CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- North Carolina officials Tuesday announced vacationers will be evacuated from Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Earl gained strength over the Atlantic Ocean.An estimated 5,000 visitors are on the island, which is accessible only by ferry. The evacuation is set for Wednesday morning, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported.
About 800 permanent residents of the island will be permitted to remain, officials said.
Plans also called for closing the Cape Lookout National Seashore at 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday.
Federal Emergency Management Agency head Craig Fugate said Tuesday was the day for people who may be in the path of the Category 4 storm to prepare, in event further evacuations are ordered Wednesday, the newspaper said.
"While it is still too early to tell exactly what impact Hurricane Earl will have on our state," North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue said, "we do know that we all bear a responsibility to ensure we are ready for any type of emergency."
At 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of Hurricane Earl was 1,000 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and the storm, with top sustained winds of 135 mph, was moving toward the northwest at 14 mph. This general motion was expected to continue Wednesday, when the storm was likely to take a gradual turn toward the north-northwest, forecasters said.
A hurricane watch was posted from north of Surf City, N.C., to the North Carolina-Virginia border, including the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. A tropical storm watch was issued from Cape Fear, N.C., northeastward to Surf City.
The center said communities from Virginia to New England should monitor the hurricane.
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