NAGS HEAD -- Hurricane Isabel battered its way inland across the Outer Banks and into North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 1 million customers and disrupting air travel across the East.

Driven by wind gusts of over 100 mph, rain and sand flew at a 45-degree angle as Isabel made landfall about 1 p.m. near Drum Inlet, midway between Cape Lookout and Ocracoke Inlet.

Huge waves crashed ashore along the Outer Banks, flooding roads and blasting away sand dunes. Officials in Nags Head reported beach homes were being washed into the ocean.

By early Thursday evening, the center of Hurricane Isabel was about 40 miles south-southeast of Roanoke Rapids in northeastern North Carolina. The storm, with sustained winds of 90 mph that were surprisingly slow to diminish, was moving northwest at about 24 mph and is forecast to rip across Virginia and into Pennsylvania overnight and into Friday.

President Bush decalred a major disaster Thursday evening in North Carolina, ordering federal aid for the state.

A hurricane warning remains in effect from North Carolina's Surf City northward to Chincoteague, Va. Tropical storm warnings are in effect from Surf City south to Cape Fear, and from Chincoteague north to the Long Island area of New York. The tropical storm warnings cover the metropolitan Baltimore and Washington areas, where significany damage is possible tonight.

While Isabel's winds, which were at 160 mph last weekend, lessened on its final approach to the Outer Banks, its size grew. By Thursday afternoon, it was dumping rain as far west as the east side of Charlotte. Rain was falling from Pennsylvania southward to South Carolina.

The storm caused considerable damage in cities such as Durham, Raleigh and Fayetteville, where thousands were without power, and many trees had been knocked down.

More than 1.1 million customers had lost power by early evening, including more than 100,000 in North Carolina and about more than 800,000 in southeast Virginia. Many of the Virginia outages were in the heavily populated Norfolk-Hampton Roads-Virginia Beach area.

Amtrak halted service south of Washington, US Airways canceled all flights in and out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and the Washington-area Metro subway system shut down. All federal workers were sent home in the District of Columbia, where the remnants of Isabel are expected to dump heavy rain and strong winds late Thursday and Friday.

At Virginia Beach, Va., huge waves destroyed the end of the 400-foot-long 15th Street Pier, the only oceanfront pier in the resort city.

More than 1,500 flights were canceled at airports in East Coast cities, including most flights at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The worst of the damage in North Carolina was on the Outer Banks.

Nags Head Police Chief Charlie Cameron said a number of roofs were blown off houses, and the front of the Food Lion store on N.C. 12 had been blown in.

"Several houses have been knocked into the water," Cameron reported. "We haven't been able to get close enough to check how many."

Nags Head Mayor Robert Muller said even worse damage is expected in South Nags Head.

"We don't know what's happening in South Nags Head," Muller said. "Nobody can get down there."

Police also reported about 10 to 12 feet of water on the road near Avon on the Outer Banks, and the ocean was blowing over the road at Kitty Hawk.

In Kill Devil Hills, waves crashed over the dunes and flooded N.C. 12, the main route up and down the Outer Banks.

Jeremy Mooney, 25, of Kill Devil Hills, came out at the height of the storm to take pictures.

"We thought this would be fun," he said, looking at a Land Rover vehicle that had flipped over in a wind gust. "It's sort of fun -- and sort of terrifying."

A resident of mainland Currituck County, Dewight Powers, drove across the bridge onto the Outer Banks on Thursday to take pictures, because the rest of his family was out-of-state. He wanted to show them what the storm was like. Powers looked at beachfront homes that appeared ready to be knocked into the raging surf.

"These people built these homes here," he said. "They have to expect it."

Up and down the North Carolina coast, power was knocked out by the howling winds. In Dare County's Wanchese area, electricity went out before sunrise. Craven County's emergency operations center had been forced to use generators, and the phone lines were down.

Power also was out in much of Carteret, Hyde and Currituck counties along the coast, and outages were being reported in many inland counties.

Significant damage to trees and power lines was reported as far west as Asheboro in Randolph County.

Nearer the North Carolina-Virginia border, power was out in much of Elizabeth City.

The wind also was taking a toll along the inland side of the Outer Banks. Powerful winds pushed the water landward, leaving the sound almost dry in some areas. High winds had blown water completely away from one pier that extended about 50 yards into the sound on the inland side of Kitty Hawk.

Nags Head police officers moved across the street into a building with the fire department because they thought it was safer there.

Low lying areas and ditches already were flooded.

Some people chose to ride out the storm, however. John Sheetz, who runs a BP gas station on Kill Devil Hills said he had kept his business open for 35 years, even through storms. "I think this one's going to be the worst," he said. "...We're going to do some good business today because no one else is open."

A taxi service that also operates at the station received three calls for people going to hurricane parties. One man walked into the station and bought a case of water and a case of beer. He said the beer was most important.

The hurricane-force winds turns sand grains into darts.

"It's like a sand-blaster," said Nick McClintock, a pipefitter who used his welding mask to shield his eyes, so he could watch 15-foot waves whipping the surf at Nags Head.

To the north, Elizabeth City was taking a bad hit.

The fringes of Isabel arrived Thursday morning with rainy, 50-mph gusts, but Andy Andreou kept his restaurant, Van's Place, churning out the French toast and sausage.

"As long as we have electricity," he said, "we'll be open."

But by late morning, most of the city was without power. Small tree limbs littered downtown streets, adding to the post-apocalyptic look of plywood-covered windows and sandbags at the bottom of doors.

Whitecaps dotted the Pasquotank River at the vacant city waterfront, where a billboard, which clearly doesn't adapt for the weather, proclaimed it "Hospitality Harbor."

The Winn-Dixie grocery store, on U.S. 17, was one of only a handful of open businesses at midday Thursday.

"The power is off everywhere but here," said assistant manager Cindy Upton, who said she was hoping to go home. "And we were like, `Shoot!'"

The American Red Cross and county emergency management agencies opened dozens of shelters across the eastern third of North Carolina, and thousands of people were expected to spend Thursday night there.

Classes were canceled Thursday in dozens of school systems, and many schools are expected to remain closed Friday. Also closed were most colleges and universities in the eastern half of the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.