Virginia declares emergency; Carolinas on hurricane watch

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the Carolina coasts Thursday, and Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Ernesto neared hurricane strength in the Atlantic.\nThe watch, stretching from South Carolina's Santee River to Cape Lookout in North Carolina, means hurricane conditions, with sustained winds of at least 74 mph, were possible within 12 hours.\nFor residents who have long weathered hurricanes in this vulnerable region, Ernesto's wind was less of a concern than the threat of flooding. Thunderstorms have been drenching North Carolina for more than a day, and Ernesto could bring half a foot of rain.\n"We need some rain around here -- just not all at once," said Jean Evans, a convenience store worker along North Carolina's Holden Beach, part of the lengthy strip of coastline under the National Weather Center's tropical storm warning.\nErnesto had been downgraded to a tropical depression over Florida, but it gained strength and was upgraded as it moved over the warm waters of the Atlantic.\nBy Thursday morning, its outer bands had reached the South Carolina coast, and its sustained winds were nearing hurricane strength at 70 mph by mid-afternoon, according the National Hurricane Center. The storm was forecast to make landfall late Thursday along the coast near the South Carolina-North Carolina border.\nIn Virginia, Gov. Timothy Kaine declared a state of emergency, preparing the Virginia National Guard and state agencies to take all reasonable actions to protect residents.\nFarther north, the storm prompted coastal flood advisories along Maryland's Eastern Shore and flash flood watches inland. While in Pennsylvania, where Ernesto's remnants could reach early in the Labor Day weekend, officials worried about the storm reaching a dam north of Pittsburgh that was damaged by recent heavy rain there.\nThe Mid-Atlantic region has struggled this summer with on-again, off-again drought. But the runoff from back-to-back heavy downpours, while refilling reservoirs, could also cause damaging flooding.\nCentral North Carolina has had anywhere from 3 to 8 inches of rain in the past day, National Weather Service meteorologist Deborah Moneypenny said. Duke Energy, which serves central and western North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, reported 4,900 customers without power at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, well before Ernesto arrived.