Hurricane Irene makes landfall in N.C. ( Stay Safe NC Posters )

Top developments:

• Irene makes landfall in North Carolina
• Weakens to Category 1 storm early Saturday, but is still dangerous
• End of pier at Atlantic Beach, N.C., falls into water as rain, winds lash coast
• At least 2.5 million under evacuation orders; 300,000 in NYC
• Nearly 7,000 flights canceled through Monday

Hurricane Irene howled ashore in North Carolina with heavy winds, rain and surf on Saturday on a path threatening the densely populated U.S. East Coast with flooding and power outages.



The eye of the storm crossed the North Carolina coast near Cape Lookout around 7:30 a.m. ET, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.



Irene was moving north-northeast along the coast and was expected to remain a hurricane as it hit the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday night and New England on Sunday.



With winds of 85 miles per hour, Irene had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, but forecasters warned that it remained a large and dangerous storm.



New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns as states from the Carolinas to Maine declared emergencies due to Irene, whose nearly 600 mile width guaranteed a stormy weekend for tens of millions of people.



"Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish and it's against the law,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a media briefing at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday.



The city's subway system is closing down at noon, an unprecedented shutdown due to natural causes.


Bloomberg said the storm surge would be around 4-7 feet, as he urged urging 370,000 people in low-lying areas to evacuate immediately.
Roughly 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate up and down the East Coast.


At daybreak on the North Carolina coast, winds howled through the power lines, felling trees, rain fell in sheets and some streets were flooded.



In the port and holiday city of Wilmington, North Carolina, the streets were empty and the air was filled with the sound of pine trees cracking.



One unidentified man in the Wilmington area was washed away and feared to have drowned, emergency workers said.



NBC News reported early Saturday that the end of the Atlantic Beach Pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C., collapsed into the water.



Progress Energy, the local electrical utility, said around 200,000 customers throughout coastal North Carolina were without power.



A coastal town official in North Carolina said witnesses believed a tornado spawned by Irene lifted the roof off the warehouse of a car dealership in Belhaven on Friday night and damaged a mobile home, an outbuilding and trees. Six homes were reportedly damaged by the apparent tornado.


Nearly eight inches of rain were reported in areas of North Carolina.



Warren Lee, New Hanover County's director of emergency management, said the county was still evaluating damage in the Wilmington area but that, "We fared pretty well, given the predictions we had."



In summer beach season, hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers had evacuated from Irene's path. Supermarkets and hardware stores were inundated with people stocking up on food, water, flashlights, batteries, generators and other supplies.



"Our number of customers has tripled in the last day or two as people actually said 'Wow, this thing is going to happen,'" said Jack Gurnon, owner of a hardware store in Boston.



Airlines canceled nearly 7,000 flights over the weekend and all three New York area airports were to close to incoming flights at noon (1600 GMT) on Saturday.
"We're feeling the impacts now, but the worst is still to come," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told MSNBC-TV early Saturday, as rain bands from Irene started lashing the state. He said officials are especially concerned about coastal flooding.
President Barack Obama said the storm could be "extremely dangerous and costly" for a nation that recalls the destruction in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans, killed up to 1,800 people and caused $80 billion in damage.

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windy as hell, still hasnt really hit here

Akillies said:

windy as hell, still hasnt really hit here

Click to expand...

hang in there mr Lucky

RATHER HAVE BAD LUCK THAN NO LUCK AT ALL


not

Hurricane Irene batters N.C., killing 1

Falling tree limb kills man in Nash County, N.C.; tropical storm conditions extend into Va., Md., Del.


Hurricane Irene battered the North Carolina coast with wind and rain Saturday, wreaking havoc as it began a potentially catastrophic run up the East Coast.



Emergency officials in Nash County, N.C., said a man was crushed to death outside his home by a large tree limb blown down during high winds from Irene.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Irene remains a "large and dangerous'' storm as it moves north, and residents should take it seriously.
The eye of the storm crossed the North Carolina coast near Cape Lookout around 7:30 a.m. ET, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.



Officials said curfews are now in effect in Duck and Kill Devil Hills, two barrier island towns just to the north of Nags Head, N.C.



Irene was moving north-northeast along the coast and was expected to remain a hurricane as it hit the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday night and New England on Sunday.



In Virginia, the Department of Transportation closed two tunnels in Norfolk because of the threat of flooding. The hardest-hit areas are expected to be Norfolk and Williamsburg.

Dominion Virginia Power is reporting 185,000 power outages statewide.

With winds of 85 miles per hour, Irene was a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale. Forecasters warned that it remained a large and dangerous storm and that its wind-strength was holding steady at 85 mph.


Around 10 a.m. ET, the wind was ripping siding and shingles off homes and buildings in Nags Head, N.C., as seen on MSNBC-TV.



As of 11 a.m., tropical storm conditions had spread into coastal Va., Md., and Del., demonstrating the unusually large size of the storm.



