The first Atlantic hurricane of the season has weakened after making landfall on the eastern U.S. coast, causing flooding and power outages, but no injuries.
Hurricane Arthur struck the North Carolina shore late Thursday with winds of 160 kilometers per hour, before moving back out to sea.
Arthur forced thousands of vacationers in North Carolina to abandon their Independence Day plans, while cities farther up the East Coast re-scheduled fireworks.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said Friday that there is widespread relief that there were no causalities from the storm and said beaches are reopening again.
"There have been no casualties or serious injuries reported and that was our number one goal so that puts a big smile on all our faces, said McCrory. "Of course we haven't got all the reports in but things look quite good throughout the coast of North Carolina."
Officials say about 40,000 people are without power and say the storm flooded roads and cut off island communities from the mainland.
Forecasters say Arthur will weaken into a tropical storm as it continues to move up the eastern U.S. coast, bringing heavy rains and possible flooding.
The storm is expected to be over the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on Saturday.
