Hurricane Arthur makes landfall near Cape Lookout, N.C.

Hurricane Arthur made landfall late Thursday on the southern end of North Carolina's barrier islands, battering the shore with sustained winds of up to 100 mph. 

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that the eye of the storm came ashore at about 11:15 p.m. ET over the Shackleford Banks between Cape Lookout and Beaufort. An automated weather station on Cape Lookout reported sustained winds of 77 mph, with a gust of 101 mph.
 

At 2 a.m. ET, the storm continued to move northeast toward Cape Hatteras, N.C., at 18 mph. The Hurricane Center said that little additional change in strength was expected Thursday night and Friday and that the storm would begin weakening Friday night. 

Hurricane warnings are in effect for most of northeastern North Carolina. Tornadoes are possible in the carolinas and parts of southeastern Virginia through Friday morning. Rainfall of 4 to 6 inches is expected with some areas getting as much as 8 inches in a brief time.

Hurricane Arthur Closes Beaches As It Moves Up The Coast.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from north of Duck, N.C., to Virginia's Eastern Shore. The warning also includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth. 

As Arthur approached the Outer Banks as a Category 2 storm, the big question was how much beach erosion, downed power lines and wrecked holiday weekends will be left in its wake. 

"I plan to sit on the beach as long as the sun is here," then head out for a seafood dinner, said Sean Fitzgerald, 44, of Fairfax, Va., who said he saw no reason to disrupt his family's vacation at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., north of Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks. 

Meghan Sawyer of Logan's Ice Cream in Kill Devil Hills worries her customers may not venture out if the weather stays rainy. 

"A lot of businesses close down here during the winter. So we do depend on a huge influx of people coming down here for the Fourth of July," said Amory Jones of Kitty Hawk Kites, which offers hang gliding, kiteboarding, parasailing, stand-up paddleboarding and wakeboarding. 

A mandatory evacuation of Hatteras Island, the easternmost strip of land in the Outer Banks, began at 5 a.m. ET Thursday, about the time the National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Storm Arthur to hurricane status. Now no one is allowed on the island. 

"We were just saying we were really, really lucky this year that the weather was so great, and then this," said Nichole Specht, 27, who ended a two-week vacation with her fiance, Ryan Witman, 28. They left Hatteras Island at 3:30 a.m. to beat the traffic.

 

A man crosses flooded Highway 64 as Hurricane Arthur passes through Nags Head

Forecasters expect Arthur to whip past the Outer Banks — a 200-mile string of narrow barrier islands with about 57,000 permanent residents — by early Friday, grazing the area around Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and bringing rain, heavy winds, storm surge and dangerous rip tides. 

Hurricane Arthur is picking up speed — it's now moving at about 18 mph — and should be off the coast of New England late Friday, making landfall in Canada's maritime provinces as a tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning Thursday for Nantucket Island and Cape Cod, and its counterpart in Canada issued a tropical storm watch for Nova Scotia, where Arthur is expected to arrive midday Saturday as a tropical storm. 

Ferry service to Ocracoke Island, which sits to the west of Hatteras Island about 25 miles from the mouth of the Pamlico River, shut down at 5 p.m. Thursday until after the storm. The island, which has a permanent population of about 950 people, is accessible only by boat. 

Coast Guard officials warned boaters to stay off the water in North Carolina and southeastern Virginia until Saturday because any rescue operations also would put Coast Guard crews at risk. 

Before the storm, tourism officials had expected 250,000 people to travel to the Outer Banks for the holiday weekend. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory warned people not to risk their safety by trying to salvage their picnics, barbecues and pre-paid beach cottage vacations. 

"Don't put your stupid hat on," McCrory said. But "we anticipate a beautiful holiday weekend once Hurricane Arthur clears out."

 Hurricane Arthur's projected path

Hurricane Arthur's projected path

The governor has both North Carolina National Guard soldiers and State Highway Patrol troopers on standby if needed to transport supplies and help with traffic. 

At Wrightsville Beach east of Wilmington, Warren Lee, Hanover County's emergency management director, had a beach full of vacationers early Thursday afternoon and the strong possibility of rip currents that could carry swimmers out to sea. 

"It's a peak time of the year for visitors to be on our coast," he said. "We want to get word out to folks that this is a potentially dangerous storm. Although it's not going to make a direct impact here, we're still going to feel the effects of it." 

Outer Banks residents and out-of-town visitors who failed to evacuate ahead of the hurricane's expected arrival should prepare for possibly getting stuck for several days without food, water or power, forecaster Stacy Stewart of the National Hurricane Center said Thursday. 

"We want the public to take this system very seriously," he said.

Arthur is expected to bring flooding on North Carolina 12. The two-lane highway runs along much of the Outer Banks, and twice in recent years, storm-driven waves have rendered the road impassable. 

The Outer Banks could get as much as 4 feet of storm surge if Arthur strikes at high tide, forecasters said. Southeastern Virginia could get a 2-foot storm surge. 

