Hurricane Earl closesin on US East Coast

Hurricane Earl quickly closed in on a large part of the US east coast yesterday, as tens of thousands of people fled North Carolina’s barrier islands to avoid dangerous winds and surf.

The strongest Atlantic storm of 2010 was on course to lash the coast of North Carolina and then move north, wreaking havoc on the end-of-summer Labour Day holiday weekend that usually draws millions to the beaches.

The hurricane was expected to remain offshore as it barrels north, skirting the Atlantic coastline.

But with the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) predicting hurricane-strength winds as far out as 90 miles from the eye of the storm, coastal residents were still preparing for dangerous conditions, including “large and destructive waves”.

The NHC also warned of large ocean swells from the storm that could cause “dangerous surf conditions and rip currents” throughout the weekend.

Throughout the day, Earl’s top winds were 230 kilometres as the powerful category four storm sped towards the eastern seaboard, the NHC said.

The eye of the storm was about 575 km south of Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks – a narrow band of North Carolina barrier islands.

Hurricane-force winds were expected to reach the state’s coast later yesterday and a “dangerous” storm surge was due to raise water levels by up to 0.9 to 1.5 metres above ground level in the hurricane warning area, the NHC said.

In a sign that the hurricane season was heating up, the fourth storm in the past 11 days, Tropical Storm Gaston, formed in the Atlantic.