North Carolina evacuations are underway for all visitors and residents within certain areas and officials are regarding Thursday as "decision day" in determining what other areas will have evacuations due to Hurricane Earl's path.
A category 4 hurricane, Hurricane Earl's is rolling towards North Carolina on Thursday with winds of around 145 mph as forecasters tried to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest gales and heaviest surge would get to the state's fragile chain of barrier islands.
Officials in Dare County, NC, ordered a mandatory evacuation for all visitors and residents of Hatteras Island. Ocracoke Island also has mandatory evacuations.
Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina's Outer Banks, but residents who stayed behind said they were prepared to face down the powerful hurricane.
Governor Beverly Perdue briefed the media early Thursday, saying President Obama has signed a federal emergency declaration before landfall in anticipation of damages.
"We're very ready - as ready as anyone can be," Perdue said.
"There is still concern that this track, the core of the storm, could shift a little farther to the west and have a very significant impact on the immediate coastline. Our present track keeps it off shore, but you never know," National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
Hurricane Earl intensified Thursday, prompting warnings and watches along the U.S. East Coast into Canada, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.Earl, with winds of 145 mph, was 410 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and 870 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Mass., moving north-northwest at 18 mph, the center said in its 5 a.m. EDT advisory.Hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings overlapped along the coast from North Carolina to Maine and into Nova Scotia, Canada.Earl was expected to turn due north Thursday and pick up speed Friday, the NHC said. On its projected track, Earl's center was expected to pass near North Carolina's Outer Banks Thursday night and approach southeastern New England Friday night.The Category 4 hurricane was expected to start losing some of its punch Thursday, however.North Carolina braced for tropical storm-force winds Thursday afternoon and hurricane-force winds at night. Tropical storm-force winds were forecast to reach the Virginia coast to New Jersey late Thursday or early Friday, the center said.A dangerous storm surge will raise water levels anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet, depending on the area, the center said. Dangerous surf and rip currents were forecast from the Bahamas and along the East Coast through Friday.
Two to 4 inches of rain was forecast for portions of eastern North Carolina, including the Outer Banks, the center said. Up to 2 inches of rain was possible along the Mid-Atlantic coast.North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency as did Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.President Barack Obama also declared a state of emergency for portions of North Carolina.Along coastal North Carolina, teams of rescuers, National Guardsmen and repairmen were standing by, The (Raleigh) News and Observer reported. Residents and visitors were evacuated to safer areas in anticipation of Earl's passage near the Outer Banks.Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said supplies of food, drinking water and generators were sent to Fort Bragg, N.C., just in case. The American Red Cross said 31 trucks were en route, equipped to feed people following a disaster. The Salvation Army was making similar preparations."It's been a long couple of days, to be honest with you," said Tommy Hutcherson, who remained on Ocracoke Island Wednesday to run the Variety Store despite a mandatory evacuation order. "It'll be nice when we get hunkered down and go ahead and see what's going to happen, and get it over with."
