After some recent fox squirrel sightings in Currituck and other areas of the state, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is turning to the public to help confirm the species has moved into those areas.

The fox squirrel is the largest tree squirrel in North Carolina, nearly twice the size of the more common gray squirrel, the commission said in a news release.

“It lives primarily in mature longleaf pine and open pine-oak forests in the sandhills and southern coastal plain,” the release said, but has been verified in western parts of the state where there are open hardwood forests surrounded by pastureland. According to the North Carolina State Parks website, the fox squirrel’s range has primarily been west of the Albemarle Sound.

Fox squirrels look different, too. Though they have a variety of colors including gray, black and rust, those spotted in the coastal plain are usually gray with patches of black on the head and feet and white patches on the nose, paws and ear tips, the commission said. Some are nearly all black with dark gray patches and those in the northwestern part of the state are often tawny with some white patches.

If you see a fox squirrel, state wildlife biologists ask that you take a photo, note the location (GPS coordinates preferred) and contact NC Wildlife Helpline, via email at HWI@ncwildlife.org.

The commission is especially interested in sightings from Currituck, Lincoln, Granville and Madison counties.

The Coastal Humane Society invites all four-legged friends and their humans to attend its 5th Annual Soggy Dog Pool Party at the Outer Banks Family YMCA on Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For just $10 per dog (cash or check at the gate), your furry friends can enjoy a day of splashing fun while supporting the Coastal Humane Society’s Emergency Assistance Fund. To keep owners and their pets safe, proof of vaccination is required to attend.

The Outer Banks Family YMCA is at 3000 S. Croatan Highway in Nags Head.

The eatery known by the slogan “Hot Soup for Cool People” moved into the site of a former Arby’s at 1901 S. Croatan Highway nearly a decade ago and was a popular spot for locals and tourists.

“Since December 2014, we have ladled our way through the years serving our wonderful Outer Banks community that has never let us down and we thank you for all of your support, as well as our friends that have come from near and far to visit us while they vacation here, we thank you!” the post said.

The franchise owner and Ladles Soup corporate office did not return requests for comment. The restaurant posted several times in late July and throughout this month that it would be closed due to illness.

“This winter will be a little colder without Ladles soup,” Kill Devil Hills Mayor John Windley said in reply to the farewell post.

At one time, the South Carolina-based Ladles Soups had 12 franchised restaurants, but with the Outer Banks closure, only two are left, one in downtown Charleston and the other in James Island, South Carolina.

The whale was stranded in Corolla’s Ocean Hill neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, with beachgoers calling for help and trying to keep the whale alive by dousing her with buckets of ocean water.

Marina Doshkov, database technician and marine mammal stranding coordinator at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, said the female whale, scientifically known as kogia breviceps, was euthanized and taken to the North Carolina State University Center For Marine Sciences and Technology for a necropsy.

Veterinary students and representatives from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Aquariums were involved in the exam, which showed a severe crassicauda infection, a common finding in sperm pygmy whale deaths, Doshkov said.

Pygmy sperm whale euthanized after stranding on the Outer Banks

Crassicauda is found in many species of whale, purpoise and squid, among other animals, and attacks the central nervous system, spinal cord and brain.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports sperm pygmy whales have been stranding along the southeast coast this month, Doshkov said.

“Ten-year average shows that August is the most popular time to see kogia stranding, so it’s pretty typical for this time of year,” she said in an email.

Sperm pygmy sperm whales are a toothed, deep-diving species found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, according to NOAA Fisheries. Little is known about the species, which is considered rare and under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The stranding is the seventh whale death on the Outer Banks and in Virginia Beach this year. Within one week in March, three whales stranded in Nags Head: a pregnant dwarf sperm whale, her nearly full-term fetus and a juvenile male believed to be her offspring that was too young to survive on his own.

Doshkov said Thursday she is still waiting for a histopathology report to shed light on their deaths.

Earlier in March, a 26-foot female minke whale was found dead north of Corolla on the four-wheel drive beach. The whale showed evidence of infectious disease, Doshkov said.

The Outer Banks strandings came days after the deaths of two humpback whales that washed up March 2 and 3 in Virginia Beach. Scars on both animals revealed they had been entangled during their lives.