The governors of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina issued states of emergency on Wednesday as Hurricane Earl churned toward the East Coast.
Declaring a state of emergency allows state officials access to additional resources and manpower to combat weather-related threats.
“The current forecast has Hurricane Earl passing east of Virginia later this week,” said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. “However, a change in the storm’s path could bring hazardous weather conditions to eastern Virginia.”
State authorities and emergency workers up and down the Atlantic Coast are rushing to bolster their populations’ and shorelines’ defenses against the coming storm.
The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane warning for most of the North Carolina coastline, where visitors were ferried off Ocracoke Island Wednesday. State officials also instructed people to leave portions of the Outer Banks ahead of the storms.
The National Weather Service has issued hurricane watches for Virginia, Maryland and Delaware shores, which could all experience violent winds and weather sometime between late Thursday and Friday morning.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley advised residents and tourists not to drive to or from Ocean City during the period when Earl is expected to pass by.
Hurricane Earl also forced the U.S. Navy to pull back the USS Cole destroyer ahead of schedule. The Cole wasn’t due back into its Norfolk, Va., port until later this week.
The hurricane was swirling about 700 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Wednesday afternoon, and was expected to threaten the state’s shoreline late Thursday.
Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Earl was a Category 3 hurricane, meaning its winds could reach 130 mph.
“It’s a Category 3 hurricane right now, but it might be strengthening as it moves up toward North Carolina,” Jackson said.
He said the hurricane should pick up speed but lose some of its strength as it slides north toward Mid-Atlantic shores.
Jackson was quick to point out that Earl’s path could change without much notice, significantly increasing or decreasing its capacity for destruction. For now he and other forecasters expect the hurricane to throw tropical force winds of up to 73 mph on the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware shores.
Jackson said the Washington area could experience some cloud cover and 15 to 20 mph winds, but not much more.
Forecasters expect Earl to clear the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday.
