Hurricane Earl has been downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm, but residents are making preparations, Red Cross is on stand-by and some officials are preparing to evacuate residents if needed. One Queens resident in Belle Harbor told WCBS 2, “We’ll take precautions. We’ll walk around the yard make sure we take the umbrellas away, the kids toys, make sure the pumps are working, and keep our fingers crossed I guess."
On Long Island, Newsday reports, "On the East End, which weather forecasters expect to take the local brunt of the severe weather, some 2,400 mobile home residents in Riverhead and campers at Montauk's 168-site Hither Hills State Park were alerted Tuesday about potential evacuations. Farther west, Suffolk County officials said they would decide Wednesday whether to evacuate Fire Island, an eight- to nine-hour process that involves shuttling residents and vacationers by ferry across the Great South Bay."
Residents in North Carolina's Orcacoke Island were evacuated this morning. It looks like NJ will be spared, but residents on Cape Cod and other Massachusetts islands are on alert.
