Earl Blows Past Outer Banks on Path to Northeast

Friday 5:38 p.m. Update

Cape Cod and the islands nearby are the only areas of Massachusetts still under a hurricane warning as Hurricane Earl approaches.

The storm's top sustained winds are now clocked at just 80 miles an hour -- and forecasters say it could weaken to a tropical storm by the time it passes 50 to 75 miles southeast of Nantucket tonight.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says most of Earl's hurricane-force winds are expected to stay offshore of Cape Cod. But just a slight deviation in Earl's track could bring those winds ashore.

That storm's current track will take it very near or just east of Cape Cod tonight and to the coast of Nova Scotia on Saturday.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says his state is well prepared for the storm and he's "confident that we've done everything that we can."

Friday 1:00pm Update

Officials say power has been restored to a North Carolina island impacted by Hurricane Earl. Tom Mather of the State Emergency Response Team says power was restored to Ocracoke Island by Friday afternoon. About 5,000 customers were without power in Hyde County, and Mather says most, if not all, of those outages were on Ocracoke. That leaves about 1,700 customers without power in Dare, Currituck and Craven counties.

Friday 11:12 a.m. Update

MIAMI (AP) - Earl weakens to a Category 1 hurricane on track for Northeast, top sustained winds near 85 mph.

Friday 10:16 a.m. Update

A weakened Hurricane Earl howled past North Carolina's Outer Banks before daybreak today on its way up the East Coast.

It flooded parts of the narrow vacation islands and knocked out power but stayed farther offshore than feared. There's no immediate report of injuries.

Earl arrived a less menacing storm than it was a day earlier. By the time it sideswiped North Carolina, its winds had dropped to 105 mph from 145 mph.

Its center passed about 85 miles east of Cape Hatteras -- up to 50 miles farther out than forecasters had feared.

Forecasters expect Earl to remain a large hurricane as it swirls its way up the Eastern Seaboard toward New England. Forecasters say it will stay away from New Jersey and other mid-Atlantic states but pass very close to Long Island, Cape Cod and Nantucket.

Friday, 7:45 a.m. update:

NC Gov.: Earl left no major NC damage, injuries

North Carolina's governor says the state's Outer Banks appears to have avoided serious damage or injuries as Hurricane Earl blew past.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said Friday that reports from the barrier islands brushed by Earl overnight offered nothing but good news by daybreak.

She said survey teams would fan out to check whether erosion from the waves churned up by the storm caused any property damage between the Oregon Inlet and the Virginia border. Communities there include Kitty Hawk, Corolla and Duck.

Perdue says the beaches and businesses south of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands are open.

She says the state was prepared to handle thousands of people in shelters, but it was unclear Friday morning how many people took refuge in the shelters as the storm passed.

Friday, 6:35 a.m. update:

Earl's center passes east of Cape Hatteras, NC

By MIKE BAKER

Associated Press Writer

BUXTON, N.C. (AP) - Hurricane Earl's center has passed east of Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's coast as the storm's powerful gusts and driving rains churned over the Outer Banks and is being felt in southeastern Virginia.

The hurricane's maximum sustained winds are at 105 mph early Friday. While the National Hurricane says weakening is forecast, Earl is expected to remain a large hurricane as it approaches southern New England.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada.

Sustained winds of about 30 mph were whipping the North Carolina coast and the U.S. Coast Guard station at Hatteras reported a gust of 67 mph just before midnight.

Earl had weakened Thursday but even its edges were packing powerful winds as it heads up the Eastern Seaboard.

Thursday, 8:27 p.m. Update

(CNN) -- Even as Hurricane Earl weakened Thursday evening down to a Category 2 storm, East Coast residents scrambled to ready themselves ahead of its arrival.

Earl now has maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, the 8 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and into Massachusetts, where a hurricane warning was issued for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the surrounding area. A hurricane watch was also issued for the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

At 5 p.m. ET, Earl's center was about 185 miles (300 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and about 670 miles (1,080 kilometers) south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Two more tropical systems are in the Atlantic -- Fiona and Gaston. Fiona is on track for Bermuda, and as of Thursday afternoon, Gaston wasn't threatening any land.

Read more on Gaston and Fiona

But for now, all eyes are on Earl.

President Obama is "closely monitoring" Earl's developments, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. On Wednesday, Obama signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts. The order also makes federal funds available to states.

