Death Toll Five as Hurricane Loses Its Power, Moves Out to Sea

Hurricane Charley lost its punch and moved out to sea Monday after battering North Carolina’s Outer Banks and the mid-Atlantic coast and causing at least five deaths.

The National Weather Service discontinued all hurricane watches and warnings at noon. Hours later, it said the hurricane had weakened to a tropical storm with maximum winds of 50 m.p.h., and the service discontinued coastal gale warnings.

Residents of Massachusetts were warned the storm and the position of the moon could combine to cause higher than normal tides. High winds also were expected.

The storm was centered Monday night about 110 miles south-southwest of Nantucket Island, moving to the northeast at 15 m.p.h.

Three people died aboard a twin-engine plane that crashed into Chesapeake Bay on Sunday evening when attempting to land in the storm. The bodies of a man and a girl were recovered Monday from the sunken wreckage, and a woman’s body was recovered the night before, police said.

A Manteo, N.C., woman died after her car went out of control in headlight-deep water on an Outer Banks causeway and plunged into a canal, and a Virginia man died after his car struck a storm-downed tree, state police said.

The storm hit New Jersey’s southern shore Monday with driving rain and winds gusting to 65 m.p.h., but no evacuations were ordered along the state’s 127-mile shore.

Casino gambling continued in Atlantic City as usual, and Harrah’s Marina gaming hall stocked up on sandbags to protect doors and windows less than 100 yards from the harbor.

The Jersey shore escaped unscathed in comparison to last September, when Hurricane Gloria passed 60 miles offshore and hit the state with 70-m.p.h. winds and 12-foot waves, causing $40.3 million in damage.

Virginia utility crews worked Monday to restore electricity to 110,000 customers blacked out Sunday by the hurricane’s high winds, and the storm washed out 250 feet of Harrison’s Pier, a Norfolk landmark.

The 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel linking Norfolk with the Eastern Shore was closed Sunday night after authorities clocked a wind gust at 104 m.p.h., but it was reopened early Monday.