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Hurricane Ophelia's heavy rains hit US coast
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-15 09:05

The storm's eye was expected to brush the coast between midnight and 2 a.m., but it might not come ashore, said Bob Frederick, meteorologist at the weather service bureau at Newport, N.C.

At 7 p.m. EDT, Ophelia's large eye was centered about 35 miles southwest of Cape Lookout on the Outer Banks. Hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph extended 50 miles out from the center and forecasters said some strengthening was possible.

Following the criticism of its response to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had 250 workers on the ground — a larger-than-usual contingent given Ophelia's size. FEMA also put a military officer, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Brian Peterman, in place to command any federal response the storm might require.

US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image of Hurricane Ophelia taken as the storm battered a large region of southeastern United States, September 14, 2005.[Reuters]

The storm's slow, meandering path to the coast gave FEMA more time to get staff on the ground than is usually the case with North Carolina hurricanes, said Shelley Boone, the agency's team leader for Ophelia.

Easley said he had spoken to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and that National Guard teams were prepared to evacuate sick, frail and elderly residents.

Craven County expected a 6- to 8-foot storm surge in the Harlowe area near the Neuse River — an area that flooded during Isabel two years ago, said Stanley Kite, the county emergency management coordinator.

The Beaufort County town of Washington ordered an evacuation of a 20-block area that flooded during Hurricane Fran in 1996. A storm surge of up to 9 feet was forecast along the Pamlico River and water wasn't expected to recede until Thursday morning, county manager Paul Spruill said.

Officials on the Outer Banks warned Ophelia could bring 10 hours of hurricane-force wind to exposed Hatteras Island. The southernmost villages of Hatteras, Frisco and Buxton were expected to get the worst of the winds and the flooding.

"It's an island — the water will come over, it'll go out — and we'll do it all over again," said lifelong Buxton resident Tiffany Bigham, 27.

"You grow up knowing it's a part of life," she said.

Ophelia is the 15th named storm and seventh named hurricane of this year's busy Atlantic season, which ends Nov. 30.

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