Outer Banks Businesses Welcome Tourists Back After Power Returns

Businesses on Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands are welcoming tourists back after a week-long power outage. 

Ocracoke resident Daphne Bennick was on her way to the mainland Friday when the evacuation order was lifted for parts of the Outer Banks.

“There was just this solid line of traffic traveling south towards Hatteras Island," she says. "We were all never so happy to see so much traffic.”

Bennick owns The Back Porch Restaurant & Wine Bar on Ocracoke. When the power went out and the islands evacuated, she closed.

The outage came during peak tourist season. In addition to loss of income, Bennick says some temporary workers decided to leave and won't be coming back.

“Ocracoke has a finite population. There aren't people in place to replace those workers. There's a big toll [with such outages] on the business community both financially and logistically.”

Since the outage was first reported on July 27, crews have built an overhead transmission line to restore power to the islands. Bennick's happy she can now reopen her restaurant.