Updated

The Social Security Administration is delivering checks a day early to hundreds of thousands of East Coast residents to make sure the money beats Hurricane Earl's arrival.

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue said Wednesday that benefit checks will be delivered Thursday to about 737,000 beneficiaries in 10 states from the Carolinas to Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Earl could make landfall on North Carolina's Outer Banks as a Category 3 storm late Thursday or early Friday. Hurricane-force winds also could reach New York's Long Island and Cape Cod in Massachusetts.