The remnants of Hurricane Earl took aim at Nova Scotia early Saturday after a brush with the Northeast that was far less intense than feared, dumping heavy, wind-driven rain on Cape Cod cottages and fishing villages accustomed to heavy storms.
The worst of the damage amounted to a few hundred power outages, a handful of downed power lines and isolated flooding in Massachusetts. The storm didn't make much of an impression on the dozen people who stayed overnight at a Red Cross shelter at the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in Yarmouth on the Cape.
"Everybody was ready for something big to happen," said Red Cross worker Harry Watling. "But when it came, most of us hardly even noticed."
Earl swooped into New England waters Friday night as a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph (110 kilometer) after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage. The rain it brought to Cape Cod, Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard was more typical of the storms that residents have been dealing with for generations - except this one disrupted the unofficial last weekend of summer.
Winds on Nantucket blew at around 30 mph (48.28 kph), with gusts above 40 mph (65 kph). The island got about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) of rain, while adjacent Martha's Vineyard got more than 3 inches (8 centimeters).
Nantucket, the well-to-do resort island and old-time whaling port, briefly saw some localized flooding, but it cleared within hours, Nantucket Assistant Town Manager Gregg Tivnan said. There were no evacuations, power outages or even reports of trees down, he said.
Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said the damage was so minimal on Cape Cod and the islands that the agency didn't send out assessment teams as planned Saturday morning.
"There's nothing to assess at this point," he said. "It wasn't even a really bad rainstorm."
Judge said power outages peaked at about 1,800 but were down to a few hundred early Saturday and were being quickly restored. He said the state shut down its emergency management center as of 7 a.m. Saturday.
"We feel very fortunate that we're not dealing with major issues this morning," he said. "Hopefully, people will be able to enjoy the weekend."
In the hours and days before the storm, vacationers had pulled their boats from the water and canceled Labor Day weekend reservations on Nantucket. Shopkeepers boarded up their windows. Beachgoers were warned to stay out of the New England waters - or off the beach altogether - because of the danger of getting swept away by high waves.
Airlines canceled dozens of flights into New England, and Amtrak suspended train service between New York and Boston.
As of 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Earl's center was located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and was moving northeast at 30 mph (50 kilometer). The Canadian Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch in Nova Scotia from Ecum Secum to Point Tupper.
The storm weakened faster than predicted and would continue to diminish, National Weather Service meteorologist Rebecca Gould said.
Earl dulled quickly over the course of 36 hours. By midday Friday, it had dropped to a Category 1 storm - down from a fearsome Category 4 with 145 mph (235 kilometer) winds a day earlier. At 11 p.m. (0300 GMT Saturday), it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Earl stayed far off New Jersey and the eastern tip of New York's Long Island as it made its way north.
The storm did kick up dangerous riptides up and down the coast. In New Jersey, two young men apparently died earlier this week in the rough surf caused by Earl and the hurricane before it, Danielle. Fog, wind and roiling seas also hindered the search for a boater who went missing before Earl's arrival early Friday afternoon off Portsmouth, New Hamshire.
Officials warned that rip currents would continue to be a concern Saturday and Sunday. With offshore seas up to 20 feet (6 meters), beaches would continue to see big waves that could knock people off jetties or piers.
Twenty miles (30 kilometers) out off the Maine coast, lobstermen on Matinicus Island were cautious after getting fooled by Hurricane Bill, which missed the mainland last year but sent tides and rough seas that destroyed their traps. This time, they moved their gear to the safety of deeper water or pulled their traps out altogether.
As of early Saturday, there were no reports of storm damage in Maine and very little for storm watchers to see.
After skirting Massachusetts, Earl was headed for Canada. Tropical storms typically weaken when they enter the colder waters between Maine and Canada, but many Nova Scotia residents stocked up on bottled water and canned goods, fearing a repeat of 2003, when Hurricane Juan killed eight and caused millions of dollars in damage.
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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Lubec, Maine; Jay Lindsay and Rodrique Ngowi in Boston; Larry Neumeister in Montauk, New York; and Rob Gillies in Halifax, Nova Scotia, contributed to this report.
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