Looming Hurricane Earl forced vacationers and some residents off North Carolina's barrier islands Wednesday, churning up dangerous swells and prompting storm alerts along the U.S. east coast. Watches and warnings were posted along the Atlantic coast for most of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and part of Delaware, alerting residents that hurricane conditions were possible in 36 to 48 hours. North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency Wednesday due to the approach of Hurricane Earl.