I just love Hurricane season!

(AP) - Virginia was put under a state of emergency Monday in anticipation of damage that might be wrought by Tropical Storm Ophelia.

Gov. Mark R. Warner preemptively declared an emergency after two weeks of withering nationwide criticism of the federal government’s tardy response to Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Warner’s declaration puts all state agencies to work bracing for Ophelia, which had been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm and languished about 200 miles off the Carolina coast on Monday, its course still uncertain to forecasters.

Ophelia menaces the Carolina and Virginia coasts days ahead of the second anniversary of Hurricane Isabel, which killed 47 people and did $4.1 billion in damage to the Mid-Atlantic region. One year ago, Tropical Storm Gaston left a popular, low-lying area of downtown Richmond apartments, offices shops and restaurants under 10 feet of water.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm’s status Tuesday evening, saying maximum sustained winds had reached 75 mph, with higher gusts. The storm was graded a Category One hurricane, but the center said further strengthening was possible in the hours ahead.

Unlike Hurricane Katrina’s devastating charge at the Gulf Coast, the week-old Ophelia had been following a meandering path, making predictions of its landfall difficult. The hurricane center’s latest forecasts showed it running along the coast, then veering through Pamlico Sound, crossing the Outer Banks and heading back out to sea.

Its slow movement—4 mph as of 5:30 p.m. EDT—meant heavy rain could linger over land, possibly causing serious flooding. The hurricane center said up to 15 inches of rain was possible in eastern North Carolina.