The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-09-23
HIGHWAY PROGRESS THOUGHT
FACTOR in BRINGING HIGHER
TIDES in HURRICANE DISASTER
Man+eo-Oreeon Inlet Deep Water Channel May
Have Paid for It's Cost in Manner Not Expect
ed; Highway Fill Held Up Water on Mays Head
Soundsde; Citizens Rally From Donna's Cost
y Rampages.

cane Donna along the N. C. coast
conversation has developed many
theories why the tide water in
Manteo and Mays Head Soundside
was higher and more damaging
than ever before.
Chief among theories is that the
new bypass along Mays Head
tended to hold back the water along
the shore of Roanoke Sound
whereby buildings were m or e
readily undermined, and subject to
prey of winds. But drainage bitches
of this road, other bitches built by
hurricane funds, released the wa
ter quickly, and there were not the
usual large ponds left standing.
Had it not been for the newly
completed deep water channel be-
tween Manteo and Oregon Inlet,
it is believed the tide would have
been much higher. For this chan
mel, which never existed before,
is some 400 feet wide and IL feet
deep, and can accommodate gi-
gantic flow of water, ocean bound.
There was so much water COM
ing back from the upper sounds
where it had been forced earlier
in the storm, that it rose higher
than ever before when it met so
many new barriers erected by
modern progress.
Since the last hurricane tides
from the northwest, the Coatan
Sound bridge has been created,
which now tends to hold up the wa
ter, and divert the flow more
strongly down Roanoke Sound.
Prior to the building of the
bridge and causeway leading to
Mays Head, there was no resist
ance offered in Roanoke Sound to
such tides, for then they flowed
freely across the marshes, and
sometimes across the flats as a
short cut to the sea.
Since the building of the first
beach highway, and the Roanoke
Sound causeway tides have been
increasingly higher as the beach it
self began to grow higher through
sand fixation and reforesty pro-
jects.
Dare Comfy is beloved to have
suffered a loss of two to three mil
lion dollars in property damaged,
principally north of Oregon Inlet
where most resistance to tides
was offered.
Some citizens express the opinion
that the new, deep channel on the
east side of Roanoke Island may
have saved million dollars in
property loss.
Heavy losses were sustained by
the principal Manteo merchants.
Modern stores, heavily stocked with
costly merchandise, were flooded
depth of more than two feet
above previous hurricane tides.
Federated Stores, Manteo Furni-
ture Co., DAYS Department Store,
the Fearing stores, and many
others had an almost total loss of
stock and fixtures as well. Fix
lures, like the floors, were swol-
len and ruined, burst out and had
to be replaced. Some stores have
had to put in new floors before
opening for business.
Tide came four inches high over
courthouse floors, something which
hasn't happened before, and dam
ages to steel equipment will be
heavy and more manifest later as
rust sets in.
Due to roofs being blown off,
and buildings swept away, the dam
ages on Mays Head was heavy. On
the ocean side there was heavy
damage from loss of roofs, par
ticularly those not solidly bolted on,
and which was followed by UNI
braced walls which then collapsed
under force of the wind.
AS previously reported, there
were sections of two of five fish
ing piers swept out in the Mays
Head area.
Insurance Claims Filed.
Due to the sudden demand for
insurance reimbursements, TIL e
companies have been unable to re-
ceive claims rapidly. A notice has
been issued by stock insurance
companies, advising persons with
insurance claims to notify the
agent from whom they bought
their policy. The notice should ex-
plain the extent and type of dam
age, and have an estimate of the
damage made out by a competent
carpenter or contractor attached to
it. With more than $50 claims from
Dare County alone it will take con-
siderable time to process them. 1t
must be born in mind that in most
cases, policies have deductive
clauses. For instances, policies
written before February 1868, on
three year period cover the full
loss. Then policies written before