Nightly News   |  August 29, 2011

Outer Banks hoping to recover in time for Labor Day

Electrical lines were damaged, leaving the Cape Hatteras, N.C., area without power. The only way to get back and forth now is by ferry boat. NBC’s Mark Potter reports from Duck, N.C.

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>>> north carolina , of course, is where irene first came ashore early saturday. at first damage was described as light at least in local north carolina terms. that's before we learned 2,500 people were cut off from the rest of civilization. mark potter is in duck, north carolina on the outer banks . good evening.

>> reporter: good evening to you, brian. six people were killed in north carolina . and the property damage estimate is around $688 million. here on the outer banks , business owners are cleaning up the debris from the hurricane. they hope to be back in business before the labor day weekend . that's the last big push of the tourist summer season. the biggest problem here right now is to the south on highway 12 where the wind driven waves breached the road cutting off those 2,500 residents from hatteras islands. the area was cut off from power, the only way back and forth now is by ferry. elsewhere, the recovery is going more smoothly, because the damage there was relatively minimal. back to that road, another problem is,that the last time it was breached back in 2003 , it took some two months to fix it. brian?

>> unbelievable. the southern end of this damage. mark potter . thanks. and thanks for your reporting all weekend.