Earl inches toward NC Coast

Tourists on a North Carolina vacation destination island were preparing to board the ferries and head for the mainland early Wednesday and more evacuations could be on the way as powerful Hurricane Earl threatened to sideswipe the East Coast.

Hyde County spokeswoman Jamie Tunnell, said about 30 cars, including trucks pulling campers, were lined up to board ferries that would begin leaving Ocracoke Island on the state's Outer Banks for the 21/2-hour trip to shore.

"Ferries are the only way off unless you have a private plane or boat," Tunnell said.
WBZ's Ed Walsh speaks with forecaster John Cangialosi at the National Hurricane Center in Miami:

The 800 or so year-round residents don't have to heed it, but Emergency Services Director Lindsey Mooney said officials hope they'll follow tourists and leave the island.

"I don't remember the last time there was a mandatory evacuation order for the island," Hyde County Commissioner Kenneth Collier said.

More evacuations along the Eastern Seaboard could follow, depending on the path taken by the storm, which weakened to a Category 3 hurricane early Wednesday as it whipped across the Caribbean with winds of 125 mph.

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Peter Judge:

Earl was expected to remain over the open ocean before turning north and running parallel to the East Coast, bringing high winds and heavy rain to North Carolina's Outer Banks by late Thursday or early Friday. From there, forecasters said, it could curve away from the coast somewhat as it makes it way north, perhaps hitting Massachusetts' Cape Cod and the Maine shoreline on Friday night and Saturday.

Michael Chaplin is with the Massachusetts Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross:

Forecasters cautioned that it was still too early to tell how close Earl might come to land.

Michael Whalen, Dennis Police Chief /Barnstable County Emergency Planning Committee:

 But not since Hurricane Bob in 1991 has such a powerful storm had such a large swath of the East Coast in its sights, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

"A slight shift of that track to the west is going to impact a great deal of real estate with potential hurricane-force winds," Feltgen said.