Earl Marciano

.
September 03, 2010

Long Island, Cape Cod get ready for Earl

Posted: 10:24 AM ET

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Rob Marciano
CNN Meteorologist
CNN Wire Staff





Cape Cod, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Hurricane Earl weakened to a Category 1 storm Friday morning with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Residents of New York and New England, however, are still bracing for the storm, which earlier lashed the North Carolina coastline with high winds and large waves.

North Carolina's governor said her state had apparently "dodged the bullet." There had been no loss of life and there seemed to be minimal damage from the hurricane, Gov. Bev Perdue said.

Earl was centered roughly 175 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as of 11 a.m. ET, according to the hurricane center. The storm was moving north-northeast at 21 mph, registering storm warnings from North Carolina to Nova Scotia.

CNN blog: Reporting in the path of Hurricane Earl

CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said the eye of the storm had collapsed. Earl "is starting to lose some of its structure," he said.

"It is a dying storm, but is still a force to be reckoned with."

Earl has been "steadily weakening," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said Friday. The storm may be below hurricane strength when it passes southern New England on Friday night, Read said.

Forecasters said that eastern Long Island and Cape Cod appeared to be at greatest risk as the storm trekked northward. Portions of the mid-Atlantic also may face fallout from the storm.

Sean O'Brien, an emergency planning coordinator from Barnstable County, Massachusetts, told CNN's "American Morning" that emergency shelters had been opened in the area, which includes Cape Cod, and that residents should expect tropical-storm force winds.

"We will see power outages," O'Brien warned. "We have not seen anything like this" since Hurricane Bob slammed Cape Cod in 1991.

"We think we're going to see some large surf, especially on the outer Cape," he said. People need to remain "vigilant" and "constantly aware."

The Barnstable County Sheriff's Office warned residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to get out.

"In the morning, police and firefighters and our civilian response team will be going door to door to make sure they got the message," said Yarmouth Fire Chief Michael Walker. "We're telling people 'we really think you should leave. We think you may be at risk.' "

Ferry service to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard was curtailed ahead of the storm.

WHDH-TV: Nantucket makes last-minute preparations

Bill Wilkinson, supervisor of the town of Easthampton on Long Island, said conditions could get "pretty treacherous" over the next 12 to 24 hours.

People need to "respect what's going on," he said.

The rougher the seas, the better for one fisherman in Montauk, New York, at the eastern tip of Long Island. Bob Nielsen, a lifelong resident, was fishing along the beach at 6:45 a.m. and said the fishing gets better during storms.

He said he caught five striped bass, though he had to toss them all back since none was larger than the required 28 inches.

Johnson Nordlinger and her husband, Mike, were busy securing a tree by their Montauk home after having purchased extra supplies.

"We have extra wood, extra charcoal," she said. She said they had bought eight five-gallon jugs of water, and "we filled two giant coolers with ice, just in case."

The Oceanside Beach Resort in Montauk boarded up windows with a plank of wood, painted a bull's-eye on it and the phrase "Earl take your best shot."

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Warnings and watches related to the storm stretched from North Carolina to Canada on Friday.

Perdue, North Carolina's governor, said, "We are all anxious to get property assessments from Dare County," where the storm surge drove water over state Highway 12, cutting off Cape Hatteras and the southern Outer Banks.

Southern North Carolina's beaches, she was quick to point out, "will be open for business this Labor Day weekend."

At Kill Devil Hills, CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said the rain was "like needles in the face" as the storm passed by.

He said waves continued to "churn like a washing machine" with the surf pounding the beaches.

Dare County officials said wind gusts of 70 mph had been recorded in the area.

"In multiple locations, waves have crashed over the tops of the dunes and are now flooding several portions of the main state highway on both the north and south sides through the Outer Banks. This is all happening south of the area called the Oregon Inlet," CNN's David Mattingly reported from the community of Waves. "The water is 6 to 8 inches deep and seems to be getting deeper by the minute."

Ben McNeely of Charlotte was riding the storm out in Manteo.

"We're in the middle of the island," McNeely said. "Surf's up, waves are up. ... We're fully surrounded by water."

Kill Devil Hills Mayor Ray Sturza said his town was handling the onslaught of rain pretty well.

Sturza told CNN's "American Morning" that the streets were not as flooded as he thought they would be Friday morning. He estimated that as many as 200,000 tourists may have left ahead of the storm.

WRAL-TV: Perdue: North Carolina dodged a bullet with Earl

As North Carolina took the brunt of the storm, residents farther up the Eastern Seaboard braced for a stormy Friday.

Warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Canada, including Massachusetts, where a hurricane warning was issued for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the surrounding area.

Officials in North Carolina's Dare County issued mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the storm for the coastal county, including the Outer Banks. Dare County schools and courts will be closed Friday.

The Red Cross opened a shelter in Kill Devil Hills for evacuees.

"We'll feed them, give them basic first aid, cots, blankets pillows -- we'll take good care of them until they can get back in their homes," said volunteer Jim Guidone. "We are prepared for a very, very major storm. ... So we have lots of assets ... that we've moved in the area."

Earl is a large storm, meaning its effects will be widely felt. It covers about 166,000 square miles -- larger than California, which covers just under 160,000 square miles. The storm's outflow, or the clouds associated with it, could stretch from one end of the state of Texas to the other, said Wolf, the CNN meteorologist.

"Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate said, and people should not be lulled into thinking Earl is going to miss them.

Fugate urged New Englanders, who may not be used to hurricane preparations, to find out what their community plan is and whether they are in an evacuation zone -- and to figure out where they would go if an evacuation order is issued.

Earl is expected to make a direct landfall over southern Nova Scotia on Saturday morning as a strong Category 1 hurricane.

Fiora and Gaston churn in Atlantic


A satellite image early Friday shows Tropical Storm Fiona north of the Dominican Republic
Some people in Earl's path appeared unfazed by the approaching storm.

Georgia Silliman, 88, said she was still making her way toward -- not away from -- the Cape Cod island of Nantucket.

"I don't care ... I love it," Silliman said Thursday as she waited in line with trusty pooch Jenny, her nephew and his wife, who are visiting from Spain.

"We're gonna pull the storm windows down, and we're going to the store [for provisions]," she said.

Silliman said she won't take chances. "Not too many, " she said with a grin.