Hurricane Arthur heads up US East Coast

Hurricane Arthur, downgraded to a category one storm, carried its still-fierce winds and drenching rains toward the US northeast Friday, after getting the July 4 holiday off to a soggy start for vacationers further south. By morning, Arthur, which had crashed ashore in North Carolina overnight as a category two storm, had lost a bit of its punch, with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour holding steady throughout the day.
Officials from the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was likely to weaken further as it chugged northward on its mission to ruin Independence Day celebrations in the New England region of the US northeast. North Carolina's Governor Pat McCrory, visibly relieved at a morning press conference, reported that other than some flooding, beach erosion and power outages, his state was by and large spared the worst possible effects from Arthur.
"North Carolina beaches are open for business," McCrory said, beckoning visitors who might have scuttled travel plans during the holiday weekend - the most lucrative for his state's flourishing tourist industry. "We want to say come visit the North Carolina beaches," he said, adding that "(beach) umbrellas are going up as we speak right now."
The storm threatened to derail traditional Independence Day weekend picnics, parades and fireworks displays for millions of Americans along the East Coast, as far north as New England. The NHC's 1500 GMT advisory said Arthur was located about 100 miles (165 kilometers) southeast of Ocean City, Maryland, and was heading toward the northeast at 24 miles (39 kilometers) per hour.
By early Saturday the storm was supposed to arrive in Nova Scotia, Canada, after first passing east of New England. The tempestuous weather system already caused city officials to make adjustments to July 4 festivities in Boston, where the traditional annual fireworks display was held one day early, Thursday night.
Other northeastern towns likely to be in Arthur's path, like Westport, Connecticut, said they would push back their fireworks to Monday, by which time the storm will be long gone. As dawn broke on a disrupted holiday for tens of thousands of vacationers, television footage showed fierce winds and horizontal rain in the resort region of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the long and thin series of barrier islands where the storm made landfall late Thursday.