Exposed N.C. islands the first to feel wrath of Earl
BUXTON, N.C. - The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 110 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina's dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storm's projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.
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The first bands of heavy rain hit the long ribbon of barrier islands Thursday night. The downpours started in several bursts as the storm's so-called rain shield whirled into the southeasternmost tip of the Outer Banks.
Hurricane Earl's winds were slowing, from 140 mph early Thursday to 110 mph, Category 2 strength, by 8 p.m. But forecasters warned that it remained powerful, with hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or more extending 70 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 35 mph reaching more than 200 miles out.
National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane was expected to get as close as 55 miles east of the Outer Banks about 2 a.m. today. The coast is expected to be lashed by hurricane-force winds for a couple of hours.
Earl's arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast. During its march up the Atlantic, it could snarl travelers' Labor Day weekend plans and strike a second forceful blow to the vacation homes and cottages on Long Island, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod.
It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land. But Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said people shouldn't wait for the next forecast to act.
"This is a day of action. Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," he said.
Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket Island, Mass., planned to set up a shelter at a high school today. North Carolina shut down ferry service between the Outer Banks and the mainland. Boats were being pulled from the water in the Northeast, and lobstermen in Maine set their traps out in deeper water to protect them.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri declared a state of emergency. Similar declarations also have been made in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
As of Thursday afternoon, though, the only evacuations ordered were on the Outer Banks, which sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean like the side-view mirror on a car, vulnerable to a sideswiping
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