Hurricane Irene barged up the East Coast on Saturday, an uninvited guest that knocked power out to more than a million homes and businesses, forced more than a million people off the New Jersey shore alone and caused at least nine deaths.
While Irene weakened somewhat after it came ashore early Saturday near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, it remained a Category 1 hurricane. Its large size carried hurricane-force winds dozens of miles from its center. And the National Hurricane Center said it would likely remain one until it makes landfall again in New England sometime Sunday afternoon.
Emergency officials pleaded with stubborn residents to evacuate, warning that heavy rains and a storm surge of 4 to 8 feet could cause widespread flooding of low-lying areas and pose untold dangers to residents from Virginia to New England.
"This is a storm where, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can be fatal," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned.
By Saturday evening, five people were reported dead in North Carolina due to the storm, police and emergency officials said. That includes two who died in separate accidents when trees fell on their cars. Two cars crashed going though an intersection in Goldsboro where the traffic lights had failed, leading to the death of a child, and a driver died in Pitt County after losing control in standing water and hitting a tree.
Three died because of falling trees in Virginia, including a man who was in a Chesterfield County residence around 3 p.m. Saturday, according to the county. In addition, a 55-year-old male surfer died around noon in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, said Capt. Tamara Marris, a spokeswoman for the Volusia County Beach Patrol.
Surfers jump off pier into Irene waves
Heavy flooding in Outer Banks
Hurricane Irene downgraded to category 1
FEMA warns of potential for damageAs of 9 p.m., Irene was 100 miles south-southwest of Ocean City, Maryland, moving north-northeast at 16 mph. It had maximum winds of 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Ed Rappaport, a meteorologist at the center, said at 8 p.m. Saturday that the storm would parallel the East Coast before making landfall again Sunday afternoon in southern New England. Irene may slowly weaken while it's over water, before its strength diminishes more rapidly once it finally hits land again.
In the meantime, he said the storm could dump up to 20 inches of rain in select locales, accompanied by powerful winds.
The hurricane already had brought 10 to 14 inches of rain to much of North Carolina, and was pushing a 4-foot storm surge into the Chesapeake Bay, the National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane warnings extend up the coast to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, with tropical storm warning issued even up for parts of coastal Canada.
U.S. Coast Guard Adm. William Lee, who tracked the storm Saturday by air, said he believed that -- so far, at least -- the worst fears for Irene have not come to fruition.
"All in all, the damage wasn't nearly as bad as we expected," Lee told CNN on Saturday night about the reconnaissance mission. "I've been through several hurricanes and, in comparison to ones like Frederick, Andrew and Hugo, this one (has had) significantly less damage."
As it passed through North Carolina, Irene ripped off roofs and caused other damage to homes and businesses in Hyde and Jones counties, toppled trees that blocked roads and brought down power lines statewide, according to the state emergency management division.
"We're not seeing catastrophic damage, but there is massive flooding near the coast in some places," Brad Nieman of the state's emergency management division said Saturday evening.
Heavy rain and a flooding storm surge cut off thousands of residents in Beaufort, Carteret and Pamlico counties, the state Emergency Management Agency reported.
A tornado spawned by Irene destroyed five homes and seriously damaged a business in Tyrrell County, Sheriff Darryl Liverman told CNN affiliate WITN. Vance County authorities published photos of a home damaged when a tree fell on it and crashed through a bedroom ceiling. It was unclear if anyone was injured.
Every road in Jones County was blocked by downed trees, the state emergency management agency reported, and a storm shelter there lost part of its roof, forcing the evacuation of 75 people who had sought shelter from the storm. Several other shelters were without power.
Road crews across the state were trying to clear roads, but trees kept falling around them, the state transportation department said.
In Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, police and public works crews stopped responding to calls because of adverse conditions, the state emergency management division reported. Buildings in downtown Columbia, North Carolina, were flooded, the division said, relaying reports from the city's emergency manager.More than half a million people in North Carolina had lost power as of 7 p.m., with 5,000 people huddled overnight in 60 shelters around the state, said Brad Neiman from the state's emergency management division.
A hotel facade ripped away and part of a pier fell into the ocean.
"We're not seeing catastrophic damage, but there is massive flooding near the coast," Neiman said. "A lot we will figure out at first light (Sunday)."
Authorities in communities across North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland announced curfews. Some banned the sale of alcohol. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a state of emergency, telling residents to be prepared to go without power for up to two weeks.
Baltimore joined New York, New Jersey and the city of Philadelphia in suspending all transit service, with most service scheduled to end by 9 p.m.
In Virginia, more than 600,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said. Officials warned people to be prepared to be without power for up to a week.
Rescue crews were able to save a couple and their cat off Norfolk after they were stranded about 200 yards offshore on their 30-foot sailboat. Norfolk Fire Capt. Mike Marsala said the couple, who lived on the boat, were trying to get to Annapolis, Maryland, when they were slowed by engine trouble. The 5- to 6-foot seas and 60 mph gusts initially prevented rescuers from getting in the water to help them off the boat.
"They were grateful, joyous to be back on solid ground," Marsala told CNN on Saturday night after the pair's ultimate rescue. "We were kind of concerned, at first, that we weren't going to be able to get them."
More than 1 million people on the Jersey shore had joined untold numbers of others from the Carolinas to New England in moving inland or to higher ground, away from the storm's worst impacts, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.
Those who remained behind in communities where the storm has yet to hit are making a mistake believing that the storm is too weak to do any damage, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said.
"Some of our most devastating floods have occurred in tropical storms," he said.
The hold-outs included 92 residents of Atlantic City high-rises, many of them elderly, who refused pleas from Christie and others to get a free ride out of the danger zone. Mayor Lorenzo T. Langford told CNN on Saturday night that 94 of those inside had responded to the latest call by authorities to get out.
"We've made three sweeps, the most recent sweep probably was the last one," Langford said, adding that about 90% of the city's residents had evacuated. "We've admonished them to leave when they could."
In New York -- where the city ordered the unprecedented evacuation of 370,000 people from low-lying areas on Friday-- even residents who aren't being ordered to leave could face an arduous few days following Irene's tour of the city.
The city's transit system, shut down Saturday, may not be fully running again until Monday at the earliest, high-rise buildings are being instructed to turn off elevators and utility ConEd may have to cut power to Manhattan, Bloomberg said.
Amtrak canceled its northeast routes on Sunday, and airlines scratched thousands of flights. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Boston all planned to suspend operations for at least some part of the weekend.
President Barack Obama continued to closely monitor the storm, according to White House officials. He toured FEMA's operations center Saturday morning. Meanwhile, defense officials told 6,500 service members to prepare to deploy to storm-ravaged regions should state officials need them.
The Red Cross sheltered 13,000 people in 150 shelters Friday night, President Gail McGovern said. More than two-thirds of the nonprofit's emergency response vehicles had deployed to the East Coast, she said.
"We're now in the middle of what could be one of the largest responses that the Red Cross operations has had in recent memory," she said.
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