Some Dig In, Others Flee Coast As Earl Nears

NOAA/Getty Images

Hurricane Earl moves through the Atlantic Ocean toward the U.S. coast as Tropical Depression Fiona follows behind on September 2, 2010 in the Atlantic Ocean as seen from space.

Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina's Outer Banks, but those resolute residents who stayed behind say they were prepared Thursday to potentially face down the most powerful hurricane to threaten the coast in years.

A powerful Hurricane Earl drew closer Thursday to North Carolina's barrier islands, where evacuations were underway, as forecasters wondered if the storm would take a shot at New York and Massachusetts in coming days.

Earl regained its Category 4 status – lost briefly on Wednesday – with winds back up around 145 mph. The storm's size and strength give it the potential to do considerable damage to coastal areas, especially if it shifts any closer to the Eastern Seaboard. Forecasters believe the storm's track will turn northeast and not make landfall, but they caution that there's no certainty of that.

Many vacationers were being forced to cut short beach trips to North Carolina's Outer Banks, packing up their cars and heading inland. About 30,000 residents and tourists have been ordered to leave Hatteras Island.

Ken Muglia, the owner of the Nags Head Beach Inn, said he and other business owners were getting ready to leave the area as the storm approaches.

"The people south of us are leaving because they are under a mandatory evacuation and the northern beaches are preparing to do that," he said.

Others seemed less concerned. North Carolinians are not unaccustomed to hurricanes, many of which have made landfall in the area in years past. Resident Nancy Scarborough, who manages the Hatteras Cabanas, said Outer Banks residents have a tight-knit community that takes care of its own.

"I worry about not being able to get back here," she said. "I'd rather be stuck on this side than that side."

President Obama has declared a federal state of emergency in North Carolina, which authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate evacuations and all other disaster relief operations. Governors in Virginia and Maryland have also declared emergencies.

Earl is the most powerful storm to threaten the mid-Atlantic in years. 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.

As the storm moves farther north, it will remain extremely dangerous even as it is expected to lose a bit of strength, said Todd Kimberlain, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Center.

"It appears that Earl may have peaked in intensity," he said. "We expect from this point on, as it heads toward high latitudes, we will see a gradual weakening of the storm."

Earl's first encounter with the U.S. mainland should come around midnight Thursday, as the storm is forecast to pass just off Cape Hatteras, N.C., bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph and several feet of storm surge both from the Atlantic and the sounds to the west of the islands.

Farther up the East Coast, emergency officials urged people to have disaster plans and supplies ready and weighed whether to order evacuations as they watched the latest maps from the hurricane center - namely, the "cone of uncertainty" showing the broad path the storm could take.

In Massachusetts, some boaters had already pulled their crafts from the water in anticipation of rough seas, said Harwich Assistant Harbor Master Heinz Proft. The Labor Day weekend is about the time of year when people start pulling their boats anyway, so some are just accelerating the process.

"It's been a small percentage so far, but we are encouraging people to be proactive," he said.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell activated the National Guard and sent 200 troops to the Hampton Roads area on Chesapeake Bay. The area was not expected to get the brunt of Earl, but many remember the surprise fury of Isabel, which killed 33 people and caused $1.6 billion in damage in September 2003.

Tugboat captain Randy Francis planned to ride out the storm on his 40-foot trawler named "Invictus" at a marina in Norfolk, Va. He said most people didn't appear to be taking the hurricane seriously.

"I was somewhat frustrated that they were somewhat nonchalant about it here," Francis said. "I'd just rather be safe than sorry."

Copyright 2010 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.