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Ophelia heads up East CoastTropical storm edges away from North Carolina's Outer Banks
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSSALTER PATH, North Carolina (CNN) -- As residents of North Carolina cleaned up Friday, people in New England and Canada prepared as Tropical Storm Ophelia headed north and picked up speed. The storm was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane late Thursday after downing trees and power lines across the region. Low-lying areas reported flooding after some areas got as much as 18 inches of rain in 24 hours. Ophelia's eye never officially made landfall, instead slowing to a crawl off the coast as it moved ever so slightly to the east. Forecasters predicted the storm's center will remain over the Atlantic Ocean as it moves northward. At 8 p.m. ET, the center of Ophelia was about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving northeast at 16 mph (26 kph), forecasters said. Ophelia's top sustained winds were 65 mph (100 kph) with higher gusts. "I just took a drive around through some of the villages, and I noticed that everyone is putting extra gear on their boats and making sure there's nothing to blow away off their wharves," George Zinck of Nova Scotia told The Associated Press. North Carolinians breathed a sign of relief that the storm did not sweep ashore, especially with images of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast fresh in their minds. "Mother Nature plays strange tricks in strange ways, but the Outer Banks has been spared a direct hit," said Sandy Sanderson, director of emergency management for Dare County, which includes a large chunk of the Outer Banks. Nevertheless, there was heavy damage in some places. A tidal surge from Ophelia brutalized coastal businesses in Salter Path on the island of Bogue Banks, southwest of Morehead City. (See video on the damage -- 1:43) "The damage that we've seen driving toward the middle of this island is really dramatic," CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said. A tropical storm watch was in effect for a portion of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. A watch also was issued by Canadian forecasters for southwestern Nova Scotia, from Yarmouth to Lunenberg. A tropical storm watch means tropical storm conditions, including winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph), are possible within the next 36 hours. The storm could dump up to 4 inches of rain across portions of southeastern New England. The National Hurricane Center discontinued a tropical storm warning from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, north to the North Carolina-Virginia border. Above-normal tides along the North Carolina coast should subside on Friday. As much as 18 inches of rain have fallen between Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina; the area north of Wilmington toward the Outer Banks got 10 inches. As the storm approached, mandatory evacuations were ordered for portions of six counties in North Carolina -- Brunswick, Carteret, Dare, Hyde, Onslow and Pender. Voluntary evacuations were also in place for parts of eight counties in the eastern part of the state. At least 80,000 customers were without power, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said, not including Hatteras Island, Okracoke Island, Buxton and Frisco, all of which had no power. Easley said that the National Guard had set up four staging areas to evacuate the elderly and others with special needs from low-lying areas as the storm approached. Sixty-one shelters opened across the state. CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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