Hurricane Irene, the strongest Atlantic storm to threaten the U.S. since 2005, hit the Bahamas on a course that may take it near North Carolina this weekend and New England next week.
The Category 3 hurricane packed maximum sustained winds of 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour today as it churned 105 miles east-southeast of Nassau, according to a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory at 2 a.m. Miami time.
The hurricane will continue moving across central Bahamas during the next few hours and is heading northwest at 12 mph. It may strengthen today or tomorrow and pass “well offshore” the east coast of Florida, according to the advisory.
“Irene is a massive hurricane and that’s what’s so bad for the Bahamas,” said Dave Samuel, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. “We’re just watching it decimating Crooked Island of the Bahamas, Cat Island looks like it will be in the wheelhouse tonight, and Eleuthera is just going to get smashed. It is moving slow and it is huge.”
After Irene finishes with the Bahamas, it is expected to arc north, passing over North Carolina’s Outer Banks and striking southern New England on Aug. 28 or Aug. 29, according to the hurricane center’s track. This is slightly west of where the system was earlier and closer to the East Coast. Forecast models show a wide variability in the possible track.
“That could shift 100 miles or more and probably will shift multiple times,” Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the center in Miami, said by telephone.
Ike, Wilma
The last hurricane to strike the U.S. was Ike in 2008, a Category 2 storm when it went ashore near Galveston, Texas. The most recent major hurricane, one with winds of at least 111 mph, was Wilma in 2005. The last hurricane to strike Massachusetts was Hurricane Bob in 1991.
Irene’s hurricane-strength winds of at least 74 mph extend 70 miles from its core, and tropical storm strength winds reach out 255 miles.
Residents and visitors on North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island have started evacuating, said Jeff Hibbard, deputy director of emergency services for Hyde County. Farther up the coast, residents from Virginia to Canada will probably feel the storm’s power.
Navy Fleet
The U.S. Navy ordered all its ships in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area to prepare to get under way within 24 hours as a precaution for the approaching hurricane, according to a press release from the 2nd Fleet. A decision on whether the ships will actually depart will be made later based on updated weather forecasts.
“Irene is an extremely dangerous storm,” said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “It has the highest potential of any storm in the last 50 years to make it all the way to New England as a Category 3.”
Last year, wind shear ripped apart Hurricane Earl as it moved up the East Coast, Masters said. By the time the storm passed near Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts, it had nearly fallen apart and made landfall in Canada as a tropical storm.
Chris Hyde, a meteorologist at MDA EarthSat Weather in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said what happened with Earl may keep people from taking Irene seriously.
“This could be the most intense storm in 20 years, so don’t be complacent about it,” Hyde said.
Coastal Threats
Rain, beach erosion and tidal surge “will be in play from the Mid-Atlantic all the way up to New England as the storm progresses,” hurricane center Director Bill Read said in a conference call.
In New York, the most populous U.S. city with 8.2 million residents, officials were opening the emergency operations center in Brooklyn, said Chris Gilbride, spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management.
Based on information received from the National Weather Service, city officials assume a “strong possibility” the storm “could impact New York City or Long Island directly.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also ordered the state’s emergency response team to prepare. Ed Mangano, the executive of Nassau County on Long Island, said storm preparations are taking up 70 percent of his time. The county is clearing drains, reviewing evacuation routes and making shelters ready in case they are needed, he said.
Total losses from Irene may reach $3.1 billion across the Caribbean and along the U.S. coastline, according to estimates from Kinetic Analysis Corp.
