North Carolina’s beaches were open, McCrory said. Thousands of Independence Day beachgoers had been ordered off the low-lying islands ahead of the storm or had left voluntarily, as the storm disrupted July Fourth festivities and fireworks.
The U.S. Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center said the storm was about 130 miles (205 km) east of Norfolk, Virginia, at 9 a.m. (1300 GMT) and moving northeast at 23 mph.
Arthur is expected to skirt the U.S. coast and pass southeast of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod on Friday evening, the center said. It is expected to be near or over the Canadian province of Nova Scotia early on Saturday.
Kathleen O’Neal, owner of Island Artworks on Ocracoke Island, said she could feel her house lift up as the storm passed overhead.
“It was very bad here,” she said, adding that many trees had been knocked down and part of a neighbor’s roof had been pulled off.