Nor’easter just carved a raging ‘river’ through Outer Banks camp, video shows

A raging “river” was carved smack through the middle of a popular Outer Banks campground over the weekend by that fierce nor’easter.

Cape Lookout National Seashore posted video Wednesday that showed the flow was wide enough to force the park to close some cabins in Long Point camp area for the rest of the season.

“Both cabin camps had ocean overwash create a ‘river’ through the middle of the camp, running from the ocean back to the (Core) Sound,” the National Park Service in North Carolina said in the post.

“The current created during the overwash could be quite strong as can be seen in this video of the flow through Long Point Cabins on North Core Banks.”

The flow, which the park says was not permanent, created one positive outcome: The overwash dragged enough sand across the island to fill “in the deep holes that had been scoured in the old harbor road by Hurricane Dorian.”

“Another large cut at mile 16.5 on North Core Banks has also been filled in on the beach side. Mother Nature has decided to remodel the island again, this time in our favor,” said the park service on Facebook.

Forecasters predicted the nor’easter would bring up to 10 inches of rain, 50 to 60 mph gusts and waves in the 22-foot range to some areas of the Outer Banks Friday through Monday.

Flooding was widespread both on the Outer Banks and coastal areas of the mainland, with Beaufort, N.C., posting photos on Facebook of water lapping at stores on Front Street Monday.

Cape Lookout reports flood waters also hit the historic Portsmouth Village, a site filled with structures that predate the creation of national park.

The newly carved inlet is the latest example of the Outer Banks’ intensifying struggle with the changing environment and rising sea levels.

Cape Lookout in particular is still dealing with the consequences of Hurricane Dorian in September. That hurricane eroded the back side of the barrier island and sliced dozens of new inlets between the ocean and the sound, the News & Observer reported in September.

“This level of breaching and sound-side impact is really unprecedented,” Western Carolina University geologist Rob Young told the newspaper.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 6:37 AM with the headline "Nor’easter just carved a raging ‘river’ through Outer Banks camp, video shows."