Hurricane Ophelia pounds North Carolina coast

By Gene Cherry

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Hurricane Ophelia’s
outer squalls pelted the North Carolina coast with heavy rain
and gusty wind on Wednesday and forecasters said the storm was
moving so slowly its assault could last for two days.

Ophelia’s center was 40 miles south-southeast of
Wilmington, North Carolina, at 11 a.m. EDT. The storm was
expected to brush the state’s southeastern coast on Wednesday
then hit the Outer Banks, the chain of islands along its
northern coast, on Thursday.

Schools, seaports, ferries, businesses and bridges were
closed and shelters opened all along the North Carolina coast.

Squalls pounded the coastline and the storm kicked up high
waves that chewed away at beaches as Ophelia crept along slowly
on Wednesday.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that
Ophelia’s pace could result in “an excruciatingly long passage
of the hurricane along the North Carolina coast over the next
couple of days.”

Ophelia had top sustained winds of 80 mph (128 kph) and
could strengthen slightly, the forecasters said. Storms of
Ophelia’s magnitude can flood coastal areas, wash out seafront
roads and fell trees and power lines but rarely cause
structural damage.

Evacuees streamed off North Carolina’s barrier islands on
Tuesday, heading inland before the buffeting winds forced
authorities to close the high-rise bridges to the mainland.

Mandatory evacuation was ordered for islands, beach towns
and flood-prone areas in parts of six coastal North Carolina
counties and voluntary evacuation was urged for parts of nine
others.

Ophelia had sat nearly stationary off the coast for days,
making it difficult to predict where it would go when it did
move.

“We didn’t know whether to call for a voluntary evacuation
or a mandatory so we called for a voluntary,” said Mayor Betty
Medlin of Kure Beach, south of Wilmington. “The way it’s
getting here today we probably should have had a mandatory.”

Most of the town’s 2,500 residents stayed put and the town
hall was powered by generators after electrical power went out.
Tides were 8 feet above normal and winds gusts were already
near hurricane force.

“It’s just sitting there, which makes the wind beat us and
be on us longer,” Medlin said.

Dr. Flint King closed his veterinary office on Oak Island
on the southern coast of North Carolina but didn’t evacuate. A
veteran of many hurricanes, he said gales gusted over the beach
and snapped a few tree limbs and several inches of rain had
fallen.

“It’s been very frustrating waiting for the storm,” King
said. “I don’t think many people evacuated at all. But there is
nobody on the streets.”

Progress Energy said 5,800 customers lost power in
southeastern North Carolina and the state’s electric co-ops
reported scattered outages. Gov. Mike Easley warned that some
people could be without power for days because repair crews
could not move in until the storm subsided.

A hurricane warning was in effect from the Myrtle Beach
area in South Carolina along the entire North Carolina coast to
the Virginia border, alerting residents to expect hurricane
conditions within 24 hours.

Ophelia could dump up to 10 inches of rain on parts of the
Carolinas and send an 8-foot (2.5-meter) storm surge crashing
ashore.

Ophelia is the first hurricane to hit the United States
since the much more powerful Katrina killed hundreds in the
U.S. Gulf Coast and displaced 1 million people two weeks ago.