Gustav upgraded to season's first hurricane as it heads out to open sea

<br>MIAMI (AP) _ Tropical storm Gustav was upgraded Wednesday to a hurricane, the season's first, as it headed on a track that would take it past Cape Cod, the National Hurricane Center said. <br><br>The

Wednesday, September 11th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ Tropical storm Gustav was upgraded Wednesday to a hurricane, the season's first, as it headed on a track that would take it past Cape Cod, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, which poured up to 6 inches of rain on North Carolina's Outer Banks, had strengthened during the night with maximum sustained wind up to 75 mph, the hurricane center said. The minimum for a hurricane is 74 mph.

Gustav was headed toward the Canadian Maritimes, and the Canadian government issued heavy rain and wind warnings for all of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and parts of Newfoundland and New Brunswick.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Gustav was centered about 540 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, or about 250 miles south of Cape Cod, the hurricane center said.

It was moving toward the northeast at about 23 mph, and an increase in forward speed was expected over the next day.

On Tuesday, Gustav knocked out power to all of North Carolina's Hatteras Island for most of the afternoon.

The power outages and flooded polling places forced an early end to statewide primary elections in some precincts, and some poll workers had to be evacuated by fire trucks from the fire station at Frisco and the community building in Hatteras Village.

Gustav is the seventh named storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.