Cristobal to move away from coast

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) - Tropical storm Cristobal moved "parallel and very close" to the North Carolina coast Sunday morning, but the storm was expected to move away from the eastern U.S. coast by Monday.

Cristobal had not strengthened beyond the 45 mph (75 km/hr) top winds measured Saturday afternoon when it reached tropical storm status, according to the 5 a.m. ET Sunday advisory from the National Hurricane Center said.

"The center of the tropical storm is expected to move parallel and very close to the coast of North Carolina today and begin to move away from the coast by Monday," the NHC said. It is expected to dump one or two inches of rain along the North Carolina coast Sunday, it said.