Hurricane Hermine dropped to a tropical storm but then regained strength Saturday as it drenched coastal North Carolina and Virginia on a path up the East Coast.

Hermine could approach hurricane intensity again Sunday as it spins over the Atlantic Ocean, lashing coastal areas as far north as Massachusetts through a soggy Labor Day weekend.

“Anyone along the U.S. East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Hermine was centered just off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, with top sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), moving east-northeast at 15 mph (24 kph).

Tropical Storm Warnings were extended through New York City to Rhode Island, and a dangerous storm surge was expected from Virginia to New Jersey.

Hermine rose up over the Gulf of Mexico and became the first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade, wiping away beachside buildings, toppling trees onto homes and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity as it plowed onward to the Atlantic Coast.

About 300,000 homes were without electricity in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said Saturday morning. Other outages included more than 107,000 without power in Georgia, 21,000 in South Carolina, 45,000 in North Carolina and 53,000 in Virginia.

“I want everybody to have their power. I want them to be able to take a hot shower,” Scott said.

Governors Terry McAulliff of Virginia and Larry Hogan of Maryland declared states of emergency for coastal areas and warned of life-threatening storm surges.

In Florida’s Big Bend area, the storm surge crumpled docks and washed out homes and businesses. A homeless man died from a falling tree south of Gainesville, Scott said.

Scott observed damage in the coastal communities of Cedar Key and Steinhatchee by helicopter, and pledged state help for damaged businesses.

Hermine spawned a small tornado over North Carolina’s Outer Banks, knocking over two trailers and injuring four people.

In Virginia Beach, the storm forced Bruce Springsteen to move a Saturday night concert to Monday.

Further up the coast, Amtrak cancelled or altered some service as the storm approached. New Jersey officials ordered swimmers out of the surf. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo activated New York’s Emergency Operations Center to begin preparations.

In Valdosta, Georgia, Hermine didn’t cause much damage other than the holes in Nick Wykoff’s roof from a burly pecan tree that was toppled in strong winds. He, his wife and their small children were unhurt.

The timing couldn’t be worse for communities along the coast that count on Labor Day weekend festivals for revenue. In Savannah, Georgia, Bacon Fest was canceled Friday and the Craft Brew Fest had to move beer tents indoors.

Back in Florida, the surge at Dekle Beach damaged numerous homes and destroyed storage buildings and a 100-yard fishing pier. The area is about 60 miles southeast of St. Marks, where Hermine made landfall at 1:30 a.m.

An unnamed spring storm that hit the beach in 1993 killed 10 people who refused to evacuate. This time, only three residents stayed behind. All escaped injury.

In nearby Steinhatchee, Bobbi Pattison wore galoshes and was covered in black muck as she stood in her living room amid overturned furniture and an acrid smell. Tiny crabs darted around her floor.

“I had a hurricane cocktail party last night and God got even with me,” she said with a chuckle.

Only wet sand and rubble remained where her bar once stood. Pattison and two neighbors managed to set upright a large wooden statue of a sea captain she had carved from wood that washed ashore in the 1993 storm.

The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm that arrived on Oct. 24, 2005. It swept across the Everglades and struck heavily populated south Florida, causing five deaths in the state and an estimated $23 billion in damage.

The Florida governor declared an emergency in 51 counties and said about 6,000 National Guardsmen stood ready to mobilize for the storm’s aftermath. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina also declared emergencies.