By Mike Hixenbaugh
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 31, 2011

A line of cars stretched for miles across the Wright Memorial Bridge early Tuesday as tourists rushed to salvage what was left of their Outer Banks vacation plans after Hurricane Irene socked the barrier islands.

The congestion was a welcome sight to restaurant owners, hoteliers and rental property managers from Southern Shores to Nags Head.

"Those cars are a real good sign," said Cherie Harris, manager of The Dunes seafood restaurant in Nags Head. "That's how we all survive here."

Tourism officials from Virginia Beach south to North Carolina's Dare County are working to spread the word ahead of the typically busy Labor Day weekend: We're open for business.

Tourists have been calling Virginia Beach officials.

"They're asking things like, 'Is the Beach open? Should we still come? Is the power on?' " said Pam Lingle, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.

A banner announcement on the city's website says: "All of our resort hotels, restaurants and attractions are open, our beaches are beautiful and the sea is sparkling."

Conditions are dicier along the Outer Banks, which was hit particularly hard by hurricane-force winds and tidal flooding. Lee Nettles, director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said undeterred tourists returned in droves Tuesday as beaches north of Hatteras Island reopened to the public.

"That's a good sign," Nettles said. "Fortunately, we have a loyal and determined visitor base."

The scene was grimmer south of Pea Island, where Irene shredded N.C. 12, the coastal roadway connecting Hatteras Island with the outside world.

"We can't afford to be cut off," said Frank Lihvarchik, co-owner of Rocco's Pizza in Hatteras Village.

Lihvarchik said Rocco's - one of the few businesses on the island with power and a working phone line on Tuesday - will lose about $5,000 every day the road is closed. He and others say they hope state officials open a temporary ferry to shuttle visitors onto the island. "There aren't enough locals here to sustain a business of this size," Lihvarchik said.

The last hurricane to cut off passage across the island was Isabel in 2003. That breach, just south of Frisco, isolated only the towns of Hatteras and Ocracoke, which relies on the ferry from Hatteras. It took almost two months and $5 million to repair the road. Gov. Beverly Perdue said Tuesday the state will release a short-term plan in the coming days to get traffic flowing on N.C. 12 within a few weeks.

Ferry service between Cedar Island and Ocracoke Island and from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke resumed Tuesday, but for Ocracoke residents and emergency personnel only.

North of Hatteras, retailers hustled to clear debris and stock shelves. At Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant, staff worked to restock the seafood after all their freezers were damaged behind repair in the storm. The soundside restaurant is one of several in the Nags Head area that took on heavy floodwaters. Managers hoped to reopen by the weekend.

"Everyone's getting ready," The Dunes' Harris said. "The crowds are coming."

Kristi Gonzales and her family drove overnight from their home in Bellmawr, N.J., and then waited more than two hours to cross Currituck Sound on their way to a beach house in Corolla.

"This is our only vacation this year, and we were determined to have it," Gonzales said. "Now we are going to make the best of it."

John Harris, owner of Kitty Hawk Kites, hopes more tourists share that attitude. Harris operates 15 locations throughout the Outer Banks. Four of them are south of the break in N.C. 12, and one location flooded, he said. But the other 10 shops were open Tuesday.

"It doesn't matter if we're open if people don't come," Harris said. "The beaches, of course, are as beautiful as ever, and so I'm hopeful tourists will keep coming through the remainder of the season."

Most visitors to the Outer Banks rent beach homes by the week, said Ali Breaux, president of Sun Realty, which manages about 1,200 such properties. About 1,000 of the homes managed by her company remain accessible, Breaux said, and "they've already started filling up."

Hatteras Island is a different story, she said. Most people who booked vacation homes there for this week bought insurance and will be refunded, Breaux said. Many of those who didn't buy insurance - including those who had booked rentals through September and into October - have called asking for refunds.

That decision is up to the property owner, Breaux said. "There's no obligation to refund their money."

Pilot writer Aaron Applegate and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mike Hixenbaugh, (757) 222-5117, mike.hixenbaugh@pilotonline.com

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