CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- The Carolina coast escaped major damage from Hurricane Earl, and no serious injuries have been reported, but if the storm had veered just a little to its left -- as meteorologists feared it might -- it could have been a lot worse.
Red Cross volunteers from the Charlotte area staged at the coast in case that happened.
Craig Jeske is a Red Cross volunteer who's helped out during the San Diego wildfires and after Hurricane Ike in Texas.
He went to Wilmington to prepare for Earl's strike and waited.
"There were a lot of folks standing on the beach watching the waves, watching the sky, waiting for something to happen and not much happened," said Jeske.
Earl was busy soaking the outer banks to the North, but Jeske says what was happening behind the scenes in Wilmington was worth the trip.
"It was a really good dry-run for them down there, to get people in positions, so they can staff their own emergency response," said Jeske.
He said when volunteers from different places work together they learn from each other, then bring that home.
"Every time you go down, you learn, you deal with people, you work with people and you hear other peoples ideas about things. So its always a learning experience," he said.
