Why are Duck's Cottage Coffee & Bookshop and all the soundfront shops located at the Waterfont Shops in Duck, NC closed and when will they reopen?
Dare County (Duck), Currituck County(Corolla) and our neighbors to the south- Hatteras and Ocracoke- took major hits from a soundside storm surge following the eye of Hurricane Irene. As the eye passes, it sucks water out of waterways. This water has to return and has the power of the wind behind it causing serious storm surge. Wind damage from Irene was minimal. Water pushed by the wind is was what got us. Hatteras Island is cut off again. Boats are strewn around the Outer Banks like toys and while the beach zone looks great, many many residential communities where year round Outer Bankers live were flooded with two to four feet of water.
In the grand scheme of things this could have been much worse. But Irene left us a mess to clean up before we can get back to the business of serving our customers.
None of the shops had any real problems caused by water in the buildings. Major damage is to the soundfront boardwalk and stairs. A structural engineer has surveyed the property and says the buildings are structurally sound.The big issue is that the storm surge ripped all the plumbing, wiring, and ductwork from under the buildings; and pushed debris, sand and mud into the parking lot. Electricity and water are all that is needed for us to open the shop. The same is pretty much the case at the Blue Point. I will say they do have a mess, they are dealing with getting back in business and right now do not know when that will be.
Electricity restored to the Cottage is an unknown at this time. Our water supply line runs the entire length of the shopping center and ends at the Cottage. (Just before writing this we heard from several sources that we will have power and water back today. If that actually happens (coffee cup half full!!) we could be serving coffee by tomorrow or Friday. ) The repairs to the rest of shopping center could be completed in 2-3 weeks if we understand correctly. Our landlords Jimmy, Bill & Matt hit the ground running Monday morning to get the mess cleaned up and the place put back together. All their hard work and retaining contractor Tom Haddon to oversee the project has resulted in much progress being made in just the first two days. I don't think Ty Pennington could get this job done any faster. The Town staff and Dare County Health Department have also been very helpful with the process of getting us all back up and running. The Town has a lot on their plate right now- there is extensive damage to the brand new extension of the Boardwalk, the new pier, the kayak launch, the soundside shoreline and even to NC 12.
We hope this helps everyone understand what happend the night Irene came calling and what is being done to fix what she tore up. We will do our best to keep you updated on cleanup and repairs at the Cottage and the rest of the Waterfont shops. Really can't answer any questions about other parts of Duck or the rest of the Outer Banks because I have not been anywhere but home and the Cottage.
Our thoughts are with those hit much harder by Irene than we were. We would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and kind words as we cleanup and make repairs. Hope to see you all soon.
Allen Lehew, Owner
Duck's Cottage
An Update from Duck's Cottage
