KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. -- A strengthening Hurricane Arthur forced thousands of vacationers on the North Carolina coast to abandon their Independence Day plans, while cities farther up the East Coast rescheduled fireworks displays threatened by rain from the storm.
Arthur strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane Thursday night, with winds of 100 mph as the storm neared North Carolina. Little change was expected in the storm's strength Thursday night and today, and Arthur was expected to weaken as it travels northward and slings rain along the East Coast.
The annual Boston Pops Fourth of July concert and fireworks show was rescheduled for Thursday because of potential heavy rain from Arthur, while fireworks displays in New Jersey, Maine and New Hampshire were postponed until later in the weekend.
Arthur reached land late Thursday between Cape Lookout and Beaufort, N.C., near the southern end of the Outer Banks, a 200-mile string of narrow barrier islands with about 57,000 permanent residents.
The Outer Banks are susceptible to high winds, rough seas and road-clogging sands, prompting an exodus that began Wednesday night.
Among the tourists leaving Hatteras Island were Nichole Specht, 27, and Ryan Witman, 28, of Lancaster, Pa. The couple started driving at 3:30 a.m. Thursday on North Carolina Highway 12, the only road on and off Hatteras.
"We were just saying we were really, really lucky this year that the weather was so great, and then this," Specht said as she ended a two-week vacation.
Many island residents, meanwhile, decided to ride out the powerful storm rather than risk losing access to their homes if the highway washes out.
"All the people that I know who live here are staying put," said Mike Rabe, who planned to stay in his Rodanthe home despite an evacuation order for surrounding Hatteras Island.
The departures of vacationers left things "pretty dead" on Hatteras Island during the normally bustling run-up to the Independence Day weekend, Rabe said. He spent Thursday running errands and helping neighbors prepare their homes for the storm.
In the last hours before the hurricane's approach late Thursday, Lena Lines helped to move furniture from the basement to the first floor of the home she shares with her parents to save it from possible flooding. They live in a complex of canals and sound-front homes in the shadow of a memorial to the Wright Brothers, who made the first powered flight in Kill Devil Hills.
If you live in that neighborhood, "it's undeniable, you're going to get flooded" during a storm like this, Lines said.
Dave Gillis, who does maintenance work at Harris-Teeter grocery stores, was attaching sections of galvanized sheet metal over the glass wall at the entrance of a Kill Devil Hills location just as rain started to fall sporadically at 10:30 pm.
"We're just getting to it," he said. "We've had a pretty busy day."
Before the storm hit, tourism officials had expected 250,000 people to travel to the Outer Banks for the holiday weekend. Gov. Pat McCrory sought to strike a balance between a stern warning to vacationers and optimism that part of the busy weekend could be salvaged.
"Of course, this holiday weekend, the July Fourth weekend, is one of the biggest weekends for coastal tourism in the state, and we anticipate a beautiful weekend after the Tropical Storm Arthur or the Hurricane Arthur is out of North Carolina," he said.
Arthur, the first named storm of the Atlantic season, prompted a hurricane warning for much of the North Carolina coast. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for coastal areas in South Carolina and Virginia and as far north as Cape Cod, Mass.
On the Outer Banks' Ocracoke Island, accessible only by ferry, a voluntary evacuation was underway. Officials said ferry service would end at 5 p.m.
Among those leaving the island was the Unmussig family of Midlothian, Va. They cut their vacation two days short when they left Thursday morning in a sport utility vehicle towing a trailer filled with bicycles and kayaks.
"Our cottage was right on the sound, and we didn't want that back current surge coming in and flooding us out," said Donald Unmussig, 50.
"I just didn't want to risk getting caught there. I have to work Monday morning. I didn't want to be late," he added. "We just decided to cut the losses and go home and not have to deal with the problems."
Tropical storm warnings were also in effect for coastal areas in South Carolina and Virginia and as far north as Cape Cod, Mass.
On the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, no evacuations were planned, but residents who have lived through many a fierce storm said they know better than to completely relax.
"I think that for the most part it's another storm, but you never know what can happen," said Rocky Fox.
Information for this article was contributed by Martha Waggoner, Tony Winton and Matt Small of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/04/2014