Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly early Friday, becoming a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks were being hit with near hurricane-force gusts overnight as the storm teased a landfall, passing just east of Cape Lookout. About 300,000 homes and businesses in North and South Carolina were in the dark as of 5 a.m. this morning. Dorian spun off about 15 tornadoes, including one that wiped out mobile homes in North Carolina. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 220 miles.
Meanwhile, a massive rescue and relief effort was underway in the northern Bahamas, where there was widespread devastation.
