Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — Hurricane Earl strengthened today, bearing down on North Carolina with winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour, prompting school closures, coastal evacuations and emergency declarations. Dare and Hyde Counties in North Carolina said their schools will close today and tomorrow. Evacuations were ordered for Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands in the Outer Banks yesterday. North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell have both declared a state of emergency. Earl was 410 miles south of Cape Hatteras moving north- northwest at 18 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time. The storm’s winds, already the strongest of the Atlantic season, accelerated from 140 mph three hours earlier. Hurricane-force winds are forecast to hit North Carolina tonight as Earl passes near the Outer Banks before scraping Cape Cod and hitting Nova Scotia at the weekend. “On the track that we’re forecasting, there will be a significant impact to the Outer Banks,” Todd Kimberlain, a hurricane specialist at the center, said today in a telephone interview. “They have less than 24 hours before the arrival of hurricane conditions. There isn’t a whole lot more time, and conditions are going to deteriorate throughout the day.

Hurricane Earl Strengthens, Bears Down on North Carolina Coast - BusinessWeek

I’ll always hope that it knocks down all the big houses and we can rebuild the tar-paper shacks I grew up with.  That, and waving to three three streets out in front of the Duck Hampton Inn where we once laid our heads.

Still, I’m sure these houses were built to survive.  And this is nothing like Andrew.  Although Earl does have a good bubba feel to it.