ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. -- The large eye of the weakened Hurricane Isabel moved onto North Carolina's Outer Banks on Thursday as the storm pounded the coast with howling wind, stinging rain and waves. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were blacked out.

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Most of the coastal barrier islands were nearly empty as rain flew at a 45-degree angle, driven by wind that turned sand grains into darts and howled like jet engines.

"It's like a sand blaster. You need a face shield," said Nick McClintock, a pipefitter who used his welding mask to watch 15-foot waves at Nags Head. Seas up to 33 feet were reported off the Virginia coast.

The storm's eye started coming ashore after noon along the southern Outer Banks, just south of Ocracoke Island, where about 100 of the more than 900 residents chose to ride out the storm, the hurricane center said.

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Isabel's top sustained wind had eased to 100 mph as it neared land, and wind was measured at 80 mph before noon on Ocracoke Island, with a gust to 105 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was expected to continue weakening after hitting land.

A storm surge of 5 to 6 feet was reported at Cape Hatteras, with about 4 feet in the Neuse River at New Bern, N.C., the hurricane center said. There was a threat of isolated tornadoes in parts of North Carolina, Virginia and southeastern Maryland, meteorologists said.

"This is still a very powerful storm," hurricane center director Max Mayfield said after the eye came ashore. "This is a very large hurricane and very well defined."

More than 638,000 customers had lost power by early afternoon in southeastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina, according to Dominion Virginia Power and other power companies.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley asked for a federal disaster declaration to make the state eligible for damage assistance. In anticipation of flooding and wind damage, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell issued a statewide "disaster emergency" declaration. Governors of West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware had earlier declared emergencies, and the governor of New Jersey planned a declaration Thursday.

At Virginia Beach, Va., huge waves destroyed a "small piece of the end" of the 400-foot-long 15th Street pier, the only oceanfront pier in the resort area, officials said.

The federal government shut down in Washington. Amtrak halted service south of Washington, and the Washington-area Metro system shut down all subway and bus service.

The Federal Aviation Administration closed its air traffic control tower in Norfolk, Va., and flight arrivals at New York's LaGuardia Airport were delayed up to six hours, the FAA said. It said some 430 arrivals and 360 departures had already been canceled by early morning at 19 major airports in the Northeast, South and Midwest.

Numerous schools closed in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, and schools were to close Friday in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.

More than 300,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia had been urged to move to higher ground. Even seasoned storm veterans gave in to the five days of warnings that started when Isabel was a Category 5 leviathan with 160 mph wind.

But a few thousand hardy -- or foolhardy -- souls ignored evacuation orders. Virginia Beach police suggested they write their names in permanent marker on their forearms so they can be identified if they are injured or killed.

At Howard's Pub on the Outer Banks' isolated Ocracoke Island, bartender James Tucker said he and five other employees resolved early Thursday to "hang out and drink beer until the cable runs out."

Terence Fominaya from Gainesville, Fla., kept his video camera trained on the Triple S pier in Atlantic Beach in hopes of capturing the rickety structure if it collapses.

"I'm enjoying myself," he said, never looking up from his camera.

A hurricane warning was in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina to the Virginia-Maryland line. A tropical storm warning extended northward to New York's Long Island, including parts of New York City.

At 1 p.m. EDT, the center of Isabel's "very large eye" was about 40 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, or 30 northeast of Cape Lookout, the hurricane center said. It had picked up speed, moving northwest at around 18 mph. It was expected to stay at a similar strength and could spawn isolated tornadoes in eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

Forecasters said Isabel was expected to maintain its status as a hurricane, with sustained wind of at least 74 mph, for about 12 hours after landfall. It was expected to move north across North Carolina and Virginia and then take a path through western Pennsylvania and western New York state before dissipating in Canada by Saturday.

Up to a foot of rain was possible in West Virginia's hilly Eastern Panhandle and 6 to 9 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Pennsylvania.

Because of the already wet soil from a rainy summer, the U.S. Geological Survey said there was a potential of landslides in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.

John and Rita Razze's home in Chadds Ford, Pa., was flooded by rain earlier this week, and now, with everything pumped out and cleaned up, John Razze worried that the ground would be unable to absorb any of Isabel's rain.

"Usually we stay here and wait it out," said Razze. "This time, we're going to get the heck out of here."