The New York Times Agency Photos
HURRICANE EARL 20
Locals watch ocean waves break under the Avalon Fishing Pier in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. as Hurricane Earl approaches the eastern coast, Sept. 2, 2010. Communities from North Carolina's sandy barrier islands to the seaside towns along Cape Cod in Massachusetts were bracing for whipping winds, high surf and driving rain as Hurricane Earl plowed toward the East Coast on Thursday. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)