Isabel Creeps Toward Landfall

Traffic streamed inland from the vulnerable Outer Banks on Wednesday as residents and visitors alike headed for higher ground ahead of approaching Hurricane Isabel. Thousands more were ordered to evacuate in Virginia.

Isabel was a strong Category 2 storm Wednesday, with sustained wind near 110 mph, weakened from the weekend when it had 160 mph wind and held the top Category 5 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Isabel was about 400 miles south-southeast of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, moving north-northwest at around 9 mph.

Although the exact point of landfall couldn't be predicted Wednesday, "conditions will deteriorate over a large area well before the center reaches the coast," the National Hurricane Center said.

"All preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion in the hurricane warning area," it added.

Forecasters predicted little change in strength before landfall for Isabel, the biggest storm to hit the region since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

"Right now, the forecast calls for it to maintain the intensity it's at currently," meteorologist Bill Read said at the National Hurricane Center.

A 7- to 11-foot storm surge was expected near the area where the center strikes the coast, the hurricane center said. A surge of up to 7 feet was likely inside southern Chesapeake Bay, forecasters said.

About 100,000 people along the North Carolina coast had been urged to evacuate before the storm hits land sometime Thursday morning along the Outer Banks, where rough surf already was pounding the thin, 120-mile-long chain of islands.

"Even a lot of old salts are bailing out," Brian Simmons said as he placed plywood across the window of Stoney's Seafood in Avon. "I don't know if it's some vibe they feel or something."

This time of year fishermen from Wanchese, N.C., are usually out at on their 40-foot blue trawlers, finishing the blue crab season, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Krasula. But with Hurricane Isabel churning offshore, those trawlers have been tied down to piers in the quaint fishing village on the southern tip of Roanoke Island. Every day they're here rather than at sea, the fishermen are losing thousands of dollars in income.

Based on the projected path, the Census Bureau calculates that nearly 50 million people could be affected by the massive storm as it makes landfall.

The evacuation had been steady and orderly but authorities said that was because many people were biding their time, waiting to see the latest forecasts before heading out.

About 180 miles up the coast, people were busy boarding up windows on Virginia's Chincoteague Island.

"I love storms, and people are just freaking out," said Carol Patton, manager of Don's Seafood Restaurant at Chincoteague. "They're panicking, saying we're going to get it really bad. I've never seen the town boarded up like it is today."

"You know the storm is going to break and bring down power lines," Dominion Virginia Power spokesman Joe Norvelle told CBS Radio News. "We will restore when we can, as fast as we can, and as safely as we can."

Toward that end, Dominion has been tracking Isabel since last week.

"We've ordered additional supplies and equipment from our vendors. We are moving that equipment into our service area," Norvelle said. "We now have crews coming in from as far away from Florida, Ohio, and Texas to help us in service restoration.

Several airlines and Amtrak have eased their reservation policies ahead of the expected arrival of Hurricane Isabel on the East Coast. Amtrak also has canceled a few passenger and auto trains in the Southeast for Wednesday and Thursday, as well as a Washington-bound passenger train from Chicago Wednesday. Some northbound trains will originate in Washington instead of Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner on Wednesday authorized local mandatory evacuations of vulnerable low-lying areas. Virginia Beach and Poquoson officials did so immediately, affecting about 26,000 people in Virginia Beach and 2,000 in Poquoson.

"We're in for probably the roughest storm we've seen in at least a couple of decades," Warner told CBS radio affiliate WTOP-AM in Washington.

Governors of North Carolina and Maryland also had declared states of emergency. Officials in Pennsylvania and Maryland were concerned about the possibility of flooding after a wet summer. "There's just nowhere to put the water," said Ed McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.

Federal disaster teams including medics, search and rescue experts and communications units have been deployed along with 30 trailers packed with supplies, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter Maer. The White House said President Bush was receiving frequent storm updates.

In addition to the civilian evacuations, about 6,000 military personnel and their families on or near Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va., were ordered to leave. Colleges and universities in eastern Virginia, including the College of William & Mary, said they would close Wednesday and ordered their students to leave.

"People still need to understand this is a very formidable hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Its track has been very consistent."

Mayfield noted that Floyd was only a Category 2 storm but it caused up to $4.6 billion in damage and 56 deaths in the United States.

Navy ships manned by 16,400 sailors headed out to sea from Norfolk, Va., and Earle, N.J., to ride out the storm and keep from being battered against their piers. Military aircraft were flown to airfields inland.