Truman!
You be careful out there!
Tropical Storm Cristobal rumbles off the Carolinas
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP): Tropical Storm Cristobal, the first tropical storm to menace the Southeast seaboard this hurricane season, continued to move along the North Carolina coast early Sunday, and was expected to dump several inches of rain in some areas of the drought-stricken state.
At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the center of the storm was about 60 miles (98 kilometers) southwest of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, and about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center said Cristobal was moving northeast at about 6 mph (10 kph) with maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph (72 kph) and some higher gusts.
"Basically the track is running parallel to the coast,'' said lead center forecaster Martin Nelson, speaking with The Associated Press by telephone from Miami. "Slow strengthening is forecast for the next day or two.''
Elsewhere Sunday, Hurricane Fausto was expected to weaken far off Mexico's Pacific coast, while Hurricane Bertha, the longest-lived July tropical storm in history, was downgraded to a tropical storm Saturday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Sunday that Bertha continued to move northeastward over the north Atlantic.
Bertha battered Bermuda earlier this week, knocking out electricity to thousands at the Atlantic tourist destination.