Hurricanes and the NC Outer Banks

I vacationed at the NC Outer Banks a couple of years ago. A Pacific Ocean hurricane actually crossed over into the Gulf of Mexico and across the southern US to follow us out there, arriving the day before us. It washed away much of the beach at our hotel in Nags Head, and even destroyed a wooden deck that was built outside the hotel's breakfast area. All night the waves washed the underpinnings of the hotel, so that I spent the night wondering if the hotel would collapse; some pictures I took can be seen here.

Anyway, during our visit we got out to Roanoke Island, which is within the Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds area, and not actually on the Atlantic itself. Roanoke Island is where Sir Walter Raleigh set up his first North American colony, the one we now know as "the Lost Colony" (the colonists, unsupported by the mother country and left to fend for themselves, dwindled and mixed with the Native Americans in the area). The island is half tourist destination and half fishing port. Manteo, on the north side of the island, is the touristy area, and Wanchese, on the south side of the island is the working/fishing area. It's a poor area, rather redneck. One of the amusing things we saw in Wanchese was a single-wide trailer lifted 10 feet off the ground on the sort of stilts you see on beachfront houses. Wish I'd taken a picture of it at the time, but I'm afraid that Hurricane Irene is going to put that trailer and its stilts to the test this weekend. I hope he does the smart thing and evacuates to the mainland.