Residents, businesses back at it on Wrightsville Beach, thankful Dorian wasn't another Florence

By Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter

Wrightsville Beach, N.C. — It’s clear from the beautiful sights of the area on Friday that Hurricane Dorian didn’t make a dent in Wrightsville Beach.

A stormy Thursday night turned into a beautiful Friday in record time. No one was more eager to get back them business owners. They wanted to see if they had any damage. They also wanted to see if it was possible if they could re-open Friday. A lot of them did in light of the fact that there were so many people on the island.

“Yeah, we weren’t thinking it would be as bad as (Hurricane) Florence,” said Jim Radle, who owns 22 North, a fine-dining restaurant. He hoped to open by 7 or 8 p.m..

“It was a fast mover, not much of a rain dropper, and this building holds up pretty well,” Radle said. “We can’t complain. We’re lucky it didn’t hit us harder. We are blessed with that.”

It looks like, for the most part, everything held up pretty well in Wrightsville Beach. It was very good news for people who experienced Florence’s devastation here less than a year ago.

“We were prepared for the eye to come closer to Wilmington, but thankfully it just stayed right off the coast,” said Elie Tilgham, a resident of Wrightsville Beach. “So, yeah, we were definitely very lucky.”

Wilmington also escaped damage. This rising water during the storm in the North Chase community brought back bad memories of Hurricane Florence when dozens of homes here flooded.

“A lot of us got hit hard,” said Wilmington resident Lita Cecerre. “We’re still recovering from Florence.”

Thankfully, the water receded after Dorian, and their homes were spared, but they were ready for it.

“Put everything up on stilts, sandbag, put as much out of the house as possible that’s valuable,” Cecerre said.

Governor Roy Cooper visited a church in New Hanover County just hours after Dorian moved north.

“They got hit hard by Hurricane Florence and knew the fury of a hurricane,” Cooper said. “This storm, it looks right now, at least preliminary, it did not cause as much damage as Hurricane Florence.”

The business owners we talked you were very surprised not to have water inside. During Florence, Lumina Avenue, the main thoroughfare in the commercial area, was flooded and each business got up to a foot of water inside.

And for that, people here are thankful.

“Our daughter lives over here and they stayed despite the evacuation,” said Cammy Bain, a Wilmington resident. “A lot of people did. And they didn’t even lose a single shingle on their house, I mean nothing.

“We were thrilled about that because last year they lost their whole house to Florence.”

Of note, the Coast Guard opened the Port of Wilmington on Friday. Traffic was restricted to daylight hours only for now. Also, UNC Wilmington reported little damage to the campus. Students are allowed to return to campus starting at noon Saturday. Classes resume Monday.