Final restrictions from Hurricane Isaias lifted on Oak Island ahead of holiday weekend
OAK ISLAND, N.C. (WECT) - As of 6 a.m. Friday, Oak Island was officially open for business.
A month after Hurricane Isaias swept through the town, people are still waiting for debris and sand to be cleared from the hard hit west side of the island.
On Friday, the checkpoints blocking people from driving stretches of Beach Drive were removed. While mountains of sand still occupy parking lots, and appliances are still on the side of the street waiting to be collected, the island is completely open to renters now.
Town leaders are concerned the sand will make it difficult for day trippers to find parking this weekend, but say they’re unable to move the sand back on to the beach until mid-November when turtle season wraps up. While the majority of the town’s beach accesses are open, about a third are still closed.
Debris pickup is still underway, and will likely be ongoing for the next three weeks.
Mayor Ken Thomas says he’s glad to see the town back in business.
“It feels so good. I know we’re not pretty down there; I know we still have problems,” said Thomas. “We did have to open up after COVID-19 hurt all the businesses and the hurricane hurt the businesses. We got to give them a chance to survive. "
Shalom Dadush owns King’s Beachwear; they’ve been in business for 20 years. Dadush says his building was a total loss after the hurricane came through. The wind and the water damage was so severe the building will have to be completely gutted and all the merchandise that was inside had to be thrown away.
“It’s 2020...2020 is the year with no breaks,” laughed Dadush. “Only the strong survive and we’re strong so we will make it happen.”
Friday, he was setting up a tent outside with new t-shirts and towels, hoping to serve customers coming down for the Labor Day holiday.
Visitors like Denine Hill have certainly noticed the pieces the storm left behind, but say the piles of sand and debris don’t take away from the feeling of being at the beach.
“I really just needed to get away from the four walls at home and get some fresh air,” said Hill. “Seeing it in real life versus hearing it on the news are two different things so it kind of puts reality to it and it’s very scary and sad but it seems like everything’s trying to get back to life here a little bit.”
The remnants from Isaias wont be on the side of the street forever, though; what’s lasting is the resilience and the strength of the people who love Oak Island.
“I’m glad to see all the progress we’ve made…it may be...in April, it’ll be back to a different world,” said mayor Thomas.
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