Hurricane Arthur has made landfall near the southern end of North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Arthur reached land between Cape Lookout and Beaufort, North Carolina.

Arthur was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100mph.

Arthur has forced thousands of holidaymakers in North Carolina to abandon their Independence Day plans, while cities further up the US east coast rescheduled firework displays threatened by the storm.

After passing North Carolina as a hurricane, Arthur is expected to weaken as it travels up the coast. The annual Boston Pops Fourth of July concert and fireworks show was moved to a day earlier because of potential heavy rain, while firework displays in New Jersey and Maine were postponed until later in the weekend.

Arthur, the first named storm of the Atlantic season, prompted a hurricane warning for much of the North Carolina coast.

It is the first hurricane to make landfall on July 4, according to National Hurricane Centre research that goes back to the 1850s.

The National Hurricane Centre said that little additional change in strength is expected until the storm begins weakening later tonight.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for coastal areas in South Carolina and Virginia and as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts.