Irene flooding left Vt. home on unexpected island (AP)

BETHEL, Vt. – June Tierney and Kellie Burke never envisioned island living in the Vermont woods, but Tropical Storm Irene had other ideas.

Their home, a two-story, natural-sided saltbox, was a rural idyll on a wooded 10-acre lot off a dirt road, with a stairway leading from their backyard down a steep bank to Gilead Brook, a small stream.

When Irene blew through Vermont on Aug. 28, the brook became a raging torrent. After the storm, the main part of it had moved around to the other side of the house, leaving a smaller stream still flowing along its old bed.

Now Tierney, a 47-year-old lawyer who works for the state board that regulates utilities, and Burke, 48-year-old high school librarian, have to cross a ford — a new, narrow road that dips into the old stream and has no guardrails — to get home, and face an uncertain future. They wonder if they should cut their losses and move.

Their biggest worry is whether the next time the river runs wild, it will take the house with it.

"If we stay we're facing a huge expense to try to secure the property," Tierney said. And there's no long-term guarantee it will succeed. She quoted one stream-flow expert the couple consulted: "That river really wants your land."

The months since the storm have been a whirl of talks with their homeowners' and flood insurance companies, getting the ford built across the old stream bed, pricing what a real bridge would cost ($164,000), applying for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and accepting with gratitude an outpouring of help from neighbors and friends.

"People have been so helpful. It's been an inspiration," Burke said.

For a time, Tierney and Burke worried that their status as a lesbian couple married under Vermont law might cause a snag in getting assistance from a federal government that doesn't recognize such marriages. So far, they've had no problems.

When the brook swirled around the house, it undermined a barn, which had to be demolished. It turned what had been their wooded property into a wasteland of felled trees, root balls, boulders and silt. And it left a line of debris that came to within a few feet of the front porch.

The homeowners' insurance paid $20,000 on the barn. Flood insurance wasn't available because there was no damage to the house, Tierney said. They got the maximum emergency grant from FEMA — $30,200, half of which paid the cost of the ford — essentially a low-lying causeway across the old stream with culverts carrying water underneath — and to study the feasibility of building a new bridge.

Now the question is whether the couple will be eligible for grant money under a federally backed program that pays property owners living in the most flood-prone areas to abandon their homes and move.

They've been relying on their professional skills to work their way through the crisis.

Burke, the librarian, researched the program, while Tierney put her legal skills to researching the arcane federal regulations governing eligibility for the grants. Officials initially told her and Burke that they would get no help because their home was not harmed.

Tierney wrote in a long email to state and federal officials — she calls it her brief — that the category of eligible properties extends to one like hers that are at risk of future flooding because of how the storm changed the topography of the surrounding land.

Even if she and Burke lose in these arguments, she wants that to have been a just result, Tierney said. "When economic disaster follows natural disaster, we at least have to know it's because of the shortcomings of the program, and not because it's been misconstrued."

Tierney and Burke say it's very likely they'll have to leave the home they've shared for 13 of their 25 years together, but don't want to sell it, because that would just leave someone else facing the same risks.

"This is a potentially lethal setting," Tierney said. "It's not fit for human habitation."

Burke called the need to move "very sad." Since the flood, "it's not been easy to live here, but it's our home."

Tierney noted that like the town of Bethel, Gilead Brook takes its name from the Bible, where it's not a stream, but a mountain of testimony, of witness. Living in a home that now appears to have been built in the wrong place, she said, "We've literally been bearing witness to what it means to try to reconcile nature's intentions with those of human beings."

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Irene was tropical storm, not hurricane, over NJ (AP)

MIAMI – Irene was a tropical storm — not a hurricane — when it made landfall in New Jersey in August, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have determined after a review.

The deadly storm was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall Aug. 27 in North Carolina. The storm made landfall again Aug. 28 near Atlantic City, N.J., where forecasters had said it was a hurricane with 75 mph winds.

However, after reviewing their data, forecasters have determined that Irene had weakened to a tropical storm with winds around 69 mph when it crossed New Jersey's coast. Hurricanes have top winds of at least 74 mph.

"It's a very small change," said Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the hurricane center. "The difference residents would see is about the same. There's no perceivable difference."

Forecasters posted their report on Irene on Friday. The hurricane center occasionally upgrades or downgrades tropical storms as it reviews storm data at the end of the six-month hurricane season. In Irene's case, a review of the data supported downgrading the storm at the time it hit New Jersey, Blake said.

"Five-knot changes like that happen all the time. At this time, it just happened near land," Blake said.

Irene was one of the costliest storms in U.S. history. It caught much of the Eastern seaboard by surprise as it churned up the coast, prompting mass evacuations in New York City before it dumped torrential rains over parts of New England. Devastating flooding in Vermont damaged or destroyed hundreds of miles of roads, scores of bridges and hundreds of homes and left about a dozen communities cut off except for supply drops by National Guard helicopters.

The storm killed more than 50 people in the U.S., Caribbean and Canada.

The six-month Atlantic hurricane season that ended Nov. 30 produced 19 tropical storms, including seven hurricanes, making it one of the busiest seasons on record. It was the sixth straight year without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S.

Hurricanes are considered major when they reach Category 3, with top winds of at least 111 mph. Storms are named when their winds reach speeds of at least 39 mph.

The 2011 season's storm totals include an upgrade of Tropical Storm Nate to hurricane status and the addition of an unnamed tropical storm that formed in early September over the open Atlantic between Bermuda and Nova Scotia.

The next Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1.

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Online:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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New estimate lowers Vt. Irene recovery costs (AP)

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont state officials have dramatically lowered their estimates of the costs of repairs to roads, bridges and culverts following Tropical Storm Irene.

State officials as recently as mid-October had thought the costs of those repairs could reach $620 million. But now they say the emergency nature of the repairs including reduced permitting and planning has cut those cost estimates by half to two-thirds.

Gov. Peter Shumlin and his aides said Monday the costs are expected to range from $175 million to $250 million.

Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter says initial estimates were higher because they were made with standard construction practices in mind, rather than emergency ones.

State officials say the work has gone much faster than expected. They praise transportation workers and others for their efforts.

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VT tries to save historic buildings after Irene (AP)

WATERBURY, Vt. – The floodwaters of Tropical Storm Irene that ripped up roads and washed into living rooms across Vermont took a dramatic toll on quaint old villages — filling white, steepled churches with muck and knocking 19th-century clapboard houses off their foundations.

That's a big problem for a small state that cherishes its history.

The classic villages of clapboard and stone buildings hugging the state's rivers and streams are the essence of Vermont and a big tourist draw. While Irene damaged many "individual gems" with historical and architectural value, preservationists also fear the broader toll the storm levied on entire neighborhoods deemed historically important by the state and federal governments.

A preliminary survey of downtowns and village centers around the state found more than 700 buildings with at least some flood damage, though the ultimate number statewide is believed to be far higher.

"One of the things that's wonderful about Vermont and Vermont's historic resources is each of them is important individually — but it's really the collection that really makes a place special," said Paul Bruhn, executive director of The Preservation Trust of Vermont, pointing out villages like hard-hit Waterbury.

"If you wiped it out, it would be like losing your front teeth."

The vicious rush of floodwaters from Irene that ripped through the region on Aug. 28 spared National Historic Landmarks like the statehouse in Montpelier and President Calvin Coolidge's homestead in Plymouth Notch. One landmark, the American Precision Museum of early machine tools in Windsor, had a flooded basement and damaged grounds.

Still, there were many other historically significant buildings damaged by the flood. In Brattleboro, the 73-year-old Art-Deco Latchis Hotel & Theatre is temporarily shut down while crews repair infrastructure damage from a flooded basement. In Wilmington, an inundated Baptist church built in 1839 is closed for repairs and the beloved Dot's diner, a wood-frame building in the center of town that dates to 1832, is going to be torn down.

"That hits people's hearts more than anything else because it was such a landmark," said Wilmington zoning administrator Alice Herrick.

Wendy Nicholas, director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Northeast Office, said while some past mega-storms like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike hit historic districts harder, Irene still "clobbered" many significant Vermont settlements.

Crews counted 183 damaged buildings in Waterbury's historical district alone, including homes where water from the Winooski River crept up first-floor walls.

"This whole street, Elm Street and Randall Street, everybody had anywhere from six inches to four feet of water on their first floor, it filled their basements and everything has to be replaced, all the appliances, furnaces. There isn't anything the floodwaters, with the mud, doesn't damage," said resident Skip Flanders.

Flanders spoke outside his vacated home, where the inside walls were stripped to skeletal studs as he plugged away at saving the decades-old building with tin ceilings. Like many flood victims, Flanders got a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His grant was the maximum of $30,200 but he expects repairs to cost more than twice that.

In Brattleboro, basement work on the Latchis Hotel and Theater building is expected to cost more than $500,000, said Gail Nunziata, managing director the Brattleboro Arts Initiative, which owns it. They expect to lose another $200,000 in business while they remain closed through mid-October.

"Don't forget, it's foliage season," she said.

Nunziata said the maximum they could get from flood insurance, "which is not a magic bullet," is $279,000. They secured a $100,000 economic development loan from Vermont and are looking at a Small Business Administration loan.

The financial crunch can be especially hard for people without flood insurance. Pastor Doug LaPlante of the Wilmington Baptist Church said the congregation is seeking donations to pay for repairs that will cost more than $100,000.

The Preservation Trust found about a fifth of the buildings they surveyed had actual structural damage to the foundation or elsewhere. Eric Gilbertson, who assessed damaged properties for the survey, thinks most of the buildings he saw can be saved. But he is worried that homeowners with limited resources might not be able to get enough in grants and low-interest loans to do the job.

"I think it may be driven by finances in the sense we have these nice little villages with rows of houses ... And how many of those are people going to walk away from?" Gilbertson asked.

Preservationists were confident there will be enough contractors with the proper skills in areas like masonry and roofing to do the work. Nicholas noted there are no special restrictions guiding work on buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, although local historic districts might set standards.

Still, worries are compounded for historic structures because a common flood-proofing solution is to jack a building's frame above high-water levels. History lovers might blanch at the thought of putting a 19th-century Vermont meeting house on stilts, but officials with the state and FEMA stress that doesn't have to happen.

"A lot of times when the folks were out they were saying, `You need to raise your structure. When you rebuild, you need to raise your structure six feet above the flood plain,' And that's not necessarily true of historic buildings," said Noelle MacKay, state Commissioner of the Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development.

