Hurricane Ophelia pummels North Carolina coast
By Gene Cherry

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Hurricane Ophelia battered coastal North Carolina with heavy rains and gusting winds on Wednesday in a slow-moving assault that was expected to last for two days and trigger dangerous flooding.

It was expected to hit Cape Lookout early on Thursday then move near the Outer Banks, the chain of islands along the state's northern coast.

The storm's strongest winds hammered the state's south and central coast on Wednesday. Schools, seaports, ferries and businesses were closed and 1,700 people went into shelters along the North Carolina coast. More than 123,000 customers had lost electricity.