wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

The hurricane predicted to spoil Labor Day weekend plans has been downgraded to a category 1. The National Weather Service is still predicting wind gusts of more than 70 miles an hour on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusets.

Forecasters predict Hurricane Earl will weaken to a tropical storm by Friday evening.

In New Jersey, Earl's strong tides may have claimed a second victim. A 20-year-old man, who went swimming Thursday night with friends in Belmar, never emerged from the ocean. A 23-year old man from Asbury Park drowned Tuesday after entering the rolling waters. State police hope to resume searching for the second victim by boat if conditions improve later Friday.

At Penn Station, frustrated passengers are filling the waiting areas after Amtrak cancelled more than 15 sold out trains between New York and Boston after a tree a fell on property near New London, Connecticut, pulling down overhead wires. Spokesman Clifford Cole says Amtrak will refund ticketholders or put them on other trains once service resumes -- perhaps as soon as Saturday. Amtrak had already planned to suspend its service between New York and Boston after 5:00 when Earl was expected to arrive.

"Because of the magnitude of the problem, we are not going to be able to provide any alternate transportation for today, so people are going to have to either wait out the storm or seek alternate methods of getting to New York or Boston for the rest of the day," Cole says.

Long Island Railroad has decided to suspend service on trains running east of Speonk on the Montauk branch and trains east of Ronkonkoma on the Ronkokoma Branch as a safety precaution. "We don't want to risk the possibility of having customers on trains that are stranded because of down trees or power lines," says LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone.

Calderone says the railroad expects to resume service Saturday morning. "If there is no significant damage, then as soon as the storm passes, we will immediately begin the process, which takes about 6 to 8 hours of re-activating the grade crossing equipment," Calderone says.

Continental Airlines, which has a hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, says it's cancelled 50 departures from Newark, on its Continental Connection and Continental Express routes along the East Coast.

The airline says it will allow passengers to change reservations on flights through Sunday without penalty if the rescheduled flight is taken by September 19.

Ferry traffic is also being affected by the expected storm; the Delaware River and Bay Authority say ferries between Cape May and Lewes, Del. are also cancelled today.

But it was a good day for surfers and boogie boarders, who descended on the city's beaches hoping to catch waves churned up by Earl. In the Rockaways, surfers say 6-9 foot waves made for some of the best surfing of the summer.

"It feels like jumping off a roof, landing in water and then having the roof land on top of you. That's what it feels like. It's great. It's great fun," says boogie boarder Chris Linton from Astoria, who took a beating several times as he was tumbled in the rough surf.

The National Weather Service says coastal waters will stay choppy over the weekend due to a cold front that's moving behind the hurricane.

The hurricane passed the coast of North Carolina with no deaths or damages reported.

Updated at 6:17 p.m.