OCEAN ISLE BEACH (AP) — A building expert says the collapse of a second-story deck at a house in Brunswick County indicates the deck may have sustained storm damage.
Twenty-one people were injured, five of them admitted to hospitals, after the deck collapsed in Ocean Isle Beach Tuesday night. The 21 had gathered on the deck for a picture.
North Carolina Building Inspectors Association President Glenn Batten says the deck should have held that many people.
Batten says the fact it collapsed tells him the deck may have suffered hurricane damage. He says if the house had been through the winds of a couple of hurricanes, some of the fasteners may have been pulled and stretched to their limits.
The investigation into the cause of the collapse continues.