Beach re-opened, curfew lifted in Surf City after Hurricane Florence

SURF CITY, NC (WWAY) — A beach closed to visitors since Hurricane Florence is officially back open.

Hundreds of homeowners and business owners filled a town meeting in Surf City this morning to find out the future of their beach town.

The town has been under a state of emergency for more than a month. Town council voted to not have a curfew on the island and vacation rentals are now allowed to be rented by visitors.

Mayor Doug Medlin said the beach is now reopen, but there is still a lot of debris on the beach and many beach accesses are not usable.

The town said it could take six months for dunes to be repaired. On Saturday, Oct. 27, the town is holding a beach clean up in Surf City starting at 8 a.m. at Soundside Park.

Many businesses still have not been able to re-open. Many of the ones that have say business is slow. Sandi Lowry said she wants to see more communication and support from the town.

“Sadly, the town promoted, ‘We’re really thankful it happened in an off season,’” Lowry said. “It’s extremely frustrating, because the businesses are open. The restaurants need people to come and dine there and the boutiques and retailers need people to come and shop there.”

Medlin apologized during the meeting for some of the lack of communication.

Medlin said they are working to bring in more than 350,000 cubic yards of sand at a cost of more than $14 million. The town said it could take six months to repair the dunes and at least three weeks for all of the debris to be picked up.