KILLSTORM 2011! (Hurricane Irene)

[Flagg]

MSNBC

More flee ahead of Irene as track forecast shifts
Evacuations widen in North Carolina, now include N.J., Md.; NYC to decide Friday

NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 19 minutes ago

Top Developments:

Irene could still strengthen a bit; up to 15 inches of rain estimated on East Coast.
Hundreds of thousands told to evacuate in N.C., Md. and N.J. counties.
New York state joins N.C., Va., Md. and N.J. in declaring state of emergency.
Forecast shifts track west, putting large cities closer to center of forecast "cone."
Hurricane warning issued along all N.C. coast.
NYC to decide tomorrow on whether to order evacuations.

MIAMI -- More areas along the East Coast ordered evacuations after the forecast for Hurricane Irene took a turn for the worse on Thursday, with the Category 3 storm now expected to track farther inland and dump up to 15 inches of rain.

That puts more people within the warning "cone" issued by the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

New York City, Long Island, Atlantic City and Virginia Beach were among the areas now near the center of Irene's forecast path, along with even more areas of North Carolina, where Irene is expected to make a first landfall on Saturday near Ocracoke Island.

The entire North Carolina coast was placed under a hurricane warning Thursday afternoon.

After hitting North Carolina, Irene is likely to weaken to a Category 2 as it moves Sunday into the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia coastal region and then on to New York. A Category 2 storm carries winds of 96 to 110 mph.

"Any further deviation left could bring direct impacts as far inland as the Washington-Baltimore area," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.

The forecast track, updated by the hurricane center at 11 a.m. ET, shows the "cone" now covering areas where 55 million people live.

"We're going to have storm surge issues all the way up the coast," Read said. "We're going to have flash flooding" as well, since the soil is still saturated from recent rain. And given Irene's winds and the saturated soil "we should see a lot of trees down, with the power outages that go with that."

States of emergency have been issued in North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Maryland and New Jersey as a way to marshal resources ahead of time.

Irene's winds weakened to 115 mph from 125 mph overnight, but it remains a powerful hurricane. At 5 p.m. ET Thursday, hurricane-force winds extend 80 miles out from its center, while tropical-storm force winds extend 290 miles.

The hurricane center said Irene could still strengthen to 120 mph or so before starting to gradually weaken.

Below's a look at Irene's most recent impacts, as well as preparations:

Bahamas. Irene on Thursday was tearing through more Bahamian islands. Initial reports include the destruction of a settlement known as Lovely Bay on Acklins Island. At least 40 homes were badly damaged on the island of Mayaguana, the government said.

Trees were knocked down and streets flooded throughout the archipelago but there were no reports of deaths or injuries.

Thursday afternoon, Irene was well north of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, and leaving the Abaco Island area.

North Carolina. An evacuation order took effect for an estimated 150,000 tourists in coastal Dare County hours after forecasters issued a hurricane watch for much of the state's coast.
Story: Are you in Irene's path? Share photos, if it's safe to do so

Dare County's residents were told Thursday that they would have to evacuate by Friday as well.

"It wouldn't behoove anyone to stay in these circumstances," Dare County emergency management spokeswoman Sharon Sullivan said. "Businesses are boarding up. Nobody can guarantee their safety."

Carteret, Currituck and Hyde counties on Thursday also told tourists to move inland. Hyde extended that to its residents as well.
Story: Tourists told to leave coastal areas ahead of Irene

Irene could hit North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday afternoon with winds around 115 mph.

The Outer Banks have a long history of hurricanes, and building codes and emergency plans reflect that. Structures in the region are designed to withstand up to 110 mph sustained winds and gusts of up to 130 mph for three minutes. Evacuation routes are meticulously planned, down to the order in which counties hit the road.
Live updates: Amtrak cancels service south of DC

Ocracoke Island, a tiny Outer Banks community, has already ordered visitors off, but it has special challenges since it's only accessible to the mainland by boat.

Some of the region's most popular destinations rely on the ailing Bonner Bridge, which was built in 1963 and intended to last 30 years, to connect Hatteras Island to the northern Outer Banks.

There's no other way to reach Hatteras except by boat.

The bridge handles about 2 million cars a year and the state DOT ranks it a 2 on its safety meter, with 100 being the highest, or most safe, designation.

How airlines are responding to Irene

"We're going to shift people and resources around to do what we need to do and keep the roads open," said North Carolina Department of Transportation spokeswoman Nicole Meister. The 2.7-mile bridge won't stay open if it's deemed unsafe — which happened during Hurricane Earl last year — but the state has an emergency ferry terminal ready in that case to get people off the island, Meister said.

Virginia. The Navy ordered the Second Fleet in southeastern Virginia, including at Norfolk Naval Station, to leave so ships would be safe from the approaching hurricane. Thursday's order applied to 64 ships in the area, some of which were already at sea.

