Hurricane Earl weakens as it nears US East Coast
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Friday, September 03, 2010
Areas along the US East Coast have declared states of emergency as Hurricane Earl churns towards the region, forecast to make landfall on Thursday night.
The hurricane has weakened to a category two storm, with maximum sustained winds of 175km/h (110mph).
US weather officials predicted the storm would continue to weaken as it passed North Carolina.
But they warned the Earl would remain "large and powerful".
Heavy rains were falling on North Carolina's coastal barrier islands late on Thursday, and the storm was expected to turn north-northeast and churn up the rest of the East Coast toward New England.
Officials warned that although the storm was declining in strength, it was growing in size.
The storm comes as Americans mark the Labor Day holiday, the traditional end of summer in the US.
"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 (NHC) spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
The NHC said hurricane-strength winds may be felt as far as 110km (70 miles) from the eye of the storm.
The centre of the storm was approximately 260km south east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on Thursday evening, and was moving north.
US officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for roughly 35,000 visitors and residents on North Carolina's Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island on Tuesday.