Tropical Storm Gabrielle washes ashore in North Carolina
1:00 AM
Posted: Monday, September 10, 2007
NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) -- The fishing pier Charlie Brewer visits nearly every day was swaying Sunday in the strong winds and heavy surf stirred by Tropical Storm Gabrielle. It wasn't nearly enough to keep him from kicking back with a rod, beer and a cigarette.
"This storm's a joke," said the 46-year-old Nags Head resident, laughing as he looked over his shoulder at the dark skies around him. "It's just making the fishing a little more interesting."
Along the North Carolina shore, Gabrielle packed little punch Sunday as she crawled along the state's Outer Banks. In fact, the storm became a tourist attraction, bringing surfers to the beach and turning camera lenses toward the skies.
By late Sunday, the storm had moved offshore on a steady course for open water, and the National Weather Service discontinued all watches and warnings. Though Gabrielle had brought gusty winds of up to 50 mph, officials said the tropical storm would be remembered mostly as an inconvenience.
"We haven't had any requests for assistance," said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. "We'll be glad to help out if anybody needs it, but right now, we're not hearing anything. It's been kind of quiet."
If anything, residents of eastern North Carolina were annoyed that Gabrielle failed to dump much rain inland. Much of the state is in a drought, and there was hope the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season to reach the state would prove to be a blessing.
"We're glad we didn't have any flooding or wind damage, but the rain would have been nice," Jarema said. "The coast got some rain, but they were the ones with the least problems from the drought."
Just before 11 p.m, Gabrielle's center was about 75 miles north of Cape Hatteras and about 445 miles southwest of Nantucket, Mass. It was heading northeast at about 10 mph and expected to continue moving away from the coast, possibly picking up a little forward speed.
Its maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph, with little change in strength forecast for the next 24 hours.
Officials closed campgrounds on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and put swift water rescue teams and National Guard units on standby. But no one was ordered to evacuate, and officials said the greatest danger was posed by rip currents threatening swimmers who ventured into the ocean.
"We had heavy surf, but you could tell from looking at it the currents were strong," said Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Toolan. "People took the advice and stayed out of it today."
Officials in Dare, Hyde and Currituck counties, which cover most of the Outer Banks, said Sunday they had no reports of any water rescues tied to Gabrielle.
The warnings didn't stop Derek Creekmore, 32, who with surfing buddy Mark Carter drove to Cape Hatteras from Chesapeake, Va., to ride the tall, breaking waves that Gabrielle brought ashore.
"It's a lot rougher out there, but this is what we look forward to every year," Creekmore said.
The National Weather Service said 1.5 feet of water from Pamlico Sound covered parts of Highway 12 near Salvo -- a common spot for overwash -- but that the roadway was still passable. The surge was forecast to gradually subside overnight. While some spots did get some decent rain -- nearly 8 inches in Beaufort -- the storm generally failed to deliver.
Gabrielle spun into the storm late Friday after wandering in the Atlantic for several days, caught along an old frontal boundary that stalled about midway between the Southeast coast and Bermuda. Forecasters first labeled it a subtropical storm -- a hybrid system that takes power from warm ocean waters but also forms from warm and cold fronts colliding -- before classifying it a tropical system.
"This has given us a little practice run for hurricanes," said Currituck County spokeswoman Diane Sawyer. "You don't wish to have a storm, but if you have to have one it's a good one to have. It looks like we're going to be lucky."
"This storm's a joke," said the 46-year-old Nags Head resident, laughing as he looked over his shoulder at the dark skies around him. "It's just making the fishing a little more interesting."
Along the North Carolina shore, Gabrielle packed little punch Sunday as she crawled along the state's Outer Banks. In fact, the storm became a tourist attraction, bringing surfers to the beach and turning camera lenses toward the skies.
By late Sunday, the storm had moved offshore on a steady course for open water, and the National Weather Service discontinued all watches and warnings. Though Gabrielle had brought gusty winds of up to 50 mph, officials said the tropical storm would be remembered mostly as an inconvenience.
"We haven't had any requests for assistance," said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. "We'll be glad to help out if anybody needs it, but right now, we're not hearing anything. It's been kind of quiet."
If anything, residents of eastern North Carolina were annoyed that Gabrielle failed to dump much rain inland. Much of the state is in a drought, and there was hope the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season to reach the state would prove to be a blessing.
"We're glad we didn't have any flooding or wind damage, but the rain would have been nice," Jarema said. "The coast got some rain, but they were the ones with the least problems from the drought."
Just before 11 p.m, Gabrielle's center was about 75 miles north of Cape Hatteras and about 445 miles southwest of Nantucket, Mass. It was heading northeast at about 10 mph and expected to continue moving away from the coast, possibly picking up a little forward speed.
Its maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph, with little change in strength forecast for the next 24 hours.
Officials closed campgrounds on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and put swift water rescue teams and National Guard units on standby. But no one was ordered to evacuate, and officials said the greatest danger was posed by rip currents threatening swimmers who ventured into the ocean.
"We had heavy surf, but you could tell from looking at it the currents were strong," said Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Toolan. "People took the advice and stayed out of it today."
Officials in Dare, Hyde and Currituck counties, which cover most of the Outer Banks, said Sunday they had no reports of any water rescues tied to Gabrielle.
The warnings didn't stop Derek Creekmore, 32, who with surfing buddy Mark Carter drove to Cape Hatteras from Chesapeake, Va., to ride the tall, breaking waves that Gabrielle brought ashore.
"It's a lot rougher out there, but this is what we look forward to every year," Creekmore said.
The National Weather Service said 1.5 feet of water from Pamlico Sound covered parts of Highway 12 near Salvo -- a common spot for overwash -- but that the roadway was still passable. The surge was forecast to gradually subside overnight. While some spots did get some decent rain -- nearly 8 inches in Beaufort -- the storm generally failed to deliver.
Gabrielle spun into the storm late Friday after wandering in the Atlantic for several days, caught along an old frontal boundary that stalled about midway between the Southeast coast and Bermuda. Forecasters first labeled it a subtropical storm -- a hybrid system that takes power from warm ocean waters but also forms from warm and cold fronts colliding -- before classifying it a tropical system.
"This has given us a little practice run for hurricanes," said Currituck County spokeswoman Diane Sawyer. "You don't wish to have a storm, but if you have to have one it's a good one to have. It looks like we're going to be lucky."
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