The Navy said ships at sea can better weather storms. The move will also help protect piers from being damaged.

Cities along the state's coast were reviewing their evacuation plans.

New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that he expected to make a decision by late Friday whether residents in the city's so-called "Zone-A" would need to evacuate ahead of the storm that's now expected to hit the city Sunday.

That zone includes neighborhoods along the coast, including Battery Park City in Manhattan, Coney Island in Brooklyn and Far Rockaway in Queens. The city also placed information about evacuation possibilities online.

Crews are working to clean out catch basins to help with street drainage. The city has also moved police boats to station houses in low-lying areas, hired emergency forest contractors and topped off emergency generators with fuel.

Officials are also looking at how to secure 26 tower cranes across the city that are only rated to withstand winds up to 65 mph, WNBC-TV reported.
Story: NYC, Long Island vulnerability exposed by Irene

The city's subway stations and tunnels would likely be flooded in places, and officials plan to shut the system down ahead of time to reduce damage to the infrastructure.

The city's agencies were preparing for a Category 1 hurricane with winds surpassing 74 mph and waters surging dangerously in low-lying areas, said Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Bruno.

With five hospitals and nursing homes in the area, officials were readying to possibly evacuate the most frail and needy.

Long Island, N.Y. Nassau County officials said they would evacuate barrier islands if Irene's track does not change. School buses were moved to higher ground in case they're needed to evacuate residents.

Maryland. The 125,000 or so visitors and residents in Ocean City were told Thursday to evacuate due to the high chance of flooding.

Washington, D.C. The dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was still on for Sunday but that could change, officials said Thursday. The nation's capital could see 3-6 inches of rain, significant flooding and winds up to 60 mph.

Electric power provider Pepco Inc said it had requested 600 emergency workers from other regions, and had already deployed 150 of them, to prepare for Irene's heavy rain and high winds that "could cause widespread and extended power outages.

Story: Airlines begin canceling flights as Irene nears

"The subsequent restoration could be a multiday event," the utility warned customers on its website, urging them to ensure adequate supplies of prescription medicines and infant supplies.

Railway operator Amtrak canceled trains operating south of Washington for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. "Additional cancellations may be necessary in the coming days as the major storm moves north," the railway said in an alert on its website.

New Jersey. Evacuations were ordered Thursday in Cape May County, which has about 100,000 year-round residents and hundreds of thousands of seasonal visitors to its many beach resorts.

Gov. Chris Christie earlier told people planning to visit the shore this weekend to stay home.

Forecasters say Irene is likely to cause flooding across the already rain-soaked state. Winds also could take down power lines.
Story: Factbox: U.S. East Coast energy sites brace for Irene

The Garden State has gotten twice as much rain this month as in a normal August, and high tide happens at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday, when Irene might be passing by, noted New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson.

"You want to go into a hurricane threat with dry soil, low rivers, a half moon," he added.

Massachusetts. Roads and bridges are likely to bear the weather in good condition, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. But the agency is planning for flooding and is keeping an eye on the 3,000 public and private dams throughout the state.

Meanwhile, a new tropical depression formed far out over the Atlantic on Thursday, with the National Hurricane Center saying it would likely become a tropical storm later in the day.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

[Chardok]

This is going to sound sick, but God could we ever use a hurricane here. The drought is unbe-freaking leivable. I read somewhere that pretty much nothing short of a MAJOR tropical system could break it, and that's assuming the whole recharge zone (For our acquifer) gets a good soaking.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah, sucks you guys down in Texas, too bad we can't clean out and reverse a couple gasoline pipelines and send you some water. The lower part of the North east was on the verge of drought like conditions for a while in the summer, almost no rain for a couple months, but now we've gotten ten inches around Philly in a matter of weeks, including five inches in one 36 hour period. No thanks to more rain, its just going to cause flooding. I'm hoping the wind doesn't get too out of control, ground which was soggy ahead of time plus high winds will mean a lot of downed trees for us.

[Slacker]

The rain here in New York has been pretty heavy all summer. The storm that dropped five inches on you guys dropped even more on us-in the space of a day, an empty 10 gallon aquarium I'd been storing on my back porch completely filled up.

Long Island's in a weird mix of "Eh" and "OH MY GOD". Batteries can't be found anywhere, but most people assume it's not going to be too bad a storm. An annoyance, certainly, but a Cat 1 that doesn't directly hit us shouldn't do too much damage. I'm mostly concerned about electrical lines, going without power for a day or two would be extremely irritating.

[whackadoodle]

This is going to sound sick, but God could we ever use a hurricane here. The drought is unbe-freaking leivable. I read somewhere that pretty much nothing short of a MAJOR tropical system could break it, and that's assuming the whole recharge zone (For our acquifer) gets a good soaking.