Officials with FEMA and the SBA said they both work with owners of historic buildings. When it comes to flood insurance, FEMA says buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Placed or designated historic through other approved channels get special treatment.

Buildings in flood zones are often raised or relocated, but there are other choices, too. One option is to simply brace the building for the next flood.

In Lincoln, Burnham Hall, a 1920s building by the New Haven River, was "wet flood proofed" after the New Haven River jumped its banks and inundated the building's lower floor during a terrible flood in 1998. The lower level was fitted with mold-resistant walls and a concrete floor.

Building committee member Mark Benz said that when Irene came, volunteers put up temporary flood walls around the windows and doors.

As water flowed outside during Irene, there was a half-inch of water on the floor, but it was a controlled release of "crystal-clear" water from valves designed to relieve pressure. The water was pumped out and the hall was back in business two days

"We're learning to live with the river," Benz said.

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RMS pegs Irene insured losses at up to $5.5 billion (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Hurricane Irene caused between $2.5 billion and $5.5 billion in insured losses in the United States and the Caribbean, excluding flood claims that fall under federal insurance programs, catastrophe modeling company RMS said on Monday.

RMS's estimate falls roughly between those of its two main competitors, AIR Worldwide and Eqecat. AIR has estimated losses at $3.5 billion to $7.1 billion, while Eqecat's estimate is $1.8 billion to $3.4 billion.

At the highest end of those ranges, Irene would rank as one of the 10 costliest disasters in U.S. history as measured by insured losses.

Losses appear to have been limited by the nature of the damage Irene caused. In most places in the United States, the majority of the damage was flood-related. Such losses are covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, which writes nearly all of the homeowner flood insurance in the country.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; editing by John Wallace)

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Maryland warns of dam spillover as Irene hits (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Authorities have warned of possible spillover from a Maryland dam as Hurricane Irene brought severe flooding to much of the region, though they played down earlier concerns that the dam itself could fail.

"Due to the extreme rain event caused by Hurricane Irene, a notification is being issued for a potential Dam Failure situation that may cause significant flooding that could threaten people, homes and roads downstream from the St. Mary's Lake Dam," the St. Mary's County Government website said late on Saturday.

It urged residents in the immediate downstream area to move family and pets upstairs or to a high place with a means of escape, but it warned them not to drive through flood water.

But the manager of St. Mary's River Park told the NBC affiliate in Washington D.C. on Sunday that the dam was not in danger and that water would start to enter a spillway as lake levels rose.

If the water went over the spillway, she said, 28 people could be affected.

The population of St Mary's County is just over 105,000, according the latest U.S. census. CNN reported that the county had already received seven inches of rain from the storm -- nearly twice the average for the entire month.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz and Claudia Parsons; Editing by Todd Eastham and Christopher Wilson)

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Irene another test of capital's disaster prep (AP)

WASHINGTON – Already bruised by an earthquake that damaged two of its iconic structures, the nation's capital was watching and waiting Saturday for its first hurricane in more than a half-century, a storm that could test its ability to protect both national treasures and vulnerable residents.

The worst of Hurricane Irene was supposed to hit Washington late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Forecasts called for several inches of rain, wind gusts of up to 60 mph and possible flash flooding. The expectation led organizers to postpone the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall that was expected to draw up to 250,000 people.

But beyond the tourist mecca of the Mall, the District of Columbia is a diverse city of 600,000 with a stark divide between the wealth of Northwest and the poverty of Southeast. And in the impoverished neighborhood of Anacostia, many weren't prepared for the storm — and weren't assured that the district government would do much to help them.

The district is constantly on guard against terrorist attacks, but some residents say it remains ill-prepared for disasters. People leaving the city after this week's 5.8-magnitude earthquake — which caused cracks in the Washington Monument and millions of dollars in damage to the National Cathedral — snarled traffic for hours.

"I don't think Washington is equipped for a big storm or evacuation or anything like that," Melvin Holloway, 61, a retired District of Columbia water department employee, said as he sipped from a can of Bud Light outside a convenience store Saturday morning. "There's just no communication."

Flooding is one problem. City leaders last fall recognized that the National Mall along the Potomac River was vulnerable during a massive storm and started a project to upgrade the system of levees along the river. Construction has started but will take several years to complete.

Built on the banks of the Potomac on swampy ground, Washington has always been under threat of river flooding from a major storm. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers review after 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina concluded the city's flood-control system — built some 70 years ago — was inadequate.

A map of potential flooding by the Federal Emergency Management Agency said museums such as the National Gallery of Art and federal buildings like the Commerce Department could be under as much as 10 feet of water if the current flood-control measures failed. That triggered planning for a better system.

This week, the city struggled to distribute sandbags, with hundreds of cars lining up for up to two hours to collect them. By about 3 p.m., the city had nearly run out. It gave away about 15,000 bags over two days to a cross-section of the population. Many were homeowners looking to protect their basements.

"They should have done it earlier," State Department employee Tina Harris, 36, said as she snaked toward the front of the line in her minivan early Saturday afternoon following a wait of about an hour and a half.

At the same time, Harris, who lives in the Northeast quadrant of the city, which is not as vulnerable to flooding, said it was unrealistic for Washington to prepare adequately for a hurricane.

"We haven't had one before. We're not used to it," she said.