Teams are in place or on standby to assist states along the East Coast, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said, and supplies were being moved into two incident-support bases in case they are needed.

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm, which is larger than California, to pass close to North Carolina's Outer Banks on Thursday night. It is expected to take aim at southeastern New England on Friday night.

The storm's track shifted slightly to the west, closer to North Carolina's Cape Hatteras. The hurricane center has posted storm watches and warnings for areas as far north as Maine.

Officials in Dare County, North Carolina, issued mandatory evacuation orders Thursday for visitors to the coastal county, including the Outer Banks.

The order also applied to residents in the town of South Nags Head and Hatteras Island. Dare County schools and courts are closed Thursday and Friday.

Earl concerns homeowners along coast

"Residents of Dare County have been through this many times," the county's emergency response coordinator, Warren Judge, told CNN's "American Morning." "And they have their own individual practices and procedures to get their homes and businesses secured and prepared for the oncoming storm. What we need to happen now is for the visitors to heed the warning, to evacuate."

Earl is a category 3 hurricane and has maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the hurricane center. Its effects will be widely felt even if it does not make a direct hit.

Large breaking waves of 10 to 15 feet are possible along the coast, with a possible storm surge of 2 to 4 feet and 3 to 4 inches of rainfall, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. Isolated tornadoes and waterspouts are possible.

"This is my first hurricane and I'm looking forward to it, " said Sarah Baker, a native of Oklahoma who works for a vacation rental company in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "The locals have been really nice, telling me what I needed to buy to get ready."

She said it was "just starting to get cloudy" about 10 a.m., but people were still out surfing.

"The rip tides are really getting strong, so I don't think they'll be able to stay in much longer," she said. "I saw this one guy who went into the surf and just a couple of minutes later he was a quarter-mile down the beach."

Rip currents and stormy seas were reported from Florida to Maine.

Earl will make its closest pass to New Jersey on Friday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane, Morris said. It is expected to make its closest pass to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Friday night as a Category 1 hurricane.

Tourist towns on Cape see effects from Earl

The long duration of tropical-storm-force winds threatens widespread power outages in parts of the South and the mid-Atlantic region, Morris said.

"We're very ready, as ready as anybody can be," North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue said Thursday. "We feel comfortable this morning that we have in place the resources and the supplies and the capacity to do whatever it takes."

Some National Guard troops have been activated, she said, and more are on standby.

Purdue urged residents and visitors to prepare for the storm and heed evacuation orders. Indeed, some people were stocking up on food at grocery stores and attaching plywood to windows and doors of coastal homes. Others, however, thumbed their noses at Earl and said they were staying put.

"We're from Michigan, so we're used to storms," one man said. "But this is our first hurricane, so we're kind of excited about it and hope everything goes well."

Another man said Earl might ruin some beach time. He's just going to keep his eye on the TV.

"I got three bottles of wine hidden in there," he said, gesturing toward his grocery bags. "The kids are good with the milk."

Residents in Earl's path stock up ahead of storm

One sign on the Outer Banks warned, "Earl, you are not welcome here."

Conditions can change quickly, Purdue said. "You can feel like at midnight the storm isn't going to do anything, and by 12:30 or 1 o'clock, it's going to be right on top of you.

"We've done this before, and with any kind of certainty we'll do it again," she said. But she noted it is up to residents to be prepared.

Thursday, 7:49 p.m. Update

BUXTON, N.C. (AP) - The first bands of rain from Hurricane Earl are starting to hit North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The downpours started Thursday night in several bursts as the storm's so-called rain shield whirled into the southernmost tip of the barrier islands.

National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane is expected to get as close as 55 miles east of the Outer Banks at about 2 a.m. Friday. The coast is expected to be lashed by winds of more than 74 mph for a couple of hours.

Austin says that most wind hitting land will be the strength of a tropical storm, or in excess of 39 mph, with some stronger gusts.

The sustained tropical storm winds are not expected to reach farther inland than Morehead City.

Thursday, 5:42 p.m. Update

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says the time to leave coastal North Carolina ahead of the approaching Hurricane Earl is fast approaching.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told The Associated Press on Thursday once the storm brings ashore sustained winds of about 40 mph or greater, police and fire services are going to hunker down and it's best that residents do, too.

Fugate says residents beyond the areas urged to evacuate might still get battering winds, intense rain squalls and perhaps tornadoes that spin off from the swirling storm.

