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| AP |
Waiting for Ophelia
By PAUL NOWELL, Associated Press
Writer
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Ophelia kept
up its teasing dance along the coast of the Carolinas on
Monday, dropping slightly in strength from hurricane to
tropical storm as it barely moved toward land. Although
Ophelia was centered more than 200 miles offshore,
nonresidents were ordered to leave one of North
Carolina's Outer Banks islands and 300 National Guard
troops were sent to mustering points along the
coast.
School systems in five counties closed,
even though the storm's eye was predicted to remain
offshore until Wednesday.
Many people
acknowledged they were paying closer attention to
Ophelia because of the vast destruction caused by
Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. Others insisted
they wouldn't let the milder storm disrupt their
plans.
"My family is all coming in for a family
reunion, including my 84-year-old mother," said Dodie
Curtis, 62, of Gilford, Maine, on the shore at
Wrightsville Beach. "This is our family thing and we
don't plan to go anywhere unless it gets a lot
worse."
Any appearances to the contrary,
Gov. Mike Easley said the state was doing its normal
storm preparation.
"We have, unfortunately, a
great deal of experience with hurricanes. I think one of
the things people in North Carolina will be able to
recognize is that this is the exact same pattern we
always follow," he said.
Ophelia was a minimal
hurricane early Monday with sustained winds of 75 mph,
but by midday it had weakened to about 70 mph, 4 mph
below the threshold, the National Hurricane Center
said.
Meteorologists warned, though, that the
system had the potential to regain hurricane strength
over the next day or so. A tropical storm warning and a
hurricane watch remained in effect from Cape Lookout
south to Edisto Beach, S.C.
At 5 p.m. EDT,
Ophelia was centered about 165 miles east-southeast of
Charleston, S.C., and 260 miles south-southwest of Cape
Hatteras, the hurricane center said. It was moving
northwest at about 3 mph.
With the storm's path
uncertain, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford called for a
voluntary evacuation Monday of oceanfront and riverside
areas in his state's northeastern corner. He was joined
by officials in North Carolina's adjacent Brunswick
County.
The storm's slow movement is its primary
danger, bringing the likelihood that it will hang over
eastern North Carolina for days, Easley
said.
Floods, prolonged power outages and severe
wind damage were possible as Ophelia crawled north from
Wilmington to the Pamlico Sound, he said.
Easley
ordered the National Guard to eastern North Carolina on
Sunday, accompanied by swift-water and urban search and
rescue teams, as well as seven helicopters.
He
also ordered a mandatory evacuation of visitors from
fragile Ocracoke Island, which is reachable only by
ferry. Highway Patrol officers helped with the Ocracoke
evacuation Monday.
The Coast Guard closed state
ports in Morehead City and Wilmington on
Monday.
"I don't think I would be human if I said
Katrina had no impact on me," Wilmington Mayor Spence
Broadhurst said after emerging from a meeting where he
helped decide to call for voluntary
evacuations.
Ophelia became a tropical storm
Wednesday off the Florida coast. It is the 15th named
storm and seventh hurricane in this year's busy Atlantic
hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov.
30.
On the Net:
National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
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