Storm Cristobal strengthens but moves off US coast

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical storm Cristobal strengthened on Monday as it moved away from the U.S. East coast after lashing North Carolina with rain and high winds but doing little damage.

Cristobal's winds were near 65 mph (100 kph), below hurricane strength, and it was headed northeast on a path that would take it over the open Atlantic at around 13 mph (20 kph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

The storm dumped up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) of rain on parts of the North Carolina coast and caused high surf but there were no reports of serious flood damage.

It was possible the storm would strengthen a little more before dissipating over the open Atlantic in a few days time, the center said.

Its location at 11 a.m. EDT (4 p.m. British time) was about 190 miles (305 km) east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

(Reporting by Matthew Bigg, Editing by Michael Christie and Sandra Maler)