WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Dorian (all times local):
5 a.m.
The eye of Hurricane Dorian is passing just east of Cape Lookout as the Category 1 storm skirts North Carolina's coast.
Sustained, hurricane-force winds are battering the southern Outer Banks, a 200-mile-long (320-kilometer-long) chain of low-lying barrier islands and spits off North Carolina. The center of the storm is around 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Cape Lookout and 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Cape Hatteras, further north in the Outer Banks.
Top sustained winds are near 90 mph (145 kph) and the storm is moving northeast at 14 mph (22 kph).
As of 5 a.m., the National Hurricane Center replaced a hurricane warning with a tropical storm warning from South Santee River to Little River Inlet in South Carolina. The storm-surge warning south of Surf City, North Carolina, has been discontinued.
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4:15 a.m.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami is reporting hurricane-force wind gusts along the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.
A weather station at Cape Lookout on the southern end of the chain of low-lying islands recently reported a 10-minute average wind of 63 mph (101 kph), equivalent to a 1-minute sustained wind speed of 69 mph (111 kph). A wind gust of 75 mph (121 kph) was also reported, but the weather station inside the western part of Dorian's eye hasn't reported data since 3 a.m.
Dorian's center is around 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Cape Lookout, and around 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of Cape Hatteras, further north on the string of barrier islands and spits.
The Category 1 storm's top sustained winds remain at 90 mph (145 kph) and the storm is still moving northeast at 14 mph (22 kph).