Yeah, I was hoping that Irene would track through Florida and dump it's rain in GA. Much of my family lives in Florida, but the drought is just getting that bad here.

[Pelranius]

People here in Washington DC are already having conniptions. It was a real pain walking around in a three piece suit in the rain and the place I was visiting wouldn't let us bring a bag to carry an umbrella in.

[LadyTevar]

From my DC-living Sis-in-law:
"Dear God, please make Irene veer out to sea? I've had enough "Acts of God" for one week, and Quake-geddon was it."


I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

[phongn]

I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

That's a rather insensitive thing to say.

[Flagg]

I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

That's a rather insensitive thing to say.

But funny. And clearly her use of the smily meant she was being 100% serious.

[Edward Yee]

... unfortunately, I thought I lived in a Zone B or C site, but apparently it's actually a Zone A neighborhood.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Ten feet of storm surge... goodbye lower Manhattan.

[White Haven]

I wish I was still in my old apartment. It took an act of orbital bombardment to make that place lose power. My current one? Not so much.

[whackadoodle]

I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

Sectionalism at it's finest. Bravo,Lady, bravo.

[ChaserGrey]

Stocked up on canned food and water this morning. Is it likely that I'll need it? Not really. But the food is stuff I'll eat anyway, and while I'm not a fan of bottled water I can always donate it if I don't need it. I'm in a pretty low-lying area so I'd rather be prepared.

[LadyTevar]

I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

Sectionalism at it's finest. Bravo,Lady, bravo.

Thank you, thank you.

More seriously, my sis-in-law is in DC and just bought a new house in a low-lying area. Nitram's parents live just blocks from Boston Harbor. So my jokes, as usual, are all to cover my concern for family.

They should just move to WV and be safe.

[The Vortex Empire]

Hm. Here in RI we just had a decent rainstorm a few weeks ago, which means this hurricane will likely cause some serious flooding. Good thing I live on top of a hill.

[Alyrium Denryle]

This is going to sound sick, but God could we ever use a hurricane here. The drought is unbe-freaking leivable. I read somewhere that pretty much nothing short of a MAJOR tropical system could break it, and that's assuming the whole recharge zone (For our acquifer) gets a good soaking.

Hopefully, we will get the bleed-off from the storms in the gulf. That tends to be what the autumn rains are.

[CaptainChewbacca]

They're starting to evacuate New York now... should be an exciting weekend. The advice to people staying behind?

'Write your name, SSN, and next of kin on an index card in indelible ink and put it in your left shoe so we can identify you'.

[Flagg]

They always do that to try and scare people away and when there is little to no death toll or real damage it just means more people will stay the next time. This is a fucking cat 2 storm and by the time it reaches NY it will be a cat 1 or Tropical Storm. All the hubbub is hilarious.

[Mr Bean]

Hurricanes don't kill you with Winds they kill you by dropping shit on top of you or drowning you in rains. People die in normal every day storms from flash floods and Hurricanes are a very big very long severe storm. Take that from someone who's lived through six Hurricanes and lost one house.



See that? My old living room. The Winds at my place were only Hurricane strength but a twelve foot storm surge will still fuck up anything within half a mile of the shore. Which is a big problem for New York as it is all mostly shoreline. The chances of a Cat 2 Hurricane impacting New York directly are pretty small because of wind currents mean nearly all storms drag along the coast going north and then dissipate as they hit Canadian waters.

[Flagg]

I'm lucky in that I never lost a house but I've been through 7 hurricanes myself. The surge is of course the real killer, but the media induces so much panic that people who don't need to evacuate end up doing so and in the process clog up the roads and make it next to impossible for the ones that do need to leave.

[Broomstick]

They're starting to evacuate New York now... should be an exciting weekend. The advice to people staying behind?

'Write your name, SSN, and next of kin on an index card in indelible ink and put it in your left shoe so we can identify you'.

I thought you were supposed to write that on an arm or leg, as you are more likely to lose a shoe than a limb (not that the latter is impossible...)

[Block]

I however, look out across the mountains to the lowlands of Virginia, and I giggle at the thought of all you low-landers getting flooded out.

Sectionalism at it's finest. Bravo,Lady, bravo.

Thank you, thank you.

More seriously, my sis-in-law is in DC and just bought a new house in a low-lying area. Nitram's parents live just blocks from Boston Harbor. So my jokes, as usual, are all to cover my concern for family.

They should just move to WV and be safe.

But then they'd need to remove teeth and how many eligible cousins are left to marry?

[hongi]

Ironically, Irene means peace. Maybe they could have picked a better name...

[Prannon]

Before people get to thinking "Eh...it's just a category 2 hurricane. It'll be a tropical storm by the time it hits me. I have nothing to worry about..." take a look into tropical storm Allison.

A mere tropical storm did more damage than many hurricane strength storms. Keep that in mind before you start discounting this bout of severe weather headed your way.