Frying Pan Tower owner sees shredded flag as metaphor

For decades, Frying Pan Tower was a Coast Guard Light Tower, 30 miles off of Cape Fear, alerting ships to treacherous shoals.

Now, it's a vacation destination.

“When you're out there, you're looking across the ocean and you're seeing this expanse of blue,” said Richard Neal, the tower’s owner.

In the heart of hurricane season, Neal prepared Frying Pan and left about two weeks before Florence hit.

“We didn't know it was going to turn into what it did, but had an idea that it just might,” Neal said.

He’s referring to the viral sensation created when a live webcam maintained by Explore.org became a window into the coming storm.

Using solar power, batteries and a microwave signal back to a TV tower in Wilmington, the camera captured the full fury of Florence and a now-famous American flag.

Neal watched helplessly from his home in Charlotte as Florence's winds shredded it.

As the live video spread around the Internet, the comments flooded in.

The Frying Pan flag became a symbol of the storm. Neal saw it as a metaphor.

“Knowing that is kind of what we're going through as a country really brought me together with a lot of people saying, 'We will rebuild, we will replace that, we will go on as America,’” Neal said.

He said he’s hoping to get back to the tower this weekend.

He's donating what's left of the flag to the American Red Cross, maybe to auction it for Florence relief.

He says he'll raise a new flag on the tower with a clear message.

“We all have one thing in common,” Neal said. “We're blessed to be Americans."