Arthur was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm early Saturday as its winds weakened to 70 mph. The storm swept up the East Coast moving at about 22 mph overnight and was located about 65 miles southwest of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. It was expected to continue to weaken throughout the day, according to The Weather Channel. A tropical storm warning remained in effect for Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, from the U.S.-Canada border to Grand-Anse. But the warning was lifted for Nantucket and for Cape Cod, from Provincetown to Woods Hole.
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The hurricane first made landfall along the Outer Banks as a Category 2 Thursday night and lashed North Carolina before moving out Friday morning. It forced a mandatory evacuation along the southern end of the barrier islands, and left behind power outages and flooded-out roads. Businesses there were working to get back on their feet Saturday. But the storm failed to hamper most July 4 festivities. New York's Macy's fireworks barge was moved because of high rip currents but the celebrations otherwise went ahead as planned.
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