Q: The Daily Press picked Poquoson as No. 1 in the Bay Rivers. Is that justified?
A: If we keep our chemistry together and play to our potential, I actually think we could be (No. 1). But we have a lot of work ahead of us and we still have a lot to learn.

Earl's outer edge is expected to arrive Thursday, projected to skirt Virginia's east coast with winds producing a strong storm surge and heavy rain possible. Flooding of low-lying areas is the biggest concern here.

Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency Wednesday as a precaution ahead of the storm.

Kim Hames wasn't taking any chances with her Ridge Road home in Poquoson. Her family moved in a year before Hurricane Isabel in 2003, and the house sustained water damage.

Wednesday Hames was mowing her lawn, putting tarps down in front of the windows and doors in her house and preparing her family to go to a relative's home in Hampton Thursday.Last year, three storms in November pushed water through the front of her house and ruined the floors.

A category 2 storm — two notches below the strength of Earl, a mammoth hurricane moving up the Atlantic Ocean — would put the area under water.

Gloucester isn't alone. Much of Mathews and York counties, Poquoson and Hampton would also be submerged, according to state Department of Emergency Management maps. So too would parts of Newport News and Isle of Wight, and population hubs in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

It appears so far that Earl won't get close enough to Virginia to cause destruction comparable to 2003's Hurricane Isabel or even last November's nor'easter. Still, Hampton Roads may get socked with heavy rain, strong winds, flooding and dangerous ocean conditions, said WTKR NewsChannel 3 Meteorologist Myles Henderson.