Gabrielle has little impact on NC coast by Delia Cruceru

The tropical storm Gabrielle wasn't a big deal after all for the people living on the South Coast of Northern Carolina. Friday, Gabrielle developed in a subtropical storm, but Saturday it turned to be a full tropical system. William Babcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's station in Taunton, said "The only effects the region will see is perhaps more rain and some thunderstorms." The maximum winds were of 35 mph (55kph) as the centre of the storm was at 5 a.m. at 140 miles north-northeast of Cape Hatteras. The storm's small centre made landfall along the Cape Lookout National Seashore as a Tropical Storm at around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, and after 12 hours it moved towards the Atlantic with speed increased to 12 mph from 10 mph. "If you think of what might have been as it approached us, I would say that we're in very good shape," said Dorothy Toolan, a spokeswoman for Dare County Emergency Management. The state is affected by drought so the rain would be as blessings for the residents, they were hoping that the rain will bring some relief. "We're glad we didn't have any flooding or wind damage, but the rain would have been nice," said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070909/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather_gabrielle;_ylt=Ahzqq_y4kSqcFFxdNxllL9Ws0NUE

by Delia Cruceru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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