New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns as states from the Carolinas to Maine declared emergencies due to Irene, whose nearly 600 mile width guaranteed a stormy weekend for tens of millions of people.



"Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish and it's against the law,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a media briefing at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday.



The city's subway system is closing at noon, an unprecedented shutdown due to natural causes.


Bloomberg said the storm surge would be around 4-7 feet, as he urged urging 370,000 people in low-lying areas to evacuate immediately.




Roughly 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate up and down the East Coast.


At daybreak on the North Carolina coast, winds howled through the power lines, felling trees, rain fell in sheets and some streets were flooded.



In the port and holiday city of Wilmington, North Carolina, the streets were empty and the air was filled with the sound of pine trees cracking.



One unidentified man in the Wilmington area was washed away and feared to have drowned, emergency workers said.



NBC News reported early Saturday that the end of the Atlantic Beach Pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C., collapsed into the water.



Progress Energy, the local electrical utility, said around 200,000 customers throughout coastal North Carolina were without power.



A coastal town official in North Carolina said witnesses believed a tornado spawned by Irene lifted the roof off the warehouse of a car dealership in Belhaven on Friday night and damaged a mobile home, an outbuilding and trees. Six homes were reportedly damaged by the apparent tornado.

Nearly eight inches of rain was reported in areas of North Carolina.



Warren Lee, New Hanover County's director of emergency management, said the county was still evaluating damage in the Wilmington area but that, "We fared pretty well, given the predictions we had."




In summer beach season, hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers had evacuated from Irene's path. Supermarkets and hardware stores were inundated with people stocking up on food, water, flashlights, batteries, generators and other supplies.



"Our number of customers has tripled in the last day or two as people actually said 'Wow, this thing is going to happen,'" said Jack Gurnon, owner of a hardware store in Boston.



Airlines canceled more than 8,000 flights over the weekend and all three New York area airports were to close to incoming flights at noon (1600 GMT) on Saturday.
"We're feeling the impacts now, but the worst is still to come," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told MSNBC-TV early Saturday, as rain bands from Irene started lashing the state. He said officials are especially concerned about coastal flooding.


In Ocean City, Md., about 300 people have stayed behind, according to the chief of police. When winds are sustained at 50 mph, police response will be discontinued, the chief said.


president Barack Obama said the storm could be "extremely dangerous and costly" for a nation that recalls the destruction in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans, killed up to 1,800 people and caused $80 billion in damage.

I have relatives in Manhattan NY & they have left yesterday. Also have relatives in Bayshore LI but luckily they are in Florida at their vacation house.

The Computer Group said:

I have relatives in Manhattan NY & they have left yesterday. Also have relatives in Bayshore LI but luckily they are in Florida at their vacation house.

Click to expand...

They had said this morning that all People South of Sunrise Hwy must Leave
This is from Rockville Center to Montauk, which includes Bayshore.
Hope they have someone to watch their House... as Almost All Homes in Bayshore are very close to the water... and they Flood easy there.

Betallsports said:

They had said this morning that all People South of Sunrise Hwy must Leave
This is from Rockville Center to Montauk, which includes Bayshore.
Hope they have someone to watch their House... as Almost All Homes in Bayshore are very close to the water... and they Flood easy there.

Click to expand...

I talked to my cousin few days ago but didnt ask him about his house flooding & what not. Im assuming since he lives close to the water, they have some type of generator & back up sump pump, I know I do & I dont live anywhere near the water.

Mike are u in LI

patswin said:

Mike are u in LI

Click to expand...

Yeah, Nassau county

Raining and real windy, nothing extreme yet.

Six dead as Hurricane Irene edges on Virginia

Boy killed when tree slams into home; surfer dies in huge waves off Florida


Six people, including an 11-year-old boy and a surfer, were dead and the East Coast was a solid wall of wall of red hurricane warnings Saturday as Irene lashed the North Carolina coast to begin what forecasters and authorities warned could be a catastrophic run north.



Neighbors said a woman came running out screaming, "Where's my baby?!" after high winds knocked a tree into an apartment complex Saturday afternoon in Newport News, Va. Rescue crews searched for several hours before finding the boy's body.




Later in the afternoon, a tree fell on a car in Brunswick County, killing an occupant, Virginia State Police Sgt. Michelle Anaya told the News & Messenger of Northern Virginia.



"This just recently occurred," Anaya said. "Troopers are still on scene and working the incident."


In Florida, the Volusia County Beach Patrol confirmed that a surfer was killed Saturday when he was knocked off his board at New Smyrna Beach, where surfers flocked to take advantage of 10-foot waves kicked up in the wake of Irene.



"It appears he went over a wave and might have gone head first into the ground," Tammy Marris, a spokeswoman for the agency, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.




Three people were also confirmed dead in North Carolina: one who died in a vehicle crash in Pitt County, a man who died after a branch fell on him in Nash County, and a man who died of a heart attack Thursday in Onslow County as he was trying to board up his home.



