Earl was a dangerous category 4 storm with no significant change in strength forecast before it comes close to a fragile chain of barrier islands in North Carolina late Thursday, then turns north in rough parallel to the coast, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
A hurricane warning for the tip of Massachusetts, including the resort areas of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, joined earlier warnings and watches for hurricanes or tropical storms that stretch from North Carolina up to near the Canadian border.
The center's director, Bill Read, said the eye of the storm will likely remain about 30 to 75 miles (50 to 120 kilometers) east of the North Carolina barrier islands, the Outer Banks. At the closest point of approach, the western edge of the eye wall could impact Cape Hatteras, with huge waves, beach erosion and maybe some property damage from the waves.
"They're going to have a full impact of a major hurricane," Read said. "Maybe not the strongest winds but a large area of tropical storm force and probably gusts to hurricane force along the islands." There will be a similar close point of approach for the eastern tip of Long Island, Rhode Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.
"They'll be facing a similar scenario that North Carolina is facing today," Read said. "And 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." That will mean strong, gusty winds, and because leaves are still on the trees, there could be fallen trees or limbs and downed power lines.
"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. "They don't get storms this powerful very often." Gov. Beverly Perdue told reporters at a morning news conference that North Carolina is prepared for Earl. It's now up to coastal citizens to get to a safe place as the storm passes by, she said.
"We're very ready, as ready as anybody can be," Perdue said. "It's a serious storm and we all need to treat it like a serious storm." Three counties have issued evacuation orders, but Perdue said emergency officials can't make residents leave their homes. She warned emergency crews often can't immediately reach stranded coastal homeowners after a storm.
Evacuations continued early Thursday on the coast, with residents and visitors told to leave a barrier island in Carteret County and another in Dare County where the Wright Brothers National Memorial marks their first successful airplane flights at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
Already, the governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland had declared states of emergency as Earl whirled into a powerful Category 4 storm. The highest storm category is 5 that has winds of 156 mph (251 kph) and higher.
Earl's first encounter with the US mainland should come around midnight Thursday, as the storm is forecast to pass just off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph (161 kph). At 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), the eye of Earl was 300 miles (500 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras.
The North Carolina National Guard is deploying 80 troops to help and President Barack Obama declared an emergency in the state. The declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
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).
