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Earl weakens but still powerful as it smacks US
Source: Agencies |
September 3, 2010, Friday
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THE last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 177 kph winds yesterday 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.
The hurricane's outer squalls began to lash the long ribbon of barrier islands Thursday night. Gusts above 64 kph made signs shake and the heavy rain fall sideways in Buxton, the southeasternmost tip of the Outer Banks.
Hurricane Earl's winds were slowing, from 225 kph early yesterday to 110 mph (177 kph), Category 2 strength, by 8 pm (0000 GMT). But forecasters warned that it remained powerful, with hurricane-force winds of 119 kph or more extending 112 kilometers from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 56 kph reaching more than 322 kilometers out.
Earl's arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the US 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.
Forecast models showed the most likely place Earl will make landfall is western Nova Scotia, Canada, where it could still be a hurricane, said hurricane center deputy director Ed Rappaport.
National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane was expected to get as close as 55 miles east of North Carolina's Outer Banks about 2 am today. The coast is expected to be lashed by hurricane-force winds for a couple of hours with a storm surge of up to 1.5 meters and waves 5.5 meters high.
It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land.
Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, planned to set up a shelter at a high school on Friday. 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.
As of yesterday 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. About 35,000 tourists and residents were urged to leave.
A slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters, but forecasters warned the size of the storm's wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.
"It will be bigger. The storm won't be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.
Hundreds of the Outer Banks' more hardy residents gassed up their generators and planned to hunker down at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help and that storm surge could again slice through the islands. It took crews two months to fill the breach and rebuild the only road to the mainland when Hurricane Isabel carved a 610-meter-wide channel in 2003.
"It's kind of nerve-racking, but I've been through this before," said 65-year-old Herma De Gier, who has lived in the village of Avon since 1984. De Gier said she will ride out the storm at a neighbor's house but wants to be close enough to her own property so she can quickly deal with any damage.
Much of New England should expect strong, gusty winds much like a nor'easter, along with fallen trees and downed power lines, forecasters said.
"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane's outer squalls began to lash the long ribbon of barrier islands Thursday night. Gusts above 64 kph made signs shake and the heavy rain fall sideways in Buxton, the southeasternmost tip of the Outer Banks.
Hurricane Earl's winds were slowing, from 225 kph early yesterday to 110 mph (177 kph), Category 2 strength, by 8 pm (0000 GMT). But forecasters warned that it remained powerful, with hurricane-force winds of 119 kph or more extending 112 kilometers from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 56 kph reaching more than 322 kilometers out.
Earl's arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the US 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.
Forecast models showed the most likely place Earl will make landfall is western Nova Scotia, Canada, where it could still be a hurricane, said hurricane center deputy director Ed Rappaport.
National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane was expected to get as close as 55 miles east of North Carolina's Outer Banks about 2 am today. The coast is expected to be lashed by hurricane-force winds for a couple of hours with a storm surge of up to 1.5 meters and waves 5.5 meters high.
It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land.
Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, planned to set up a shelter at a high school on Friday. 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.
As of yesterday 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. About 35,000 tourists and residents were urged to leave.
A slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters, but forecasters warned the size of the storm's wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.
"It will be bigger. The storm won't be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.
Hundreds of the Outer Banks' more hardy residents gassed up their generators and planned to hunker down at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help and that storm surge could again slice through the islands. It took crews two months to fill the breach and rebuild the only road to the mainland when Hurricane Isabel carved a 610-meter-wide channel in 2003.
"It's kind of nerve-racking, but I've been through this before," said 65-year-old Herma De Gier, who has lived in the village of Avon since 1984. De Gier said she will ride out the storm at a neighbor's house but wants to be close enough to her own property so she can quickly deal with any damage.
Much of New England should expect strong, gusty winds much like a nor'easter, along with fallen trees and downed power lines, forecasters said.
"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.
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