As cleanup continues, Snor'eastercane Sandy's wrath is still being felt in many locales along the Atlantic coast. On Hatteras Island, North Carolina the hurricane damaged the only bridge on and off the island, and also left parts of the coast weak when a nor'easter hit a week later.
The Bonner bridge is open again, but as so often happens along the scenic, but storm-vulnerable barrier island, a big chunk of Highway 12 — Hatteras Island's backbone — was washed out. The damage has been an inconvenience for everyone, but people with 4x4 trucks can still drive over rutted sand to get through the bad section. The island's unfortunate two wheel drive vehicle owners have been relegated to taking two-hour-long (one way) ferry rides from someplace called Stumpy Point which is pretty squarely in the middle of nowhere.
But a group of enterprising tow truck drivers who live and work on Hatteras Island worked out a deal with the authorities and are ferrying two wheel drive cars across the big sandy patch where the highway washed out.
The price isn't cheap — it's $25 for a ride across the sand patch and $50 to go all the way across the bridge on the islands north end. But when the alternative is taking a long ferry with limited crossing times and priority given to emergency supplies, it's not a bad option.
Photo credit: Associated Press