Tropical Storm Hanna sailed easily over the beaches of Carolinas' coast early Saturday, blowing hard and dumping rain but apparently causing little damage at the start of its speedy run north to New England, reported ap. Emergency officials were already looking past Hanna to powerful Hurricane Ike, several hundred miles out in the Atlantic. Ike, packing Category 3 hurricane winds of near 115 mph (185 kph), could approach southern Florida by Monday as Hanna spins away from Canada over the North Atlantic. «Hanna is heading north in a hurry, leaving behind sunshine for the weekend,» Myrtle Beach city spokesman Mark Kruea said. Kruea said city services would be open and that «despite a week of preliminary hype» the storm didn't have much of an impact on the city except a few downed trees and some power outages that were repaired in less than a half-hour. Further to the north, officials in North Carolina reported more than 30,000 customers without power as Hanna moved inland through the eastern part of the state. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hanna's center made landfall about 3:20 a.m. (0720 GMT) near the state line with top sustained winds dropping to about 60 mph (96 kph) from near 70 mph (112 kph) while the storm was over water. Hanna started drenching the Carolina coast Friday, with streets in some spots flooding by late afternoon as the leading edges of the storm approached land, making people gathered on beaches shout to be heard. By early Saturday, the wind howled as gusts neared 50 mph (80 kph) and rain came in blinding bursts in Myrtle Beach. The lights flickered on and off several times along some beachfront blocks and the wind was so strong that it made waves in hotel pools. Several roads flooded at the peak of the storm. But nearly all the flooding was gone before daybreak, regional officials said. The storm caused some travel headaches. Raleigh-Durham International Airport canceled a few dozen flights Saturday morning. No problems were reported at Charlotte-Douglas International and Piedmont Triad International in Greensboro. Hanna was expected to race up the Atlantic Coast, reaching New England by Sunday morning. Tropical storm watches or warnings ran from the Carolinas to Massachusetts, and included all of Chesapeake Bay, the Washington, D.C., area and Long Island, New York. But a hurricane watch along the Carolinas' coasts was dropped. The storm has been blamed for disastrous flooding and more than 100 deaths in Haiti. Up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain were expected in the Carolinas, as well as central Virginia, Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania. Some spots could see up to 10 inches (25 centimeters), and forecasters warned of the potential for flash flooding in the northern mid-Atlantic states and southern New England. For all the talk of Hanna, there was more about Ike, which could become the fiercest storm to strike South Florida since Andrew in 1992. That hurricane did more than $26 billion in damage and was blamed for 65 deaths from wind and flooding along with car crashes and other storm-related accidents. Federal emergency officials said they were positioning supplies, search and rescue crews, communications equipment and medical teams in Florida and along the Gulf Coast _ a task complicated by Ike's changing path. Tourists in the Keys were ordered to leave beginning Saturday morning.