The last named storm to cause damage in Washington was Isabel, which had weakened to a tropical storm when it hit in 2003. The last hurricane to hit was Hazel in 1954.

As for where people live, despite being built on two rivers, the district has relatively little waterfront housing, although certain neighborhoods, including wealthy Georgetown and the Southwest Waterfront, are susceptible to flooding. The waterfront has mixed demographics, but there are public housing complexes and lower-income neighborhoods near the water.

The district will be keeping its homeless shelters open for the duration of the storm, and had also set aside four places for displaced residents. By Saturday evening, those temporary shelters had yet to open.

The poorer sections of the city are always a worry, said Councilmember Marion Barry, the former four-term mayor. He represents Ward 8 — the poorest of the city's wards — and said his constituents were accustomed to bearing the brunt of bad weather and other adversity.

"Whenever there's an outage, we're going to be the first," Barry said. "We're the first, and we get hit the hardest."

Homes in Ward 8, however, are unlikely to be flooded by a surging Anacostia River, because the riverfront is occupied by a park and by Bolling Air Force Base.

Much of official Washington has considered the possibility of a once-in-a-generation storm.

For example, the monuments along the Tidal Basin — including the Jefferson Memorial and the new King Memorial — are designed to withstand flooding, said Bill Line, a National Park Service spokesman.

Line said he did not believe the Tidal Basin — a manmade inlet off the Potomac River walled off by a stone embankment — had ever overflowed its banks, although he conceded it was possible in an incredible storm surge. Much of the National Mall was created by a massive Army Corps of Engineers dredging project more than a century ago that altered the path of the Potomac River. There was not damage by Saturday night.

The National Archives installed self-rising walls to protect the building after severe flooding in the basement damaged a newly opened theater, said spokeswoman Susan Cooper. The walls have worked in past storms, she said. The building doesn't keep its precious documents in the basement.

Pepco, the utility serving the district and its Maryland suburbs, warned customers that Irene could bring destruction and that restoring service could take several days.

Millicent West, the city's homeland security director, said officials from several agencies would be making the rounds in poor neighborhoods to make sure residents weren't neglected. Mayor Vincent Gray said that given forecasts showing the storm moving out by Sunday afternoon, he did not anticipate vulnerable residents being isolated for days in dangerous conditions.

"We hope that the duration of this will be relatively short, which means that people can get back out and get engaged in the normal patterns of life," Gray said.

Ward 8 has a 25 percent unemployment rate and a 35 percent poverty rate. In Anacostia, some residents were making do with what they had, which wasn't much.

"I'm just about as ready as I can get," said Patricia Williams, a resident of Barry Farm, a sprawling, rundown public housing complex. "I don't have no money to stock up on water and food."

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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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Irene rakes up East Coast, shuts down New York (Reuters)

MOREHEAD CITY, North Carolina (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene charged up the U.S. East Coast on Saturday toward New York, shutting down the city, and millions of Americans sought shelter from a huge storm that halted transport and caused massive power blackouts.

"The storm is coming," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the more than 8 million people who live in the United States' most populous city that includes Wall Street, one of the world's major financial centers.

From the Carolinas to Maine, tens of millions of people were in the path of the giant 580-mile-wide storm that howled ashore in eastern North Carolina at daybreak on Saturday, dumping torrential rain, felling trees and knocking out power.

At least six deaths were reported in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Several million people were under evacuation orders on the U.S. East Coast.

New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and shut down its airports and subways, part of a huge public transit system that moves 8.5 million people a day on weekdays. Commuters were left to flag down yellow taxis and livery cabs that were patrolling largely deserted streets.

Irene caused transport chaos in the eastern United States, as airline, rail and transit systems in New York and other cities started sweeping weekend shutdowns.

The Coast Guard closed the port of Philadelphia.

"We are trying to get to Boston and that is not going to happen. We're just stuck here," Rachel Karten said from the near-empty Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. "We didn't think they would shut down everything."

Irene left nearly 1 million people without power in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware on Saturday and energy firms prepared for wider disruptions.

With winds of 80 miles per hour, Irene had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.

But it was expected to approach New York Saturday night at or near hurricane strength, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Irene came ashore near North Carolina's Cape Lookout around 7:30 a.m. EDT, and then chugged up the coast on a north-northeast track. By 5 p.m., the center was 50 miles south southeast of Norfolk, Virginia, and 340 miles south southwest of New York City.

Irene could slacken to a tropical storm by the time it hits New England on Sunday, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center said that would make little difference in the impact from its damaging winds, flooding rains and dangerous storm surge.

"I would advise people not to focus that much on Category 1, 2 or 3 ... if you're in a hurricane, it's a big deal," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a conference call. "This remains a large and dangerous storm," she said.

"DANGEROUS OUT THERE"

Bloomberg told New Yorkers Irene was a life-threatening hurricane and urged them to heed evacuation orders.

"This is a storm which if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, could be fatal ... It is dangerous out there," the mayor said in one of several public appeals. He urged New Yorkers to stay indoors to avoid flying debris, flooding or the risk of being electrocuted by downed power lines.

Some 370,000 city residents were ordered to leave their homes in low-lying areas, many of them in parts of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and in downtown Manhattan.

But many were unwilling to evacuate. Nicholas Vigliotti, 24, an auditor who lives in a new high-rise building along the Brooklyn waterfront, said he saw no point.

