After sideswiping southern US, weakened Earl hits outer reaches of North

Chatham, Massachusetts: The remnants of Hurricane Earl has dumped wind-driven rain on Cape Cod's gray-shingled cottages and fishing villages on Friday night, but its close brush with the Northeast was less intense than feared only hours earlier.

Earl swooped into New England waters as a tropical storm with winds of 112 kph after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage.

The storm's approach disrupted vacations on the unofficial final weekend of the summer, but the swirling rain it brought to Cape Cod, Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard on Friday was typical of the nor'easters that residents have been dealing with for generations.