In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I drove down to the Outer Banks to check the damage. Although the area took a beating, the damage is nothing compared to the destruction in parts of New Jersey and New York. I have several friends in Long Island, N.Y., and some just recently received power and others are still waiting.

We had 3 feet of sand under our house in Kitty Hawk, and we made arrangements to have it removed and put back in order for renters. It was a daunting task, requiring earthmoving equipment and good old hand shoveling. It appears the water was a least 3.5 feet under the house, leaving in its wake 3 feet of sand to be removed. The state has been taking this sand one mile down the road to rebuild dunes obliterated by Sandy. Some of our sand was used to rebuild a few oceanside lots that lost their dunes during the storm.

Locals say Sandy was the worst storm they have seen in years — even worse than Isabel because of the winds that battered the barrier island from the northeast.

Saturday night, we made a visit to Ocean Boulevard Bistro in Kitty Hawk. Sandy and a post-storm power failure caused the restaurant to close for a few days.

Ironic that Sandy left us with a lot of . . .  sand!

— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO