Evacuation alert as Hurricane Isabel heads for US

MORE THAN 75,000 residents and visitors were urged to evacuate the North Carolina coast yesterday as Hurricane Isabel weakened but remained a dangerous storm on a track toward land.

Forecasters said Isabel appeared to be on a course to hit today on the North Carolina coast and move up through eastern Virginia.

Large swells and dangerous surf already were being felt along sections of the coast.

The storm’s maximum sustained wind had decreased to about 115mph but forecasters said it would not likely slow much more.

The latest evacuation order was for the low-lying Outer Banks islands, which includes an estimated 75,000 people from Hatteras to Duck, 30,000 of them permanent residents.

A day earlier, hundreds of residents of vulnerable Ocracoke and Bald Head islands were ordered to evacuate. Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Toolan said people wouldn’t be forced to leave.

“We do have some fire departments in municipalities that will visit neighbourhoods and encourage people, but we don’t have any kind of law enforcement knocking on doors, forcing people to leave,” Ms Toolan said.

Instead of heading to sea early yesterday, commercial fisherman Rob West stayed home in Manteo monitoring weather reports. He noted that Isabel, the first major hurricane to target the North Carolina coast in four years, lost a little gusto during the night.

“We’re kind of breathing a sigh of relief,” Mr West said.

However, he had already moved his fishing boat to a safer harbour and triple-tied it to its moorings. He’d cut down three trees near his home to keep them from falling on the house or electrical lines. Mr West had not yet decided whether to abandon his home.

North of Manteo in Virginia, the US Navy had ordered 40 Atlantic Fleet ships based in the Norfolk area to head to sea yesterday to avoid being battered against their piers. The Air Force had started flying planes from coastal bases to fields inland.

“There’s plenty of potential for significant damage and possible loss of life,” Tom Ridge, secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security, said on NBC’s Today show.

“We are preparing for the worst and preparing to respond as quickly as possible,” he said.