Hurricane Earl weakens as it scoots by US east

By MIKE BAKER

BUXTON, North Carolina

A weakened Hurricane Earl churned past North Carolina's Outer Banks and began to lash southeast Virginia early Friday, while two more states along the U.S. East Coast declared states of emergency.

Earl lost strength Thursday, winding down from a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) to a Category 2 storm with winds of 105 mph (169 kph). But it still packed enough of a punch to send rain sideways and shake signs in Buxton, the southeasternmost tip of the Outer Banks.

Residents and officials were waiting for daybreak to survey the damage by the storm's winds and waves. National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Collins said, however, that Earl had produced little storm surge and only minor flooding in some coastal counties.

While more than 30,000 residents and visitors were ordered to leave the Outer Banks, more hardy residents gassed up their generators and hunkered at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help.

"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.

Farther up the coast, governors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island declared states of emergency, joining North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

Earl is expected to move north-northeast for much of Friday, staying away from New Jersey and the other mid-Atlantic states, but also passing very close to New York's Long Island, and Cape Cod and Nantucket in Massachusetts.

Much of New England should expect gusty winds, 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.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick urged people living in low-lying areas prone to flooding to consider leaving their homes by Friday afternoon. Officials on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, planned to set up a shelter at a high school.

"We're asking everyone: Don't panic," Patrick said. "We have prepared well, we are coordinated well, and I'm confident that we've done everything that we can."

Earl also threatened to snarl travelers' Labor Day weekend plans, with several flights already canceled.

The most likely place Earl will make landfall is on Saturday in western Nova Scotia, Canada, where it could still be a hurricane, said hurricane center deputy director Ed Rappaport.

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Associated Press Writers David Fischer in Miami; Martha Waggoner, Emery Dalesio, Tom Foreman Jr. and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Tom Breen in Morehead City, North Carolina; Bruce Smith in Jacksonville, North Carolina; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Mark Pratt in Boston; David Porter in Trenton, New Jersey; David Koenig in Dallas; Sara Kugler Frazier in New York; and Frank Eltman in Stony Brook, New York, contributed to this report.