BUXTON -- Hurricane Earl's center has passed east of Cape Hatteras as the storm's powerful gusts and driving rain still churn over the Outer Banks and are being felt in southeastern Virginia.

Residents and officials of North Carolina's barrier islands are beginning to assess how much damage the storm's wind and waves left. There's minor flooding in several coastal counties, and hundreds were without power. But the storm was far more tame than feared.

"We dodged the bullet," Gov. Bev Perdue said this morning. Perdue said there are initial reports of flooding in Ocracoke and Hatteras on the Outer Banks, "but a good Northeaster would have done the same thing."

By midmorning, Perdue said she hopes to get a more detailed picture of the damage in Dare County and Ocracoke, where an evacuation order is still in place. The Bonner Bridge to Hatteras Island is still closed as crews work to clear sand from N.C. 12 about a mile south of the bridge.

Most ferry routes are still closed. The Pamlico River ferry resumed operation at 9:45 a.m., while the Cherry Branch ferry is on an abbreviated schedule. The Southport ferry is on a normal schedule.

The governor emphasized most of the state's beaches are open and ready for tourists to return. Both bridges in Carteret County are open, she said. Currituck will open at 11 a.m.

"We are open and hoping for a terrific Labor Day weekend," she said.

Sustained winds at the core of Earl were at 105 mph at 8 a.m. as the storm, centered about 130 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, moving to the north-northeast at 18 mph. National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Collins said Earl had produced little storm surge. Earl had weakened all day Thursday, winding down from a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph to Category 2.

Ocracoke Island fishing boat captain Reid Robinson planned ahead and booked a hotel room in anticipation of Earl's wind and rain. From his room at the Anchorage Inn, he could keep an eye on his boat, the Devereux, which is docked in Silver Lake harbor.

But it wasn't the hurricane that really concerned Robinson.

"Awwww, I've been through a lot of storms," he said.

Rather, unlike his own home, the hotel has a generator. Power has been out on the island since about 4 a.m. By 10 a.m., most of the water had receded along village roads. Some remained, but the roads were passable, Robinson said.

In Nags Head, with the eye the closest it was expected to get to the North Carolina coast, rain lashed against window panes and the wind kicked up. Tops of small trees were bending in the howling gusts and beach grass was whipping back and forth on dunes leading to the ocean.

The emergency management chief in Dare County said that high tide and the storm combined to wash over a portion of N.C. 12 near Rodanthe. Emergency Management Director Sandy Sanderson said the road was closed, but that the overwash was expected and nobody was out driving in the storm, anyway.

In Buxton, a two-story Comfort Inn had become a makeshift hurricane hostel for those who want to stay close to their homes but know they need better shelter.

Billy Parker, 55, chose to stay so he could keep an eye on his treasured property, but wasn't taking any chances with his family. He sent his wife, mother-in-law and two daughters to Elizabeth City - two and a half hours away on the mainland.

"I don't want them here," Parker said. "I'd fear for their lives."