Aug. 21, 2025

Protecting Ocracoke Island and the only road in and out of it

Protecting Ocracoke Island and the only road in and out of it
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Protecting Ocracoke Island and the only road in and out of it

Right now, Hurricane Erin is churning offshore, pushing waves over dunes and spilling water across some roads. That’s not unusual along N.C. Highway 12 in the Outer Banks. But a new collaborative study finds that some of the very efforts to protect this road whenever a major storm comes through may actually be making Ocracoke more vulnerable in the long run. WRAL climate reporter Liz McLaughlin has been digging into the findings.