Hurricane Irene Damage to Sunset Grille at Duck, NC

Aug 31, 2011; 2:59 PM ET

Two months ago, I fell in love with the town of Duck on the North Carolina Outer Banks. With the help of some YouTube videos, I was able to do comparison shots of the Sunset Grille in Duck, NC before and after Hurricane Irene. I took the “before” shots when I was there on June 16th, 2011.

The shot above is from the dock on the ocean; the shot below is from the parking lot. As you can see, it lost most of its porch and dock, and took a lot of damage on its first floor, but the building remains intact.

The back view, zoomed in. The Grille’s Facebook Page dispelled media rumors that the restaurant was completely destroyed, and hopes to open back up soon.

And last but not least, I got my picture taken on a bench beautifully done in a tropical theme. I couldn’t find an exact comparison but I got an overhead shot showing that the bench, and the deck it was on, are completely gone.

Some of the people of Duck were caught off-guard by the surge, which was more severe than most had ever seen. That’s because Hurricane Irene was a worst-case scenario for them, passing close by, but to the northwest, where the eyewall winds would push the water in the sound northeast, directly into the town (and, in fact much of the Albemarle sound would have been pushed eastward, then sloshed northward).

Since it hadn’t happened in a long time, they thought it couldn’t; only three such storms have been in that specific configuration since 1950: Connie, in 1955, Donna, in 1960, and Charley, in 1986.

For more information on the damage in Duck from Hurricane Irene, search YouTube for videos or check out the Town of Duck on Facebook.