The last ferry left for the mainland and residents took shelter as Hurricane Earl closed in on North Carolina’s dangerously exposed Outer Banks today with 105mph winds.

POWERFUL Hurricane Earl wheeled toward the East Coast, driving the first tourists yesterday from North Carolina vacation islands and threatening damaging winds and waves up the Atlantic seaboard over Labour Day weekend.

Tourists on a holiday island in North Carolina were ordered to board ferries and head for the mainland today as Hurricane Earl threatened to sideswipe the US East Coast.

A powerful Hurricane Earl threatened to lash much of America’s East Coast, forcing Labour Day holidaymakers to rethink spending the traditional last week of summer at the beach.