Thousands Told to Evacuate Outer Banks

The National Weather Service said Bonnie's center with its 115 mph wind could be near the Outer Banks by late Wednesday morning.

Hurricane warnings were posted from Murrells Inlet, S.C., to the North Carolina-Virginia state line. The warnings mean dangerous wind and heavy rain could hit the area within 24 hours. Hurricane watches extended south to Savannah, Ga., and north to Cape Henlopen, Del.

While the storm was still hundreds of miles away, the Atlantic was showing its effects with 10-foot waves reported on the North Carolina beach. Gray, white-capped waves hit the New Jersey shore in breakers 4 feet to 6 feet high, pounding onto the sand with a dull roar.

Margaret Boone wasn't surprised that her vacation to the Outer Banks with six friends was ending today rather than Saturday.

"I just knew we was going to get run home," said Boone, of Thurmont, Md.

The state of Virginia and some coastal communities elsewhere had already banned swimming because of rip tides - strong currents near the beaches - that are blamed for three drownings over the weekend in South Carolina, North Carolina and Delaware.

"People were getting sucked out left and right," said Margate Beach, N.J., lifeguard Mike Palmer. One man was missing Monday in the surf off Point Pleasant Beach.

By midmorning today, the storm's eye was centered about 340 miles south of Cape Hatteras, which sits on the Outer Banks 50 miles south of Nags Head. Its outer ring of clouds was not even reaching the mainland yet by late morning as the hurricane moved toward the north-northwest. In three hours, its forward motion increased from 11 mph to about 16 mph, and it was expected to turn gradually toward the north tonight, the weather service said.

Evacuation orders were posted today for the Outer Banks sections of Dare and Currituck counties, the island of Ocracoke and beach communities along the state's southern coast near Wilmington. Residents and tourists were urged to head for the mainland immediately. Ocracoke is accessible only by ferry.

Officials in Currituck and Hyde counties, along with Carteret County to the south, had not yet decided whether to expand evacuation orders to include mainland areas.

In Virginia, emergency management officials held a telephone conference to discuss plans.

Large-scale evacuations in Virginia could pose a problem for the 1.5 million people in the Hampton Roads area, where even routine holiday weekends produce traffic jams at the two main bridge-tunnels leading out of the area.

"We have one of the 10 worst evacuation sites in the country," said Mark Marchbank, emergency services chief for Virginia Beach.

Although the hurricane warning covered part of South Carolina, Gov. David Beasley said today there was no reason yet to evacuate any of that state's coast.

Nearly 2,000 South Carolina National Guard troops and law enforcement officers were available to conduct an evacuation if one becomes necessary, said Gary Karr, a spokesman for Beasley.

People on the Outer Banks were urged to head for the mainland immediately.

But as dawn broke with a blue sky, runners took their morning jog on the beach road and golfers kept their tee times.

Paul Peck, a retiree from Charlottesville, Va., said he'd never experienced a hurricane and wanted to watch the ocean change.

"We'd like to hang around for one more day, but I'm worried about the traffic if we do," said Peck, who turned to the desk clerk at the Holiday Inn Nags Head for advice.

"You've got 12 to 15 hours, plenty of time," said desk clerk Sheri Ward.

Residents of the North Carolina shore haven't forgotten about Hurricane Fran, which struck the region in 1996.

"It's really starting to concern people around here," said Ronna Lewis, whose home on North Carolina's Topsail Beach, perched four feet off the ground on concrete supports, escaped flooding during Fran by inches. "It's just hurry up, wait and see."

People all along the East Coast had been buying emergency supplies. Plywood, batteries and gas cans were the hot items at Bame Ace Hardware in Carolina Beach, N.C.

"It's pretty hectic," said Chris Eason. "We had people actually coming in with a list of what went wrong last time and are doing it right this time."

Meanwhile, a new hurricane, Danielle, was located about 1,150 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, moving west-northwest about 21 mph.

In Texas, the remnants of Tropical Storm Charley flooded parts of South Texas, leaving much the town of Del Rio near the Rio Grande under water. At least 15 deaths in Texas and Mexico were blamed on the floods.

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