Newlywed ring lost in Beryl high water

NAGS HEAD, N.C. (WAVY) - For many in Nags Head, a waiting game has begun.

10 On Your Side has been in the Outer Banks covering Tropical Depression Beryl’s effects, and heavy amounts of rain have left many in Nags Head in standing water.

Work crews are not out working in the area today as most of the water will drain off naturally.

No one is hoping for evaporation to take place more than Pennsylvania couple, Jonathan and Tanya Simpson. The couple is on their honeymoon with their family and were married on Tuesday.

While the newlywed husband was taking a bag of trash out in the storms, his wedding ring came off and is now lost in the standing water in the yard.

The ring hadn't even been on his finger for 24 hours.

"If we can't find it, we will buy another, but that one means a lot to me because that's what I came down here for, and that is to get married," says Tanya.

"The garbage can started moving by itself, so I went to throw something into it, and as I threw it the ring left my hand," says Jonathan Simpson. The ring then sank in the two feet of water covering the front lawn.

Tanya and Jonathan are not quite at the point of dismissing this as "it's just a ring."

"I came out with my nice dress, and with all my clothes on, and I had my goggles on to try to find it," says Tanya.

In the yard, everyone searched for the ring. The father of the bride, Randy Kreitzer, used a metal detector.

A total family effort to find the ring was underway, although the ring likely sank to the grass below the surface. The grass is a little long, and the ring likely got embedded in the grass, so you can't see it by looking, you've got to drag your fingers through the grass.

Elsewhere in OBX
Down the road in Nags Head, Marty Slayton, the owner of the Cavalier Surf Shop, becomes emotional about the loss she's endured in the past 24 hours.

Slayton stood battered and beaten, but she's still standing, and comforted by son Jerry Slayton who comes to her after she becomes emotional and puts his arms around her.

"So I got everything cleaned up, put them up on the deck, and at the time we were standing in ankle-deep water." Jerry adds. "Every time a truck drove by it sent a wake of water into the store. It was awful. It was awful."

There's a rich history of survival at the Cavalier Surf Shop. There's a picture of the Cavalier in a local Nags Head History book. In the picture it was one of a few buildings still standing after the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962.

The storm destroyed much of Slayton's inventory. In a cottage behind the surf shop there are lots of boxes with water stains, the water mark means the shirts are soaked.

"No, it's soaked. Everyone of them is soaked ... I guess we can have a flood sale," says Slayton. "It's real bad. Real bad. We are going to survive. People are coming in and buying things. They are lifting our spirits. We are going to be OK. We are going to be OK."