Hurricane increases to 100 mph

Residents along coast of Georgia, Carolinas prepare for possible landfall.

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- East Coast beachgoers and coastal residents kept a watch on changing weather forecasts Saturday as Hurricane Dennis added muscle while moving slowly through the Bahamas.

The storm's course was uncertain. Various computer models suggested it could affect the coast of the Carolinas late Monday or Tuesday or veer away from land, forecasters said.

"There's some glimmer of hope," National Hurricane Center director Jerry Jarrell said Saturday afternoon. "Some of the models are beginning to show that it may miss the coast."

Forecasters also had warned Dennis might stall somewhere along the coast, giving it more time to pile up a storm surge and to batter the beach with erosive waves.

The hurricane center cautioned that storms can deviate widely from projections.

"This is not the time to let down our guard nor is there any reason to panic," said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.

Damon Smith wasn't letting his guard down, as he stocked up with 20 gallons of bottled water on South Carolina's Isle of Palms.

"My gut feeling is it's not going to hit, but I like to be prepared just in case," Smith said.

Dennis battered the northern Bahamas early Saturday, tearing up trees and utility poles, ripping small boats from their moorings and breaking down buildings under construction.

At North Carolina's Kill Devil Hills, on the Outer Banks chain of islands, Howard and Jean Wamsley, of Colonial Heights, Va., boarded up the windows and 8-foot glass sliding doors at their vacation home.

"This is my dream house, and we've got to protect it," Jean Wamsley said.

Near Wilmington, N.C., Wrightsville Beach lifeguards posted red flags along the beach Saturday, warning people not to enter the water because of the possibility that the surf could generate dangerous rip currents. A 10-year-old swimmer drowned in a rip current before Hurricane Bonnie last year at Atlantic Beach.

At 10 p.m. CDT, Dennis had strengthened, with its sustained wind accelerating to 105 mph, and was centered about 325 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C., the hurricane center said. It was moving toward the northwest at about 7 mph and was expected to gradually turn toward the north today.

The hurricane was expected to strengthen, and it could become a Category 3 storm, with winds of 111 mph to 130 mph.

As of Saturday night, a hurricane watch was issued from north of Savannah, Ga., to Surf City, N.C., and a tropical storm warning was in effect for part of Florida's east coast.

Cruise ships changed routes and small boats were moved inland Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Dennis threatened to brush Florida with storm-force winds.

About 1,000 South Carolina National Guardsmen moved toward the coast on Saturday and several hundred law enforcement officers were already there in case they are needed to direct traffic in the event of an evacuation.

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