NAGS HEAD, N.C. – Hurricane Earl steamed toward the Eastern Seaboard on Wednesday as residents in communities from North Carolina to New England kept a close eye on the forecast, worried that even a slight shift in the storm’s predicted offshore track could put millions of people in the most densely populated part of the country in harm’s way.

The governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, sea turtle nests on one beach were scooped up and moved to safety, and the crew of the Navy’s USS Cole rushed to get home to Norfolk, Va., on Wednesday ahead of the bad weather.

Farther up the East Coast, emergency officials urged people to have disaster plans and supplies ready and weighed whether to order evacuations as they watched the latest maps from the National Hurricane Center – namely, the “cone of uncertainty” showing the broad path the storm could take.

Earl was expected to reach the North Carolina coast late today and wheel to the northeast, staying offshore while making its way up the Eastern Seaboard.