"Even if there was a flood, I live on the fifth floor," he said. But he was moving his car to safety in a higher spot.

The hurricane center said that Irene's winds could impact more strongly on the higher floors of skyscrapers.

The Miami-based center forecast a storm surge of up to 8 feet for Long Island and metropolitan New York when Irene passes on Sunday.

That would easily top the flood walls protecting the south end of Manhattan if it comes at high tide around 8 a.m. (noon GMT) on Sunday, hurricane expert Jeff Masters of private forecaster Weather Underground wrote in his blog.

When Irene hit the North Carolina coast at daybreak, winds howled through the power lines, rain fell in sheets and streets were flooded or littered with signs and tree branches.

"NATURE DANCING"

"You look outside and it's like nature is dancing for us," said Joe Toledo, who left his mobile home with his wife, Cindy, to take shelter in a hotel in Havelock, North Carolina.

Two people were killed by falling trees in Virginia, one a young boy who died when a tree crashed onto the apartment where he was.

At least three people were killed in North Carolina -- one man hit by a falling tree branch and another washed away and feared drowned. Another man died of a heart attack while boarding up his house, Governor Bev Perdue said.

In New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a surfer riding large waves kicked up by Irene was killed, local media reported.

North Carolina Governor Perdue said there could be "a major hit" to tobacco crops, poultry and livestock in her state.

Summer vacationers fled beach towns and resort islands. More than 1 million people left the New Jersey shore, leaving the glitzy Atlantic City casinos dark and empty.

Shoppers stripped the supermarkets and hardware stores of food, water, flashlights, batteries and generators.

In Washington, the skies were almost dark in the late afternoon as winds picked up and torrential rain formed pools of water in streets. Traffic died down and only a small handful of tourists dressed in rain gear gathered outside the White House.

President Barack Obama cut his Martha's Vineyard vacation short by a day. In Washington, he conferred with emergency managers. "It's going to be a long 72 hours," Obama said.

Irene was the first hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Ike pounded Texas in 2008. Emergency workers were mindful of Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans, killed up to 1,800 people and caused $80 billion in damage in 2005.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the military stood ready to help. In Washington, Irene forced the postponement of a ceremony on Sunday to dedicate a new memorial to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Tens of thousands of people, including Obama, had been expected to attend.

The District of Columbia gave out 7,000 sandbags for residents in low-lying areas to use in case of flooding.

Irene swept through the Northeast Caribbean and the Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane earlier in the week, bringing floods that killed one person in Puerto Rico and at least three in the Dominican Republic.

(Additional Reporting by Joe Rauch and Jim Brumm in Wilmington, N.C.; Pascal Fletcher in Miami; Basil Katz and Jonathan Allen in New York; Susan Cornwell and John Crawley in Washington; and Michael Fitzpatrick in Long Branch, New Jersey; writing by Jane Sutton and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Eric Beech)

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PA and NJ residents scramble for supplies in preparation for Hurricane Irene (ContributorNetwork)

As Hurricane Irene pounds the East Coast with strong winds, heavy bands of rain, potential power outages, and a high probability of flooding, Philadelphia and New Jersey residents scramble as they prepare for the force of the storm. The storm is being called unprecendented in this area, and residents along the Jersey shore are being urged to evacuate immediately. As the storms nears, many are rushing to local stores to obtain emergency supplies in case of water main breaks, power outages, and flooding. Here are just a few of the supplies you may want to have on hand in case of power failures, flooding, or worse.

Flashlights

In case of power outages associated with this storm, you will want to have flashlights on hand. Should you need to evacuate in the night or just see your way through a dark house through the hurricane, flashlights can come in handy. Make sure you have extra batteries on hand as well.

Candles and matches

Candles and matches are also good to have on hand should the power go out. Keep batches of candles and matches in various parts of the house in easily accessed locations so that you are not scrambling in the dark to find your supplies.

Ready-to-eat meals and bottled water

It is always a good idea to have ready-to-eat meals that do not need to be cooked or warmed, as well as bottled water. Should you have to evacuate or if the power goes out, you will be well-prepared with plenty of sustenance.

Plywood

Residents in flood areas and especially in the Jersey Shore points will want to purchase plywood and board up windows for protection. With wind gusts between 50-100 miles per hour depending upon your location, the last thing you want is to leave your windows unprotected.

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Hurricane Irene poised to hit New York hard (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The force of Hurricane Irene began to build in New York City early on Sunday morning, with major roads already flooding and the tourist mecca of Times Square abandoned to a hearty few.

Local forecasters said the path of Irene was shifting westward, putting the city squarely on the wrong side of the storm and raising the prospect of 10-foot storm surges. By 1 a.m. ET the city's Central Park had already gotten two inches of rain, with much more expected.

If the forecasts bear out, it would lend some support to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's order for the evacuation of low-lying areas such as Manhattan's financial district. Just across the Hudson River from the district in Hoboken, New Jersey, an evacuation shelter had to be evacuated itself due to flooding.

"Conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly," a tired-looking Bloomberg told a news conference late on Saturday, urging people to stay indoors. "The storm is now finally hitting New York City. The winds will increase, the rain will increase and the tidal surge will increase."

By all accounts, most heeded his plea to shelter in place, but Times Square still proved irresistible to some tourists who had nothing better to do.

