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UPDATE 2-Hurricane Ophelia pounds North Carolina coast
Wednesday 14 September 2005, 4:39pm EST

By Gene Cherry

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept 14 (Reuters) - Hurricane Ophelia pelted the North Carolina coast with heavy rain and gusting wind on Wednesday in a slow-moving assault that was expected to last for two days and trigger widespread flooding.

Ophelia's center was 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT). The core of the storm brushed the state's southeastern coast on Wednesday and was expected to hit the Outer Banks, the chain of islands along its northern coast, on Thursday.

Schools, seaports, ferries and businesses were closed and scores of shelters opened along the North Carolina coast. Some 50,000 customers had lost electricity.

Squalls pounded the coastline and kicked up battering waves that gnawed at beaches and washed over roads as Ophelia crept slowly along at about 7 mph (11 kph).

Ophelia had top sustained winds of 85 mph (136 kph) and could strengthen slightly, the forecasters said. Storms of Ophelia's magnitude can flood coastal areas and fell trees and power lines but rarely cause structural damage.

It was the first hurricane to hit the United States since the much more powerful Katrina killed hundreds in the U.S. Gulf Coast and displaced 1 million people two weeks ago.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley warned that the longer Ophelia was over the state, the more rain would fall and the more seawater would pile up and crash ashore as storm surge.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ophelia could dump up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain on parts of North Carolina and send an 11-foot (3-metre) storm surge over the coast and up into the rivers.

Mandatory evacuation was ordered for islands, beach towns and flood-prone areas in parts of six coastal North Carolina counties and voluntary evacuation was urged for parts of nine others.

WORSE THAN ANTICIPATED

Easley urged people to heed the evacuation orders where they could still travel safely, especially if they lived in areas flooded by faster-moving storms in previous years.

"These floods are going to be worse than anticipated yesterday," Easley said. "Once the high winds come, we cannot get in and get you out -- cannot get you by boat, cannot get you by helicopters, cannot get there by plane."

A hurricane warning was in effect from the Myrtle Beach area in South Carolina along the entire North Carolina coast to the Virginia border, alerting residents to expect hurricane conditions within 24 hours. More than 70,000 people lived in the warning area, the U.S. Census Bureau said.

In some areas, buffeting winds forced authorities to close high-rise bridges linking islands with the mainland. In North Carolina's southernmost county, Brunswick, downed trees made roads impassable in places.

"It's all the rain and sustained wind that are causing them to go down," said Huey Marshall, county attorney and spokesman for Brunswick County. "The ground gets soggy, then the sustained wind eventually causes them to go down."

Dr. Flint King closed his veterinary office on Oak Island off North Carolina's southern coast but did not evacuate.

"I don't think many people evacuated at all. But there is nobody on the streets," King said.

Ophelia had sat nearly stationary off the coast for days, making it difficult to predict its eventual target.

"We didn't know whether to call for a voluntary evacuation or a mandatory so we called for a voluntary," said Mayor Betty Medlin of Kure Beach, south of Wilmington. "The way it's getting here today we probably should have had a mandatory."

Most of the town's 2,500 residents stayed put and the town hall was powered by generators after electrical power went out. Tides were 8 feet (2.4 metres) above normal and winds gusts were near hurricane force.

"It's just sitting there, which makes the wind beat us and be on us longer," Medlin said.



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