Wilmington, N.C. ? Hurricane Ophelia sat nearly stationary off the coast of the Carolinas on Sunday, taunting coastal residents made wary by the destruction that Katrina caused along the Gulf Coast.

The storm was more than 200 miles from land with sustained wind of nearly 75 mph, but it was piling up heavy surf that challenged surfers and pounded the beaches. A hurricane watch remained in effect from just north of Edisto Beach, S.C., to North Carolina’s Cape Lookout, a stretch of more than 250 miles.

Warning of the possibility of coastal flooding, Gov. Mike Easley sent 200 National Guard soldiers to staging centers in eastern North Carolina and ordered a mandatory evacuation of tourists visiting Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, reachable only by ferry. Residents were allowed to stay.

Waves crash onto Atlantic Beach as the Sportsman Pier is without fishermen as Hurricane Ophelia sits off the coast of the Carolinas Sunday in Atlantic Beach, N.C.

Near Wilmington at Wrightsville Beach, lifeguards with megaphones ordered swimmers to stay out of the water.

“They are saying they don’t want anyone to even touch the water,” Kathy Carroll, 37, of Wilmington, said after abandoning an attempt to body surf in the waves.

Some people stocked up on groceries during the weekend even though Wilmington, on the coast of southeast North Carolina, had breezy, partly cloudy weather, said Warren Lee, emergency management director for New Hanover County.

Once the storm starts moving, the latest forecast track indicated the eye could come ashore southeast of Cape Lookout near Wilmington and cross Pamlico Sound on the central coast, said meteorologist Gil Wagi at the National Weather Service office in Newport.