Michael changes to extra-tropical storm and causes unexpected Outer Banks flooding

Oct. 13--MANTEO, N.C. -- Soggy books lay scattered over the floor of the Downtown Books store on Friday morning a few hours after Tropical Storm Michael had passed.

Owner Jamie Anderson stood in leopard-print rubber boots, shocked by what had happened at the business on Sir Walter Raleigh Street.

"We usually move everything up and out, but I didn't feel like it was that urgent," she said.

The Outer Banks got a surprise about midnight.

A cold front blew in as Michael passed, shifting winds suddenly from southerly to northerly late Thursday, and pushing about 3 to 4 feet of sound water into the streets, said Hal Austin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morehead City. Peak winds in Dare County reached 68 miles per hour a few miles away at Oregon Inlet just before 11 p.m. Thursday.

Michael transitioned from a tropical storm to an extratropical cylone, said Dare County emergency management director Drew Pearson.

Storms like Michael can transform from tropical to an extratropical cyclone as they reach middle latitudes with winds as strong as a hurricane or a nor'easter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Those are a tougher thing for forecasters to nail down," he said.

Still, weather experts called for 2 to 4 feet of storm surge, Austin said.

In Kill Devil Hills, residents went to bed thinking the worst had passed, said Mayor Sheila Davies. About 1 a.m., she began getting texts from property owners saying water was running under their homes. By 2 a.m., she declared a state of emergency.

Propane tanks, large poles, limbs and other debris settled on the street as the waters receded. Snakes swam through inundated yards. A large boat was left stranded along First Street. City crews began clean-up at daybreak, Davies said.

"It looked like a war zone this morning," she said. "It was a lot worse than expected."

Manteo shop owners moved merchandise and furniture to the sidewalk and swept water out the front door mid-morning Friday. Electric fans whirred to help dry the place.

Anderson moved stuff out of the way for Florence, Matthew and Arthur, but not for Michael. Watermarks on the interior door frame the record of each storm's flood level. Michael surpassed all of them but Irene.

"I'm not sure this place was meant to be a bookstore," Anderson said.

Next door, floodwaters had saturated about $20,000 worth of John Silver's original pieces.

"In my value, they were priceless," he said. "Everything happens for a reason, I believe."

Kitty Hawk Kites on Queen Elizabeth Avenue might be the lowest building in Manteo and employees typically place everything high before a storm. Not this time.

Store manager Debi McCormick, her daughter-in-law Becky McCormick and granddaughter Taylor McCormick were picking up stacks of soaked T-shirts and beach towels ringing them out before placing them in a bag for insurance inventory later.

"This is a lot, a lot, a lot of water," she said. "Maybe we could have a flood sale."

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