FLOYD LASHES CAROLINA COAST.

Byline: Bruce Smith Associated Press 

Hurricane Floyd closed in on North Carolina coast early today, hitting the shore with fierce winds and drenching rains that flooded streets, spun off tornadoes and knocked out power.

Its howling winds reduced to a still-dangerous 110 mph, the Category 2 storm moved north toward Cape Fear, N.C., after delivering only a glancing blow to Florida and Georgia on Wednesday.

Altogether, authorities have urged more than 2.6 million people along the southern Atlantic coast to clear out of Floyd's path - the biggest peacetime evacuation in U.S. history.

One death was attributed to the storm in North Carolina - a person died when a car hydroplaned on wet roads Wednesday afternoon and crashed. A second person was presumed dead after being swept away by floodwaters.

At 1 a.m. Thursday, Floyd was 30 miles south of Cape Fear and moving north-northeast at 18 mph. It was expected to roll ashore before dawn today with a storm surge 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels.

A buoy in Frying Pan Shoals, N.C., about 20 miles southeast of Cape Fear, showed sustained winds of 97 mph and gusts of 112 mph early today.

By nightfall Wednesday, areas of the North Carolina coast picked up 13 to 16 inches of rain and winds from 70 to 90 mph winds were whipping north of Cape Fear early today. Wilmington got 11.5 inches of rain, which caused flooding in streets and low-lying areas. Some 53,000 people lost power.

Two twisters damaged homes and churches, but no injuries were reported.

Hurricane-strength gusts of 80 mph had buffeted Charleston, S.C., and more than 200,000 people in the area lost power. More than 15 inches of rain fell on Myrtle Beach by midnight, and authorities said they had never seen such severe flooding.

Earlier, in northern and central Florida, Floyd snapped power lines, smashed piers into driftwood and knocked out electricity to 300,000 people. About 350 miles off the coast, the Navy and Coast Guard rescued eight people whose tugboat sank in 30-foot seas churned up by the hurricane.

But Floyd made a northward turn that spared Florida and Georgia the catastrophic damage many had feared. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center and its four shuttles were largely unscathed.

The Carolinas, however, lay directly in the storm's path.

``I know that Florida and Georgia at this point feel like they've dodged a real bullet,'' said North Carolina's public safety secretary, Richard Moore. ``This thing is not going to miss us.''

Myrtle Beach, a usually bustling resort, was a virtual ghost town as people fled or stayed indoors, and highways were jammed around Wilmington. In both Carolinas, many hurricane-hardened people who rode out earlier storms left this time.

Terry Hurley, checking into a Wilmington shelter with his wife and two children, said his family stayed home for Hurricanes Fran and Bertha in 1996, but not for Floyd.

``They talk like this one is going to be pretty mean,'' he said. ``It's got everybody shook up.''

Myrtle Beach authorities imposed a 3 p.m. curfew and turned off the water supply. The hospital sent its patients inland but kept a doctor and three nurses on emergency duty.

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges banned price gouging on essential items, threatening fines up to $100 or 30 days in jail. ``All of us - no matter what our means - deserve the same access to lifesaving food and supplies,'' he said.

The last time South Carolina took a direct hit from a major hurricane was almost exactly 10 years ago, when Hugo struck near Charleston with 135 mph winds. The storm killed 29 people and caused $5.9 billion in damage, the most costly hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland until Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992.

Floyd's winds were down from a peak of nearly 155 mph when it battered the Bahamas. The storm's hurricane-force winds extended 115 miles from its center.

Floyd's expected track would take its wind and rain up through the mid-Atlantic states and into New England and Canada by Saturday night. Forecasters said Floyd could still have winds over 50 mph when it hits Maine.

In Beaufort County, at South Carolina's southern tip, an estimated 90 percent of its nearly 120,000 residents heeded the call to evacuate.

``It's like a tomb out here now,'' said Bud Boyne, a county emergency spokesman.

North Carolina authorities issued evacuation orders for the barrier islands outside Wilmington and for the Outer Banks, the fragile line of islands that were battered by a lingering Hurricane Dennis last week.

President Clinton, hurrying back from New Zealand to deal with the hurricane, pre-emptively declared federal disaster areas in South Carolina and North Carolina.

``I think we've done everything we know to do,'' Clinton said.

Hundreds of airline flights in and out of Florida and Georgia were canceled, and Amtrak suspended all train service south of Washington.

Walt Disney World remained closed Wednesday, the second day of its first weather-related shutdown in its 28-year history. But Sea World reopened and scheduled a ``Farewell to Floyd'' fireworks show.

Although Floyd stayed off Florida's Atlantic coast Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, parts of the state were raked by winds of more than 75 mph. A weather buoy more than 20 miles off Cape Canaveral measured a 54-foot wave as Floyd's eye passed over during the night.

The sea sheared off the end of the Jacksonville Pier and swallowed about 100 feet of the century-old Daytona Beach pier.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) As the eye of Hurricane Floyd approaches the Carolinas, heavy rain and thunderstorms pounded the East Coast on Wednesday. Allan Ayala, left, walks away from a car in Norfolk, Va., that his co-worker had left in the morning and returned later to find flooded. The Category 3 storm was poised to make a direct hit on the Carolinas before daybreak today.

D. Kevin Elliott/The Virginian-Pilot

(2 -- color) Floyd hammers the Jacksonville Beach Pier on Wednesday.

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press