Residents on Edge as Ophelia Lingers Off Carolinas

Hurricane Ophelia sat nearly stationary off the coast of the Carolinas on Sunday, taunting wary coastal residents after the destruction Katrina caused along the Gulf Coast.

The storm was more than 200 miles offshore with sustained wind of nearly 75 mph, but it was generating heavy surf. A hurricane watch stretched more than 250 miles, from just north of Edisto Beach, S.C., to North Carolina’s Cape Lookout.

Warning of possible coastal flooding, Gov. Mike Easley sent 200 National Guard soldiers to staging centers in eastern North Carolina and ordered tourists to leave fragile Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, reachable only by ferry. Residents were allowed to stay.

Some people stocked up on groceries even though Wilmington, on the coast of southeast North Carolina, had breezy, partly cloudy weekend weather, said New Hanover County’s emergency management director, Warren Lee.

The county, which has had several destructive storms, has a well-rehearsed disaster plan. But Katrina, a powerful Category 4 hurricane when it devastated parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, was on residents’ minds even though Ophelia was only a Category 1 and had been fluctuating in strength.

By 11 p.m. EDT, Ophelia was centered 240 miles east-southeast of Charleston, S.C., and 290 miles south of Cape Hatteras, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving west-southwest at near 3 mph, but a gradual turn to the west and west-northwest was expected today. It became a tropical storm Wednesday off the coast of Florida.

Little overall movement was expected before this morning, the hurricane center said.

Once the storm starts moving, the latest forecast track indicated the eye could come ashore southeast of Cape Lookout near Wilmington and cross Pamlico Sound on the central coast, said the National Weather Service.