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RALEIGH -- Gov. Bev Perdue said the state was ready for Hurricane Earl, even though he didn't pack the punch he could have. "We dodged a bullet,” she said from the Administration Building on Jones Street. That was the site of the Emergency Operations Center set up by the Division of Emergency Management.

Meteorologists say what was a vicious category 4 storm Thursday, was a Category 2 as it brushed the North Carolina coast early Friday. Damage assessments from local and state emergency responders show flooding on roadways on the Outer Banks, some property damage, but no reported injuries.

"You never know what a hurricane is going to be until it hits your house or hits your coast,” Perdue said.

She said the state was more ready for this storm than any other she'd seen, and said Earl was good practice for emergency agencies. "There was not one mistake, seamless execution of a plan we've practiced several times,” Perdue said.

The Division of Emergency Management, the National Guard and the Coast Guard were all able to coordinate their response to the storm at the Emergency Operations Center in downtown Raleigh.

"When you do something like this for real, where you really don't know what is about to happen, you have to apply all of your planning and all of your training, it is really good for our team,” said Doug Hoell, the director of the N.C. Division of Emergency Management.

Perdue said she's glad the most of the coast is open and ready for business this holiday weekend. "We want to thank the tourists who evacuated and now we hope are coming back,” she said.

Perdue, along with President Barack Obama, signed a Federal Emergency Declaration earlier this week, meaning the state can get federal funding to cover a majority of the costs associated with the storm. The Division of Emergency Management says next week they'll meet with federal officials to determine how much Earl cost the state.