Hurricane Irene headed straight for US East Coast

[Meatpie]

The entire eastern coast of the United States should prepare for Irene, a large and dangerous hurricane churning northwestward over the tropical waters of the Caribbean, the nation's emergency chief warned Tuesday. After lashing the Turks and Caicos islands and the Bahamas, Irene is projected to skirt Florida and instead hit the Carolina coast by the weekend. However, Craig Fugate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, said Irene's exact path cannot be predicted this far out.
The storm, he said, will affect a large area.

"People think hurricanes are a Southern thing but people in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast need to take Irene seriously," Fugate said. "We have a lot of time for people to get ready but we don't have forever."

Emergency officials in southeastern states have already stepped up operations in preparation for the first significant storm to threaten the United States in three years.
North Carolina's coastal Ocracoke and Hyde counties have declared a state of emergency starting at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Officials declared a mandatory evacuation for all visitors and residents starting at 5 a.m. Thursday.


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/08/23/tropical.weather/index.html?hpt=T2

 

[higladius]

I wonder how many corpses will wash out at the beach....I will go with my cam to see if I am lucky.....

 

[Beuen]

 

[imurtop]

Its at North Carolina and here in Pennsylvania we already are having winds. Should be a rocking saturday night. : )

 

[CamoNoose]

I am in North Carolina, not right on the coast, about an hour inland...but we are getting heavy winds, rain and quite a lot of trees coming down!

 

[Meatpie]

We have Bulgarian friends in Charlotte, do you have any info on the situation there?

 

[CamoNoose]

Charlotte is in great shape with no effects of the Hurricane except very isolated rain and maybe light winds. They should be in good shape.

 

[Meatpie]

Thanks!

 

[slitneck1]

Irene just passed us by in Boston, not too bad.

 

[slitneck1]

I should mention that while the city escaped serious flooding there is some very serious flooding and downed trees in other parts of New England.