North Carolina officials will take the lead in recovery, but FEMA can make available additional aircraft, military helicopters, search and rescue teams, or more communications equipment.

Thursday 1:00 p.m. Update

The head of the National Hurricane Center says the center of Hurricane Earl is undergoing a change and its powerful winds are going to extend farther out from the eyewall. Hurricane Center director Bill Read said Thursday the changes to the storm's eye are pushing hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph over a broader area.

Earl has top sustained winds of near 140 mph as it blows toward North Carolina. Forecasters say the Outer Banks of North Carolina could see a storm surge of up to five feet as Hurricane Earl passes just off the barrier islands.

The National Weather Service says wave heights will increase up to 18 feet late Thursday and early Friday as the powerful hurricane makes its closest approach.

Current forecasts have the eye of Earl passing about 50 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras. If Earl moves closer, the storm surge will get higher and the waves bigger.

Thursday 11:00 a.m. Update

Hurricane Earl was headed for the Outer Banks of North Carolina with top sustained winds near 140 mph and higher gusts. The center of Earl was about 300 miles (485 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

A hurricane warning is out for part of the Massachusetts coast including Nantucket as Earl bears down on the Eastern Seaboard.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami on Thursday also issued a tropical storm warning along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts into Massachusetts.

Behind Earl, Tropical Storm Fiona was about 550 miles (885 kph) south of Bermuda and Gaston weakened into a tropical depression farther out in the Atlantic. A tropical storm warning was issued for Bermuda ahead of Fiona, which had top sustained winds of 50 mph(85 kph).

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Get the latest update on Earl from the National Hurricane Center by clicking here.

Earl bearing down on East Coast

Hurricane Earl continues to barrel toward the Eastern Seaboard as forecasters try to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest winds and heaviest surge will get to North Carolina's fragile chain of barrier islands.

They also are trying to determine whether the storm will stay off the Northeast coast or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a tropical storm warning early Thursday for the coast of Long Island in New York and a hurricane watch was issued for areas of Massachusetts. A hurricane warning was already in effect for the coast of North Carolina.

Earl's first encounter with the U.S. mainland should come around midnight (Thursday). The storm is forecast to pass just off Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph.

Rip Currents A Threat Along SC Coast

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Forecasters say there's a high risk for rip currents along the South Carolina coast as Hurricane Earl approaches.

The National Weather Service office says dangerous rip currents are expected along the entire coast until 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Those dangerous conditions are expected to continue with a high surf advisory in effect along the south coast starting at midnight tonight until early Friday morning. High surf is also expected along the Grand Strand from noon until midnight Thursday.

A small craft advisory also is in effect until midnight Thursday night on the north coast and until 6 a.m. Friday on the south coast.

To track Earl, access Storm Team 7's Hurricane Center by clicking here.

Asheville Red Cross Ready To Help Out The Coast

(WSPA) - Meanwhile closer to home, the Red Cross is preparing to help the coast.

The American Red Cross of Western North Carolina had two volunteers head east Tuesday and two more Wednesday morning.

Officials there tell News Channel 7 that their volunteers are on alert and if need be, they will be heading east to help with shelter and food distribution.

They also tell us there are two Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles on standby in the Upstate.

“Anytime we can get ahead of the situation and be ready at a moment's notice… when a disaster strikes, people don't need help one-and-a-half, two days later, they need it right then… and if we can get ahead of that, then that's what we're all about,” says Steve Dykes of the American Red Cross of Western North Carolina.

Dykes says there are enough supplies on hand to handle two Katrina like disasters.

While he says all the supplies needed are already on the coast, there is a warehouse in Charlotte that will be able to restock the coast if needed.

He adds when Katrina hit they had 25,000 trained volunteers nationwide and now they have 95,000.

NC Agencies Gear Up For Hurricane Earl Response

(AP)-North Carolina road crews are preparing to respond to Hurricane Earl with warnings about road closures, flooding, ferry cancellations and evacuation routes even if telephones die.

The state Transportation Department said Tuesday it is preparing bulldozers, electronic signs and other equipment in case of damage from the Category 4 hurricane churning through the Caribbean.

Forecasters say Earl could skirt or hit the East Coast on Thursday.

DOT says it's also ready to provide instant information about travel conditions through its feeds on Twitter. Separate information feeds describe conditions on the state's northern and southern coasts, as well as ferries linking the mainland and islands.

Twitter is accessible on hand-held devices even if landline telephone service and electricity are disrupted.