NOAA via AP A satellite image made yesterday at 4:38 EDT shows Hurricane Ophelia off the coast of South Carolina. Click photo for larger image.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. -- Vulnerable islands were evacuated and mainland schools were closed yesterday as Ophelia strengthened to a hurricane and wobbled closer to land with a threat of flooding rain.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm's status last night, saying maximum sustained winds had reached 75 mph, with higher gusts. The center said further strengthening was possible.

"I don't really want to mess with it," Bruce McIlvaine of Logan Township, N.J., said as he packed to leave the Outer Banks' Hatteras Island before his vacation ended. "You're on a spit of land a dozen miles into the ocean."

Others were nonchalant, following the lead of many longtime residents who were staying put.

Brenda and Rich Hooser, who moved to Nags Head from Winston-Salem three weeks ago, strolled hand-in-hand through the surf.

"All the locals -- none of them leave," Rich Hooser said. "If it's not over 125 [mph], they don't go anywhere."

A hurricane warning extended from the South Santee River in South Carolina north to Oregon Inlet at Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, meaning hurricane conditions were expected within 24 hours.

A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning were in effect from the Oregon Inlet north to the North Carolina-Virginia line and southward from the South Santee River to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.

After taunting coastal residents for days, the storm appeared ready to move ashore, as heavy rain battered South Carolina's northern coast and the beaches of southeastern North Carolina.

In Carolina Beach, south of Wrightsville Beach, officials reported a foot of water on one road due to heavy wind and a high tide.

Unlike Hurricane Katrina's devastating charge at the Gulf Coast, the 1-week-old Ophelia had been following a meandering path, making predictions of its landfall difficult. The hurricane center's forecasts showed it running along the coast, then veering through Pamlico Sound, crossing the Outer Banks and heading back out to sea.

Its slow movement meant heavy rain could linger over land, possibly causing serious flooding. The hurricane center said up to 15 inches of rain was possible in eastern North Carolina.

At least six North Carolina counties ordered mandatory evacuations of some areas and seven others had voluntary evacuations.

Along the exposed Outer Banks chain, all residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate Hatteras Island yesterday, visitors had been ordered off Ocracoke Island and the National Park Service closed the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said coastal residents should be prepared to go without power for two to three days.

"The beaches we expect to take a real beating," Easley said.