Another man as missing after after he either jumped or fell into the Cape Fear River in New Hanover, authorities told NBC station WECT-TV of Wilmington.


The eye of Irene crossed the North Carolina coast near Cape Lookout about 7:30 a.m. ET, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Virginia was in Irene's sights as it moved north-northeast along the coast, with the mid-Atlantic states next up Saturday night and New England on Sunday.



U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called Irene a "large and dangerous'' storm and urged residents to take it seriously. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, meanwhile, ordered 6,500 active-duty troops to prepare for orders to help with relief assistance.



Winds howled through the power lines and felled trees, rain fell in sheets and some streets were flooded at daybreak on the North Carolina coast. At 10 a.m. ET, the wind was ripping siding and shingles off homes and buildings in Nags Head, as seen on MSNBC-TV.



In Wilmington, the streets were empty, and the air was filled with the sound of pine trees cracking.



NBC News reported early Saturday that the end of the Atlantic Beach Pier collapsed into the water, and NBC station WITN-TV of Washington reported that pier at the Sheraton in Carteret County was collapsing.



Progress Energy, the local electrical utility, said about 200,000 customers throughout coastal North Carolina were without power.

A coastal town official in North Carolina said witnesses believed a tornado spawned by Irene lifted the roof off the warehouse of a car dealership Friday night in Belhaven and damaged a mobile home, an outbuilding and trees. Six homes were reportedly damaged by the apparent tornado.



Heading for Va., D.C., Md.At 2 p.m. ET, Irene, packing 85-mph sustained winds, was 70 miles west-northwest of Cape Hatteras and about 95 miles south of Norfolk, Va. Demonstrating the unusually large size of the storm, a tropical storm warning was extended to the U.S.-Canada border.




Tropical storm conditions had already spread well into coastal Virginia, Washington, Maryland and Delaware, the so-called DelMarVa peninsula, where tornadoes are often a significant secondary threat from hurricanes. A tornado that ripped through the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach destroyed five homes and damaged several others.



Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Saturday morning that the next 12 hours "are going to be very, very bad for Virginians," with the hardest-hit areas expected to be Norfolk and Williamsburg.



"We're feeling the impacts now, but the worst is still to come," McDonnell told MSNBC-TV as rain bands started lashing the state. He said officials were especially concerned about coastal flooding.



Sandbags were no longer available anywhere in the nation's capital ahead of Irene's expected arrival in the Washington region about 6 p.m. ET.



Forecasters warned that major flooding was likely at the Maryland and Delaware beaches, which were expected to be swamped with a 4- to 8-foot storm surge that they said could cause significant beach erosion.


On Maryland's beaches, Irene was expected to arrive just about at high tide between 8 and 9 p.m. ET. NBC's Tom Costello reported from Ocean City that waves driven by sustained 30-mph winds were already peaking at 19 feet.



Eddie Hopkins, a spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, agreed that "our concern is for the flooding that we could see out of this," telling msnbc that "with the saturated ground, we're also very much concerned about the uprooting of trees and power lines."

New York preparations well under wayIrene wasn't expected to reach the densely populated Northeast Corridor until late Saturday. Well ahead of its arrival, authorities ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns.



"Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish, and it's against the law,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a media briefing Saturday at Coney Island in Brooklyn.



The city's subway system closed at noon ET , an unprecedented shutdown due to natural causes.



Story: NYC closes transit system as Hurricane Irene nears Philadelphia also made the unprecedented decision to close its SEPTA transit service with eight to 15 inches of rain expected. Philadelphia has already had record rainfall this summer, and meteorologists said it would take only two inches to trigger major floods.



All told, about 2.5 million people have been ordered to leave up and down the East Coast, more than 1 million of them from the New Jersey shore alone, Gov. Chris Christie said.



Christie said at a news briefing that he remained concerned because some residents of Atlantic City, particularly senior citizens, were refusing to leave, even though "we are most certainly going to suffer property and structural damage."




As hundreds of thousands of fled from Irene's path at the height of summer beach season, supermarkets and hardware stores were inundated with people stocking up on food, water, flashlights, batteries, generators and other supplies.



"Our number of customers has tripled in the last day or two as people actually said, 'Wow, this thing is going to happen,'" said Jack Gurnon, owner of a hardware store in Boston.



Airlines canceled more than 8,000 flights over the weekend and all three New York-area airports were to closed to incoming flights at noon ET Saturday.
Once Irene passes through the New York region, New England remains Sunday.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said that 500 members of the Massachusetts National Guard had already been deployed to assist and that 2,000 more would be activated Saturday.


The state was coordinating with utilities to prepare for possible widespread power outages. State reservoirs were being drawn down to help absorb rainfall and mitigate flooding, debris clearance teams were mobilized, and search-and-rescue teams were ready if needed. All state campgrounds were set to close at noon Saturday.


he U.S. Geological Survey issued a landslide alert for Connecticut, where Gov. Dannel Malloy warned that heavy urban flooding was possible from rain bands expected to drop more than an of rain per hour Sunday.