Powerful Hurricane Churning Toward Land
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Hurricane Isabel’s sustained winds increased to 160 mph as the Category 5 hurricane swirled closer to the Atlantic Coast.
The hurricane had earlier been lowered to a Category 4 storm after its sustained winds fell to 150 mph. It was reclassified after a hurricane hunter plane flew into the eye to measure its intensity. A hurricane hits the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale when its winds reach 156 mph.
The slow-moving, powerful storm was still several days from land.
Computer models predicted it would turn toward Georgia and the Carolinas over the next five days.
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