"We just came to see how few people are in Times Square and then we're going back," said Cheryl Gibson, an Edmonton, Canada, resident who has been on vacation in the city for a week and had been planning to go to the other side of the Hudson River on Sunday.

"We can't get to New Jersey and I'm not sure it's any better there," she said.

Further up the street, on a pedestrian mall, a group of firefighters from Vancouver in town for the World Police and Fire Games played an impromptu game of street hockey.

Despite the pouring rain, many played bare-chested, but the game did not last -- approximately 20 New York police officers broke up the game with no arrests.

NO SHELTER

By mid-evening, one of the many umbrella sellers who pop up all over New York whenever it rains was sold out -- he said it had been a good day for sales, but he was not planning to take shelter from the storm.

"My shelter used to be on the trains but now they stopped that," said the man, who declined to give his real name but said "Call me Motown."

"This is what keeps me going," he added, pointing to the small portable radio playing music in his cart. "Hey, listen, it's 'Walking in the rain,'" he said with a laugh.

While Motown was in good cheer despite the storm, the situation grew increasingly serious overnight. At least 8,000 customers were already without electricity in the city, hours before the worst of the wind and rain hit. Most were in Staten Island though at least one was also out in Manhattan.

Both the Henry Hudson Parkway on Manhattan's west side and FDR Drive to the island's east were starting to flood, with heavy pooling and tow trucks strategically idling on the sides of the road. The city's mass transit system, including subways, was shut down from the middle of Saturday.

After Bloomberg ordered the unprecedented evacuation of 370,000 people living in neighborhoods near the water's edge, more than 3,700 took refuge in the city's shelters, thousands more fled to the homes of friends or relatives and others defiantly stayed behind.

A smattering of food and liquor stores stayed open while the public transit system that moves 8.5 million people each weekday halted operations, also a first.

The giant 580-mile (930-km)-wide storm unleashed 8O miles per hour (130 km per hour) winds, grounding aircraft all along the heavily populated eastern seaboard.

While shelters were mostly empty, others such as the John Adams High School in Queens overflowed.

At the Brooklyn Tech High School shelter, evacuees watched weather reports on a large television screen in the auditorium while others dined on mozzarella sticks, string beans, milk and apple sauce.

"I didn't want to leave (home), I wanted to stay, but I feared for my life. I didn't want to get stuck in the dark and in the flood," said Margie Robledo, 58, of Coney Island, who just arrived in New York from Puerto Rico, where the storm had hit days earlier.

CALM IN THE DANGER ZONE

Others defied the evacuation order after Bloomberg announced police would not enforce it. Despite the persistent warnings and ominous skies, the neighborhood around Brooklyn's Coney Island -- within the danger zone -- was calm. Parked cars lined the streets, and there was no sign of a mass exodus.

"They are right, we should be evacuating, but we are not," said John Visconti, 47, who owns an auto repair business and lives on the ground floor of his building in the nearby Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn. "We just want to stay home and hope for the best. We should be OK."

The evacuation zones included shiny apartment buildings in Manhattan's wealthy Battery Park City, working class Red Hook in Brooklyn and run-down public housing in Coney Island -- all neighborhoods at the water's edge.

"If the neighborhood is eventually legitimately flooded, I have food and books and whiskey," said attorney Neal D'Amato, 31, sipping a beer at the Red Hook Bait and Tackle shop bar.

He said he would ride out the storm in his fourth-floor apartment.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, Edith Honan, Basil Katz, Daniel Trotta, Martin Howell, Ed Krudy; Editing by Todd Easham)

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Riding Out Hurricane Irene as She Produces Flooding (ContributorNetwork)

FIRST PERSON | SUFFOLK, Va. -- Here comes Hurricane Irene. Hurricane Irene is headed toward North Carolina and then through Hampton Roads, Va. My family and myself are staying in Suffolk to ride out the storm. Some are staying while others are leaving to get out of Irene's way.

By looking skyward I can see that Irene is near. The clouds are getting dark and enclosing the area. The air feels cool to the touch and the sky looks as though it is ready to cry.

Stocked with water, food, and batteries we feel we are ready to ride out the storm. Gas tanks are full in case we have to escape after Irene leaves. My husband waited 20 minutes to get gas and many gas stations were sold out. I have heard reports of people sitting in traffic for hours trying to evacuate.

This may sound pessimistic but we are expecting to lose power as we have above ground power lines. With wind forces expected to reach up to 100-mph it would be foolish to expect power lines to stay intact.

We plan to sleep upstairs to avoid any possible flooding. Staying away from windows is a must once Irene takes landfall in our area. I have been through Hurricane Floyd, Hurricane Isabel, and Tropical Storm Bonnie while living in Hampton Roads. While on a Florida vacation my family and myself were trapped in a hotel room during Hurricane Jeanne. We were unprepared for Hurricane Jeanne which is why we were on vacation when a hurricane came through.

Here comes Hurricane Irene. You can see her coming as she darkens the sky with her veil. Soon she will be blowing leaves and possibly flooding grounds. At least she is kind enough to give warning unlike the East coast earthquake I experienced just days ago.

On Saturday, Irene is getting closer. The retention pond in the back yard is starting to flood as Hurricane Irene approaches. As I supposed yesterday Irene is flooding grounds. As I am sitting home with Fox News on the TV. New York residents are being told to evacuate.

