Tropical storm Ernesto was downgraded to a tropical depression Friday morning as it was moving northward through North Carolina into Virginia, bringing heavy rains that forced the evacuation of hundreds and knocked power to many others, media reports said. 

 

A state of emergency has been declared respectively in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and residents were warned of dangerous flooding and high winds.

 

In North Carolina, some 300 people were forced into shelters by the storm on Friday morning, and over 1,000 families in the Beaufort County were ordered to evacuate. There was one death related to the storm in the state.

 

Nearly 80,000 customers were blacked out Friday morning in the eastern half of North Carolina, and nearly 150,000 customers were without power in Virginia, mostly in the state's southeast corner.

 

Schools throughout southeastern Virginia were closed Friday, and sandbags were distributed in Annapolis, the capital city of Maryland, and in Washington.

 

Ernesto came ashore near Long Beach, North Carolina, just before midnight Thursday, with maximum sustained winds at 70 mph (112 kph), just below the 74 mph (118.4 kph) that defines a Category 1 hurricane. The storm weakened as it moved inland and its sustained winds dropped to below the 39 mph (62.4 kph) threshold for a tropical storm.

 

Ernesto, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season this year, had strengthened into a hurricane for about 10 hours before it was downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday afternoon.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2006)