Earl becomes tropical storm on way to Massachusetts

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Bearing down on the U.S. eastern seaboard late Friday Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center.

Although weakened, Earl did bring heavy rain and strong winds to portions of New England and Atlantic Canada.

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 While the region appeared set to dodge most of Earl's damaging winds and rain, the storm may have claimed a life.

In New Jersey, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search on Friday for a 20-year-old man who went missing off the coast of Belmar.

Pardip Singh of Carteret, N.J., had been out swimming Thursday night when he went missing, according to Coast Guard officials.

At the time of Singh's disappearance waves reached as high as 12 feet, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman. The search for Singh was suspended after the Coast Guard swept a 30-square-mile area for six hours.

Residents in North Carolina were mopping up after a storm surge sent waves crashing ashore, flooding roads on the low-lying barrier islands as the high winds caused sporadic power outages.

Despite the downgrade of the storm, transport to and from Cape Cod and the nearby high-end destination islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, where last week U.S. President Barack Obama and family vacationed, was limited.

High-speed ferry service to the islands was canceled, along with dozens of cancellations by the region's leading airline, Cape Air.

The remnants of Hurricane Earl have moved away from the Massachusetts coast and are bearing down on Nova Scotia .