As of now I still have power although we did lose power briefly as the T.V. went off and back on. Only time will tell what else Irene will bring to myself and others.

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Hurricane Irene: Mother Nature Clears Her Way Through (ContributorNetwork)

FIRST PERSON | WILMINGTON, N.C. -- The sky had darkened much faster than I had anticipated, the rain slashing in heavy waves long before I was ready. It was only 10 a.m. and I figured I still had plenty of time before the impending hurricane. The news reports had changed so much the night before -- first issuing us a Tropical Storm Warning, and then abruptly after, a Hurricane Warning -- that it was hard to keep up with. I found myself in my backyard, throwing old, moldy toys of my kids' in a throw-away pile, securing everything else in sight.

Monkey Junction -- the name coined for the southeastern area of Wilmington where we live, was a chaotic nightmare. There was much anxiousness in the air -- a dizzy cyclone of people pushing and shoving their way in. People were scared. I took my kids through the motions, stocked up on can goods, and got ourselves out of there as fast as we could. We battered the heavy rains in the parking lot, and amazingly, made our way safely home.

As evening neared the winds grew stronger, the rain falling harder, with no relief in sight. A tornado watch was issued for our area. We watched outside as vibrant illuminations of blue filled the sky -- an eerie, array of power flashes from transformers or lines sparking. People everywhere were losing power.

I woke in the middle of the night at 3:00AM to watch the worst of it. The gusts had reached their heaviest, our fence rattling hard. I honestly thought a tornado was coming; ready to punch through our glass windows. The power turned off, then on, repeatedly. Tall, skinny pine trees shook fiercely in the distance. I stepped outside to watch the clouds move with impeccable speed, glanced across the yard to see large branches of fallen trees.

More than half of my Facebook friends reported power outages. I thanked our lucky stars that our power kept intact. And now as we experience the last fringes of Hurricane Irene, her toes gently brushing against our city as she continues northward, I feel as though nature has its purposes. My backyard is now clear and rid of junk -- the forces of a hurricane forcing me to go out with the old, and ready for a new sunny day tomorrow, as the weather man predicts.

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Irene still a hurricane as approaches New York (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene will deliver a storm surge of up to 8 feet, rainfall of up to 15 inches and isolated tornadoes as it churns toward New York City over the next several hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.

Irene remains a Category 1, the lowest level of hurricane classification, with maximum sustained winds near 75 miles per hour, the hurricane center said.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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After Irene: Authorities readying to gauge damage (AP)

By ROBERT RAY and TOM FOREMAN Jr., Associated Press Robert Ray And Tom Foreman Jr., Associated Press – 1 hr 9 mins ago

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. – Hurricane Irene fell short of the doomsday predictions of record-breaking storm surges in North Carolina and Virginia. But a slow-crawling storm that spread out hundreds of miles was still hurling heavy rain and high winds at a wide swath of the East Coast a day after its first U.S. landfall, vexing official attempts to gauge the full damage toll on the region.

Irene's storm surge had triggered scattered flooding in coastal areas after coming ashore Saturday in North Carolina. It plunged at least 2.7 million residential and business power customers into darkness and roughed up one of the most densely populated areas of the country. Initial reports suggested light damages in many areas from Irene, a lower-strength hurricane when it struck the U.S.

But Irene inflicted scattered damage over such a broad area that the total damage — and costs involved — were not yet known. Authorities also said teams would be deploying later Sunday, particularly in more remote areas, to assess the extent and severity of those damages after Irene, which was blamed for eight deaths.

Virginia's Gov. Bob McDonnell had initially warned that Irene — one of those rare hurricanes that virtually takes aim at the entire East Coast — could be a "catastrophic" monster with record storm surges of up to 8 feet in some coastal areas of his state.

National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Montefusco said Norfolk came closest, with a storm surge of 7.55 feet. At least six to eight inches of rainfall fell over parts of Virginia.

Emergency crews around the region said they wanted to travel to asses damage from a confirmed tornado in Chincoteague, Va. There was at least one other suspected tornado that ripped away roofs in another Virginia community, Sandbridge. Authorities say Irene also blocked roads and caused other havoc.

In North Carolina, authorities reported storm surge flooding along some inland waterways, impassible roads and up to a foot of rain in some areas.

Infrastructure was a chief worry in the region, where the sprawl of major cities, suburban communities and beachfront properties had set many civil defense planners on edge as Irene approached the region. Ports, airports, nuclear power plants and more lay in the path of such a widespread storm, its storm bands spreading out about 500 miles at one point.

In Lusby, Md., Constellation Energy Nuclear Group said one of two nuclear reactors at Calvert Cliffs went off-line automatically because of Irene's winds. Constellation said the plant is safe and stable.

Mark Sullivan, a spokesman for Constellation, issued a statement early Sunday saying the Unit 1 reactor apparently went off-line automatically when a large piece of aluminum siding dislodged from a building and came into contact with a transformer late Saturday night. He added all employees were safe, though an "unusual event" was declared — the lowest of four emergency classifications by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Unit 2 reactor wasn't affected and kept up full operation, he said.

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said Irene inflicted significant damage along her state's coast, adding that some areas were unreachable because of high water or downed power lines. Perdue planned an aerial tour Sunday of the hardest-hit counties after TV coverage showed downed trees, toppled utility poles and power lines and mangled awnings.

