KITTY HAWK, N.C. — The red flags towered over the beach accesses in the Outer Banks Wednesday afternoon. We’re almost six weeks away from the end of this year’s hurricane season and the Outer Banks has mostly been spared. But the community has been heartbroken to see the impacts in other areas and understand that just one storm can have devastating impacts for years.
At the National Weather Service in Newport, North Carolina, the thought hasn’t been how big Hurricane Helene was, but the wide-spread devastation it caused.
Watch: Outer Banks community steps up to support areas impacted by Hurricane Helene
“I think what stands out for both of these is just the magnitude of impacts has been very high and far reaching. Helene's impact wasn't just Florida. I mean, it went all the way up through the Appalachians, large part of the southeast. So, that one had a big footprint," said Roger Martin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City.
Ongoing research is happening at NWS taking a look that we might be seeing less major storms, but the impact that even one major storm might have is increasing.
“It's not saying that every hurricane is going to reach the level of intensity that Helene and Milton have reached, for example. The probability of any hurricane developing reaching those higher categories, that probability is higher," said Martin.
The Outer Banks is no stranger to a major hurricane, especially on Hatteras Island.
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“Hurricanes for us, they’re just catastrophic, there’s no way around it," said Brian Harris, who has lived in Buxton for more than a decade.
That’s because geographically, the Outer Banks sits further out into the ocean. But it’s also the fact that the island is surrounded on one side by the sound and the other by the ocean.
“We really have to deal with flooding with multiple wind directions. So what that means for the Outer Banks is that just increases the odds that you're going to have coastal flooding, storm surge issues, no matter which direction a hurricane is coming from. So, that's a unique vulnerability," said Martin.
Though the Outer Banks has been mostly spared so far, experts say Helene and Milton serve as a reminder that a major storm can come at any time.
