Gabrielle weakening and moving well out to sea

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Gabrielle headed out to sea Sunday, a possible problem only for shipping and Bermuda.

Even farther out in the Atlantic, slowly weakening Hurricane Felix appeared to be no threat to its nearest land -- the mid Atlantic Azores island chain.

"All in all, it's not too threatening right now," said Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "That's the way we like it."

Gabrielle had drenched Florida with up to 11 inches of rain and blacked out half a million utility customers. Gabrielle was a possible threat to ships, Pasch said, adding: "We have to watch it here for a possible threat to Bermuda, but the projected track is taking it far north of Bermuda ... so we don't anticipate much of a problem for them."

At 10 a.m. Sunday, Gabrielle was about 255 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. It had top sustained wind of 65 mph, was moving east northeast at about 20 mph and was expected to hold that heading for 24 hours.

Gabrielle gave Florida some relief from the dry conditions affecting much of the state. Florida Power & Light Co. had about 90,000 customers still without power early Sunday, and Florida Power Corp. reported 39,000 customers with no lights.

Hurricane Felix had sustained wind of only 90 mph, down from 120 mph during the week.