Hanna damage limited

Tropical Storm Hanna came ashore early Saturday morning, but it appears to have lacked major punch in the Havelock area.

Havelock police report power outages in the McCotter Boulevard area, and traffic lights were out early Saturday at the intersections of East Main Street and McCotter Boulevard as well as McCotter and Fontana boulevards.

A tree came down across a road in the Wolfcreek subdivision, but crews cleared the tree and the road is now open.

In the Carolina Pines subdivision, a pine tree fell on power lines and the neighborhood was without power.

Some yards and roads had scattered small tree limbs and yard debris. A lone piece of siding dangled loosely from one home.

Still, power was on in most of the city and residents were shaking off the effects of a stormy night. The McDonald's on U.S. 70 and Greenfield Boulevard was open and had about a dozen cars in the parking lot and drive-thru line early Saturday.

Progress Energy reported 43,000 power outages statewide, about 1,300 in Craven County and about 1,600 in Carteret County. A spokesman said crews would be working on getting power restored as weather conditions improved.

Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative reported about 3,000 outages in its service area, which includes parts of Craven, Carteret, Onslow and Jones counties. However, a spokeswoman said many of those have already been restored.

Havelock made plans to shut down its emergency operations center at noon Saturday.

Hanna made landfall with 70 mph winds along the North and South Carolina border early Saturday morning. The storm weakened as it tracked through eastern North Carolina.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Hanna was located near Emporia, Va., with winds at 50 mph. The tropical storm warnings for the area were being discontinued as the storm moved northeast, but the National Weather Service in Newport reports that gusts of tropical storm force of 40 mph or higher were still possible during the afternoon.

Havelock reported a peak wind gust of 58 mph and Cherry Point had a peak gust of 57 mph during the storm. Cherry Point also reported 1.31 inches of rain. Onslow Beach recorded the area's top wind gust at 64 mph, with Cedar Island at 61, Beaufort at 58 and New Bern at 48.

Craven County Emergency Management reported no major flooding problems in the eastern part of the county in the Adams Creek area, a spokesman said. The county opened four storm shelters, including one at Havelock High, where 22 people stayed and rode out the storm overnight.

There were sporadic power outages and trees down in the county, including two that ended up on homes in the western part of the county, the spokesman said.

As for the rest of the day, the weather service is calling for scattered showers and gusty winds with a high temperature of 85.

Overnight, winds should decrease, while skies remain cloudy with a low of 73. Sunday's forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of showers and a high of 89.

Those with yard debris in Havelock can gather items and place them adjacent to the street for pickup. County residents with yard debris can take items to the Craven County recycling center on U.S. 70 just outside Havelock across from the Ace True Value hardware store.