CURRITUCK Co., N.C. - People throughout northeast North Carolina are picking up the pieces after storms earlier in the day left lots of damage and flooding throughout the area.
At Tarheel Produce off of Caratoke Highway in Grandy, you’d find lots of standing water Wednesday.
Meanwhile, just up the road, Flippers Arcade and Laser Tag took on a lot of wind damage from the storms.
“It’s just crazy,” arcade owner David Shields told News 3. “It just came really quick.”
Shields’ arcade has a little more than 80 pinball machines, some taking on damage Wednesday.
“The first thing [I thought] was I was glad nobody got hurt,” he said. “I could hear it raining all night. I just knew usually a rainy day is a busy day here. I was like, 'Well, we’re going to have a busy day today,' but unfortunately, we were closed.”
Shields described the storm captured on security video from Wiseguys Pies across the street.
“Next thing you know, it just blew out the window; the doors flew open, the back doors flew open back here and then we lost a bunch of the roof,” he said.
Shields added debris from the building ended up hitting a restaurant next door.
“Naturally, you don’t think it’s ever going to happen to you,” Shields said.
He went to Facebook to post an update on the damage.
He's thankful for community support, and that damage was only minor to some of the pinball machines.
“At least it won’t be that hard to restore them and get them back to good shape again,” he said.
Chesapeake resident Amy Luallin often visits the arcade to play pinball when driving to the Outer Banks. Wednesday’s news left her in shock when she tried to come and play and the arcade was closed due to the damage.
“It’s horrible,” Luallin said. “I hate to see that [happen] to this place. Since COVID-19, it’s the first time I’ve been here, and I can’t get in to play pinball. Hopefully, on my way back Sunday, I’ll be able to stop then and play.”
For Shields, this experience won’t pin him down.
“At least it didn’t tear the whole building down [and] I didn’t lose all of my pins or my arcade up front,” he said.
Shields told News 3 he plans to reopen the arcade Thursday. Currituck County Emergency Management officials also told News 3 there were no reported injuries in the county, overall, from Wednesday’s weather.
