Hurricane Alex strengthened on Tuesday as it swirled through the Atlantic off North Carolina and closed in to deal a glancing blow to the Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands dotted with vacation homes. Alex was already pounding the coast with high winds and heavy seas and by late morning was carrying maximum winds of 100 mph (160 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was on a track that was expected to keep its core just out to sea, the hurricane center said, but warned the hurricane could cause torrential rain and storm surge flooding of up to 5 feet (1.5 metres) above normal tides. Some ferry services to the Outer Banks, a fragile 100-mile (160-km) long island chain, were halted and some summer visitors to the popular vacation spot left to avoid the storm. Alex's center was about 40 mile (65 km) south south-southwest of Cape Hatteras at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), at latitude 34.7 north, longitude 75.8 west, the center said. The storm, moving northeast at about 15 mph (25 kph), was on a course that would take it very close to the Outer Banks in the coming hours. Alex, which formed near the coast over the weekend, was expected to dump up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain in some areas. --More 1931 Local Time 1631 GMT