Mike Rabe of Virginia Beach, Va, planned to stay in his Outer Banks beach home the entire weekend. He and his wife, Jan, arrived Wednesday and set to work stowing lawn furniture and anything else that could be tossed about. He said he was spending Thursday helping a friend and longtime resident get his water sports shop and campground ready for bad weather. 

"I'm going to help him prepare and then I'm going to ride it out," said Rabe, 53. 

The holiday weekend shouldn't be a complete loss along much of the Atlantic Coast. Forecasters said the storm will move through quickly with the worst of the weather near Cape Hatteras about dawn Friday. Then skies are expected to clear. 

In Boston, the annual July 4th Boston Pops concert and fireworks display was advanced by a day to Thursday evening because of the threat of severe weather Friday from the storm. Avon, N.C. on Hatteras Island pushed its July 4th celebration to Monday night.

Hurricane Arthur Hit In the City

Hurricane Arthur caused flooding on July 4, 2014, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Trailers damaged by Hurricane Arthur are seen on the Outer Banks.

A police checkpoint prevents traffic from crossing the Bonner Bridge on Highway 12 while safety inspections continue following Hurricane Arthur's impact on the Outer Banks near Nags Head, N.C.

Water from Hurricane Arthur buckled a section of North Carolina Highway 12 on Hatteras Island on Friday.

A vehicle sits in the flooded waters of the closed Route 18 in New Bedford, Mass., after heavy rains from Hurricane Arthur.

Katie Bender, right, gets some assistance from Johanna Bender as they dump water from a boot while sitting on a flooded street after Hurricane Arthur passed through Manteo, N.C.

Lauren Heesemann helps her nephew Summit Gibson as he tries to maintain his balance in a kayak through a flooded street in Manteo,

In Virginia Beach, Va., lifeguard David Derrick tends to his duties as strong, gusty winds hit town.

A beachcomber walks by the Oceanana Fishing Pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C. Hurricane Arthur began moving offshore and away from North Carolina's Outer Banks early Friday after hitting the state's barrier islands overnight and causing flooding and thousands of power outages.

A surfer hits the waves in the fog as strong winds and heavy surf from Hurricane Arthur begin to roll in to Nags Head,

Lifeguards and firefighters take down a lifeguard stand at Atlantic Beach, N.C., to prevent it from being damaged by Hurricane Arthur. 

People walk near the water as Hurricane Arthur approaches on July 3 at Wrightsville Beach,

People evacuate the area on Highway 12 on Pea Island,

Hurricane categories 

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale categorizes storms based on their sustained wind speed and estimates property damage. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 or higher are considered major storms because of their potential for significant loss of life and property damage. 

• Category 1. 74 to 95 mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage. Well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters. Large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled. Extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days.

• Category 2. 96 to 110 mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage. Well-constructed frame homes could sustain major roof and siding damage. Many shallowly rooted trees will be snapped or uprooted and block roads. Near-total power loss is expected with outages that could last several days to weeks.

• Category 3. 111 to 129 mph. Devastating damage will occur. Well-built framed homes may incur major damage or removal of roof decking and gable ends. Many trees will be snapped or uprooted. Electricity and water will be unavailable for several days to weeks afterward. 

• Category 4. 130 to 156 mph. Catastrophic damage will occur. Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and some exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months. 

• Category 5. 157 mph and higher. Catastrophic damage will occur. A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months. 

Source: National Hurricane Center

 

How some previous hurricanes rate 

Hurricanes don't always have to be intense to cause a lot of damage. Here are five of the most damaging ones in the past 25 years. 

• Katrina, 2005. Though it reached Category 5 over the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 28, 2005. Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 3 storm. It was the deadliest hurricane since September 1928, and at $75 billion in estimated damage, it became the most expensive U.S. hurricane.

• Ivan, 2004. Hurricane Ivan was a Category 3 storm when it made landfall Sept. 16, 2004, just west of Gulf Shores, Ala., producing more than 100 tornadoes and heavy rain across the Southeast. Part of it also re-entered the Atlantic, drifted south, became a tropical storm again and hit southwest Louisiana as a tropical depression on Sept. 24. It caused $14.2 billion in U.S. property damage, the third highest on record. In the United States, 25 people died. 

• Isabelle, 2003. By the time Isabelle came ashore Sept. 18, 2003, near Drum Inlet along North Carolina's Outer Banks, it had become a tropical storm after reaching Category 5 status in the open ocean. But its storm surges of more than 8 feet made it the worst storm to hit the Chesapeake Bay region since 1933 with 17 deaths and more than $3 billion in damage. 

• Floyd, 1999. Though this storm touched land Sept. 16, 1999, near Cape Fear, N.C., as a Category 2 hurricane, it is most remembered for its rainfall: more than 19 inches in Wilmington, N.C., almost 14 inches in Brewster, N.Y. In the U.S., 56 people died; the floods caused as much as $6 billion in damage. 

• Andrew, 1992. When Hurricane Andrew made landfall in south Florida on Aug. 24, 1992, it was a Category 4 storm. It crossed the Gulf and hit the central Louisiana coast Aug. 26 as a Category 3 hurricane. Total U.S. damage was $26.5 billion, second highest on record; 26 died in the USA and the Bahamas. Source: National Hurricane Center