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Tropical Storm Gaston forms as Earl approaches U.S.
TAMPA, Sep 01, 2010 (Tampa Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Hurricane Earl should pass close to the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Thursday night or Friday, bringing at least tropical storm-strength winds to the shore and triggering a hurricane warning for part of the state's coastline.
Meanwhile, the seventh tropical storm of the season has formed far out in the Atlantic on the heels of Earl.
Gaston is the fourth tropical storm to form in the past 11 days for a season that has suddenly become busy.
So far today, the National Hurricane Center has not issued any watches or warnings for Gaston. The storm has sustained winds of 40 mph with higher gusts and is expected to get stronger over the next two days.
At the present, Earl remains the main threat.
The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for most of the North Carolina shore to the Virginia line, meaning hurricane force winds are expected within 36 hours. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the rest of the North Carolina coast.
A hurricane watch was issued from Virginia to Delaware. A watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.
The computer tracking models and the hurricane center's forecast keep the storm's center over open water, but forecasters said only a small deviation to the west would bring the brunt of the storm over land.
A small twitch to the west from the forecasted path could have a hurricane with winds of 115 mph and gusts of 130 mph sweeping ashore anywhere from the Carolinas to New England.
Late this morning, Earl was about 725 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and heading northwest at 17 mph with winds of about 125 mph. Forecasters expect Earl to maintain that strength until Thursday, when winds might drop to about 115 mph.
Though Earl poses no threat to Florida, the storm is expected to kick up 7-foot waves along the state's east coast today. The National Weather Service issued a high surf advisory from Martin County through South Carolina.
With Earl projected to run parallel to the U.S. coast, the storm threatens states from the Carolinas through Maine, and forecasters say winds of 39 mph or more are almost certain to sweep at least coastal areas of North Carolina.
There's a small chance, maybe 10 percent, of tropical storm winds reaching far inland from South Carolina through New York. Forecasters say there's a 10 percent to 40 percent chance of those winds covering all of New England.
The forecast calls for Earl to hit land in Nova Scotia Saturday.
Earl's sprawling size means the eye can stay well offshore and winds of 40 mph or higher could still reach inland. Winds of 60 mph extend up to 105 miles west of the eye and 40 mph winds stretch up to 200 miles to the west, the hurricane center said.
The eye itself is 25 miles wide.
Fiona, also in the Atlantic, isn't expected to become a hurricane or a threat to land as it stays in the open ocean.
The threat from Earl prompted another evacuation order in North Carolina today as officials told people to leave the vulnerable Outer Banks, fearing waves from Earl could wash over state Highway 12, the main road along the stretch of shoreline.
Not since Hurricane Bob in 1991 has such a powerful storm had such a large swath of the East Coast in its sights, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the hurricane center.
"A slight shift of that track to the west is going to impact a great deal of real estate with potential hurricane-force winds," Feltgen said.
Even if Earl stays well offshore, it will kick up rough surf and dangerous rip currents along the coast through the Labor Day weekend, a prime time for beach vacations, forecasters said.
The only evacuation orders so far affected parts of the Outer Banks, thin strips of land that face the open Atlantic.
Tourist cars, some with campers in tow, lined up for the first ferries of the day from Ocracoke to the mainland. Another car ferry connects to Hatteras, which has a bridge to the mainland and came under the second evacuation order a little later this morning.
The evacuation orders are called mandatory, but Julia Jarema, spokeswoman for the state Division of Emergency Management, said it doesn't mean people will be forced from their homes. Local law enforcement officials may do something such as going door-to-door and asking people who stay behind for their information about their next of kin.
Emergency officials said they hoped Ocracoke's 800 or so year-round residents would heed the call to leave. But Carol Paul said she and husband Tom would stay put if the current forecasts hold. Only a direct hit from a stronger storm would drive them from the island where they've lived for seven years, running an antiques store.
"There's never been a death on Ocracoke from a hurricane, so we feel pretty comfortable," Carol Paul, 57, said as tourists departed on ferries and her husband, also a construction contractor, worked to board up the windows of clients and friends' homes. "Everything here is made pretty much with hurricanes in mind."
The approaching storm troubled many East Coast beach towns that had hoped to capitalize on the BP oil spill and draw visitors who normally vacation on the Gulf Coast.
On Tuesday, gusty winds from Earl's outer fringes whipped palm fronds and whistled through doors in the Turks and Caicos Islands as tied-down boats seesawed on white-crested surf.
Islanders gathered to watch big waves pound a Grand Turk shore as the wind sent sand and salt spray flying.
"We can hear the waves crashing against the reef really seriously," Kirk Graff, owner of the Captain Kirks Flamingo Cove Marina, said by telephone as he watched the darkening skies. "Anybody who hasn't secured their boats by now is going to regret it."
Carl Hanes of Newport News, Va., kept an eye on the weather report as he headed for the beach near his rented vacation home in Avon, N.C. He, his wife and their two teenage children were anticipating Earl might force them to leave on Thursday, a day ahead of schedule.
"We're trying not to let it bother us," Hanes said before enjoying the calm surf.
In Rehoboth Beach, Del., Judy Rice said she has no plans to leave the vacation home where she has spent most of the summer. In fact, the Oak Hill, Va., resident plans to walk around town in the rain if it comes.
"I kind of enjoy it actually. You know, it's battling the elements," Rice said. "I have seen the rain go sideways, and, yeah, it can be scary, but I have an old house here in Rehoboth, so it's probably more important that I am here during a storm than anywhere."
In the Florida Panhandle, which has struggled all summer to coax back tourists scared away by the Gulf oil spill, bookings were up 12 percent over last year at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. The resort is nowhere near Earl's projected path, and spokeswoman Laurie Hobbs said she suspects the increase in reservations was partly because of a discount the hotel is offering and partly because of the hurricane.
"Weather drives business," she said. "They go to where the weather is best."
If Earl brings rain farther inland, it could affect the U.S. Open tennis tournament, being played now through Sept. 12 in New York City.
"We're keeping our eye on it very closely," said United States Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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