As Hurricane Sandy continues to churn to the northeast of Cape Hatteras, effects of the powerful storm continue to be felt all along coastal North Carolina.

State Department of Transportation crews will assess the extent of the damage on the roadways as soon as conditions allow. High tide occurred Monday at 8 a.m. and pushed more water and sand onto the roads. In addition, sound side flooding is beginning and similar weather conditions are expected to continue through the day, with additional damage likely to occur.

Due to overwash, U.S. 158 in Kitty Hawk near Kitty Hawk Road is heavily flooded and motorists are advised to avoid the area. N.C. 12 remains closed from Rodanthe to the Oregon Inlet Bridge.

Crews and equipment are staged along N.C. 12 to assess road damage and bridge conditions as soon as the storm passes, water recedes and conditions are deemed safe. This is NCDOT’s standard operating procedure following any weather event along the Outer Banks.

Most ferry operations were suspended over the weekend and will remain suspended until conditions improve. NCDOT does have a solid recovery emergency plan in place if needed with additional ferries on standby. The Southport-Fort Fisher and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach routes are operating on normal schedules.

NCDOT will issue additional updates when weather conditions subside and crews are able to better assess the damage sustained in the storm. This is expected to occur no earlier than Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, there are up-to-date information about travel conditions through NCDOT’s Twitter feeds. As the storm progresses, the department will continue to send out tweets about road closures, flooding, ferry service and evacuation routes as necessary. You can follow @NCDOT for real-time updates and first-hand accounts of Hurricane Sandy’s impact via photos and videos. Instant access to information about conditions on the coast allows residents and property owners to stay inside and avoid unnecessary travel while conditions remain unsafe.

There are Twitter feeds for the northern coastal region, the southern coastal region and the ferry system. A list of NCDOT’s 18 Twitter feeds is available at www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter.



Valuable travel information is also available through the department’s other social media tools – Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Storify, Pinterest and Instagram.



Additional resources are available on the NCDOT website:

Traffic conditions/Advisories/Maps

Hurricane evacuation tips and maps

Ferry information

511, the state’s toll-free traffic line

Safe driving tips