COROLLA — For some residents and vacationers who decided to weather the storm on Currituck’s Outer Banks, Hurricane Earl’s arrival was a lot closer to a rainy day — minus the regular vacation traffic — than a demonstration of nature’s fury.

Earl, once a Category 4 storm, kicked up some rough surf and dumped enough rain to flood sections of N.C. Highway 12, but for the most part, the storm did not appear to cause serious damage.

Bill and Donna Robinson, residents at the Villages at Ocean Hill, said the storm left only a minor mark on their flood-prone neighborhood. The Robinsons were making a late-morning run on Friday to assess how the subdivision’s new drainage system was working. In one section still awaiting drainage work, the water stood a few inches deep after Hurricane Earl. Bill Robinson estimated that a single day of rain would result in the same amount of standing water.

The neighborhood has seen its share of flooding in days past. Before the property owner’s association invested in a new natural gravity drainage system, Sand Castle Drive would flood with water 18-inches deep during a heavy nor’easter. The morning after Hurricane Earl, Bill Robinson eyed less than an inch of water pooling near the drain and declared himself satisfied that the new system was working.

The Robinsons did not anticipate big problems from Hurricane Earl and decided to weather the storm at home.

“We didn’t expect it to be that bad based on what (forecasters) were saying,” Bill Robinson said.

The couple has evacuated on other occasions when hurricanes approached closer to shore, but they felt safe staying home this time.

For vacationers Christine Cox and Thomas Miller, their decision to stay had its tense moments, but on Friday morning they were happy to have another day at the beach before returning to their home in Philadelphia, Pa.

The decision to stay wasn’t easy, said Cox, especially after her brother and his two sons packed up and went.

“You could feel the frantic energy,” as van doors in the neighborhood slammed shut and vacationers hastily departed, Cox said.

Miller said he decided to stay because the evacuation was for tourists only. Had local residents also been told to evacuate, his family would have left, too, he said.

“If it was really bad, the residents would have to go too,” Miller explained.

Early Friday, both Cox and Miller watched the storm unleash “a solid hour and a half of pummeling,” Cox said. Their 2-year-old son Warren slept through the storm, although he stirred at times and clung tight, she said.

Early Friday afternoon, the family was on the beach watching the tightly packed waves collide offshore, splashing up white fans of spray before plunging downward. Miller eyed the stretch of beach off the Currituck Southern Beach Access on Ocean Trail and said he was glad beach erosion did not appear too bad.

The family planned to leave today with one unexpected advantage — they will not have to contend with heavy traffic exiting the Outer Banks during the weekend’s changeover of vacationers. Most of the vacationers — at least until today — are already gone.