Pictures-US East Coast Prepares For Hurricane Earl

Jay Farley, top, installs covers to a homeowner's oceanfront window as Jason Wheeler, bottom, looks on as Hurricane Earl heads toward the eastern coast in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Will Hurricane Earl hit the USA?

If it does, it is going to be disaster because Earl is a powerful Category 4 storm.

People disembark from the ferry at Swan Quarter, N.C. after being evacuated from Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Earl approaches the Outer Banks on Sept. 1, 2010. CHRIS SEWARD - cseward@newsobserver.com

Tourist started to evacuate Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island and tourists were largely gone from North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

A ferry leaving Hatteras, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

The governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency.

Emergency officials on Cape Cod braced for their first major storm since

Bob brought winds of up to 100 mph to coastal New England in August 1991.

Preparing for the Category 4 storm  as Hurricane Earl heads toward the eastern coast in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)