I'm envious, I would have loved to have been out there!
A few years ago we had five days of strong NEaster out there and I had a blast doing downwinders from south of Salvo to north of Avon. Winds were consistent 30mph and higher with huge waves by the last day (recorded 30 ft swells on the Diamond Shoals bouy). They were breaking on the third sandbar. I was just incredibly fortunate to catch it on a previously scheduled week out there and had four of the best downwinders of my life.
This time I wonder if anyone kited on the Frisco to Hatteras section, looked really good wind direction- and strength-wise (again like a single day two years ago with a ridiculously strong easterly that I was lucky enough to catch). Both times on 6m Best Cabo and what a blast. My experience from Cape Town helped, as being able to jump over broken waves on the way out was crucial, and of course launching off the tops of nearly breaking waves was epic. And just like the SEaster in Cape Town, I was on port, my strong side. On the other hand I was not skilled enough to ride them back in, simply got going too fast for safety and had to bail out each time I tried.
As Dimitri said, the news media hype up the storm exaggerating the wind speed. Several years back I saw a news man in the field touting how strong the winds were. He was leaning into the wind to exaggerate its strength when a guy rode behind him on a bicycle like there was no wind. Pretty funny.