HURRICANE EARL 6 a.m.: Weakening, passing North Carolina

Hurricane Earl’s center has passed east of Cape Hatteras on North Carolina’s coast and Craven County has endured some wind and steady rain for several hours.

The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds are at 105 mph early Friday. While the National Hurricane Center says weakening is forecast, Earl is expected to remain a large hurricane as it approaches southern New England.

Sustained winds of about 30 mph were whipping the North Carolina coast and the U.S. Coast Guard station at Hatteras reported a gust of 67 mph just before midnight.

At 4 a.m., there were reports of a couple hundred power outages near Havelock.

Earl had weakened all day Thursday, winding down from a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph to a Category 2 storm with winds of 105 mph.

Craven County officials declared a state of emergency Thursday and opened evacuation shelters.

The shelters are open at Havelock High School at 101 Webb Blvd., at Brinson Elementary on Old Cherry Point Road in New Bern, and at Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary at 2000 Farm Life Ave. in Vanceboro.

A pet-friendly shelter is open at Ben D. Quinn Elementary at 4275 Dr. M.L. King Jr. Blvd. in New Bern. Pets must meet shelter requirements. Call 252-626-3899 for more information.

Schools in Craven County are scheduled to open three hours later Friday.

Pamlico County Schools will also open three hours later than normal.

Jones County Schools will open two hours later than usual.

Craven Community College is opening three hours later today.

Pamlico Community College is opening three hours later today as well.

The forecast for Friday is typical post-hurricane heat, with a high pressure system building in the wake of Earl. Temperatures should cool quickly into the 80s for Friday night football.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Collins said Earl had produced little storm surge and only minor flooding in some coastal counties. Predictions of storm surges between 2 and 4 feet may be too much, he said.

In Nags Heads, with the eye the closest it was expected to get to the North Carolina coast, the rain lashed against window panes and the wind kicked up. At about 2 a.m., the tops of small trees were bending in the howling gusts and beach grass was whipping back and forth on dunes leading to the ocean. A couple hundred power outages were reported.

The National Hurricane Center’s next update is scheduled for 8 a.m.

The most likely place Earl will make landfall is on Saturday in western Nova Scotia, Canada, where it could still be a hurricane, said hurricane center deputy director Ed Rappaport.

Governors in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, joining North Carolina.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)