Oak Island devastation not as severe as expected

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — After Hurricane Matthew, one would assume the devastation of the beach community of Oak Island would be pretty severe, but that was not the case.

While video of the Oak Island pier made many think the rest of the area would take a similar hit, it didn’t.

Just a week after Hurricane Matthew passed through North Carolina, Oak Island and the area around the pier was much better than expected.

Jim Ring, a resident of Oak Island, left during the storm and was surprised to what he found when he came back.

“When I got back, it was actually, I don’t want to say nothing happened but very little happened here.” Ring said.

The sand dunes along the beach area, along with the pier, were the most affected after the storm.

After losing much of the back end of the pier due to the large waves from Matthew, part of the pier is closed.The rest of it is back open and operational.

Many people were seen fishing off the pier Sunday, including Donald Johnson.

Johnson came down from Burlington to visit his brother’s property in Oak Island.

When he arrived, he realized it wasn’t as bad as he had thought and he was going to enjoy his weekend.

“So we just came down to check out the property and have a little down time.” Johnson said.

Despite the erosion and part of the pier being lost, Carolyn Riggan, an employee of the tackle shop on the pier, says that Oak Island was blessed and things are back to business as usual.