Residents in Ophelia's Path Urged to Get Out

North Carolina's governor pleaded yesterday with the 70,000 people living along the state's coast to flee Hurricane Ophelia, the first major storm to hit the US since Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi two weeks ago.

Ophelia was expected to strike North Carolina with a glancing blow late last night before spinning off into the Atlantic. It was considerably weaker than Katrina, with top sustained wind speeds of 85mph, but the governor, Mike Easley, said it was moving so slowly along the coast it would cause disproportionate flooding.

"These floods are going to be worse than anticipated yesterday," the governor said. "We're asking and begging [people to get out] because it's going to be hard to get them out later. Once the high winds come, we cannot get in and get you out - cannot get you by boat, cannot get you by helicopters, cannot get there by plane."

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for the islands off the state's Outer Banks, and for the region's seaside resorts, but there were reports last night that many people had ignored the orders, barricaded their houses and stayed put.

Stung by criticism of its slow response to Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency stationed 250 workers along the North Carolina coast, more than would normally be deployed for a hurricane of Ophelia's magnitude.

The main concern was flooding as the hurricane crept northwards up the North Carolina coast. The National Hurricane Centre predicted it would hover over the northern coast for 11 hours, dumping 38cm (15in) of rain and driving storm surges of more than three metres on the shore, and along North Carolina's rivers.