As with other states along the East Coast, there was no preliminary estimate yet of the dollar amount of damages in North Carolina.

Officials in North Carolina's Dare County said they were advised there was extensive flooding that needed to be checked out by teams. Elsewhere, authorities suggested Irene didn't create the kind of havoc that had been anticipated.

Bruce Shell, New Hanover County manager, said teams were already in the streets there Saturdaybut found no serious damage or anything else that was cause for alarm. Irene passed close to the county's coastline.

"We were prepared for a lot worse, but we got lucky on this one," Shell said.

He said many of the 70,000 homes which lost power Saturday were back online later that evening. Shell said there was apparently a wastewater spill at Wrightsville Beach, but it appeared to be minor.

Pinehurst dentist Harwell Palmer, 53, said the worst that happened to his home at Ocean Isle Beach was a few pieces of siding that he was able to replace after riding out the storm. He said there was some street flooding, and high waves pounded a pier, but it was still standing. Ocean Isle Beach missed a direct hit.

What did concern Palmer: heavy surf gobbled up beachfront shoreline.

"The main concern we will have going forward is the loss of beach," he said.

The question still facing the region was whether Irene's impact would match the problems left behind by such previous destructive storms as Floyd and Isabel.

In 1999, Floyd dropped at least 15 inches of rain on the eastern third of North Carolina. The flooding was the most damaging in the state's history, topping $3 billion in North Carolina alone after buildings were submerged, roads flooded, and livestock drowned. Four years later, Isabel brought hurricane conditions to eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia, causing about $1 billion in damages.

In Delaware, state emergency managmeent officials said they had widespread reports of street flooding and dunes breached on a coastal highway in Southern Delaware.

One man who stuck it out in Ocean City, Md., though that resort appeared to hold up well against Irene.

Charlie Koetzle, 55, a resident of Ocean City for the last decade, stayed throughout the storm. He was up at 4 a.m. walking on the city's boardwalk and said by phone that he saw at least one sign that had been blown down but that the pier was still intact.

"The beach is still here, and there is lots of it," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko in Ocean City, Md., Randall Chase in Georgetown, Del., and Dena Potter in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report. Foreman reported from Raleigh, N.C.

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Atlantic's first 2011 hurricane, Irene, tracks toward Cape Canaveral (The Christian Science Monitor)

Hurricane forecasters have posted hurricane and tropical-storm warnings for the island of Hispaniola and the southern Bahamas as hurricane Irene, the Atlantic season's first hurricane, crossed Puerto Rico overnight Sunday.

Irene emerges as the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season is nearly a third of the way through its peak August-to-October period. Within that span, activity peaks on average from early to mid-September.

As of 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Monday, the National Hurricane Center's track forecast puts the center of Irene roughly 120 miles east of Florida's Cape Canaveral by Friday evening, with landfall currently forecast to occur just south of Charleston, S.C., at about 8 a.m. Saturday. The intensity forecast upgrades Irene to a major hurricane, with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour, by the time it reaches the central Bahamas Thursday morning. It currently is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane.

RECOMMENDED: Top 10 most expensive hurricanes

Errors are large, however, in track forecasts this far in advance. The track's "error" cone also include the possibilities that the storm could swing west and move up the Florida peninsula. Or it could track farther east than its current path indicates, pushing it closer to North Carolina's outer banks by Saturday morning.

Irene appeared as a tropical storm early Saturday evening from a cluster of thunderstorms some 175 miles east of Martinique. By early Monday morning, the center of the storm had arrived over Puerto Rico. But instead of weakening as it encountered the island, as often happens to a storm, it strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 74.8 m.p.h.

Although a formal analysis will come later, it appears that based on the storm's path, "the island was just too small" to deflate Irene, says Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Irene was strengthening as it approached Puerto Rico, he says, and the storm's path took the eye overland but close to the island's north coast, missing the highest, most potentially disruptive terrain.

The storm's path also left much of Irene's circulation over warm water, so Irene kept spinning up. Forecasters say they expect additional strengthening.

Irene is the ninth named storm in the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane season – a season busier so far than were 2009 and 2010.

IN PICTURES: Hurricane Irene

By this time in August 2009, the season had produced three named storms, only one of which was a hurricane. But it was a strong one – hurricane Bill reached Category 4, with maximum sustained winds of more than 131 m.p.h. It spent most of its time in the open Atlantic, skirting Nova Scotia as a weak hurricane and Newfoundland as a tropical storm.

The 2010 season saw five named storms by this time in August, two of which were a Category 4 storm. Both formed in August. One, hurricane Earl, kept much of the US East Coast on edge as skirted the shore from North Carolina's outer banks to finally make landfall in Nova Scotia as a Category 1 hurricane.

One key factor behind the differences: conditions in the tropical Pacific, forecasters say.

In 2009, El Niño conditions had taken hold by July. A large pool of warm water had migrated from the western tropical Pacific to the east, off the coast of Central and northern South America. That migration altered atmospheric circulation patterns in ways that increase the amount of wind shear over the tropical Atlantic.

Wind shear shows up as changes in wind speed and direction with altitude, and when a season's average conditions include strong shear, hurricanes have a tough time forming.

El Niño's opposite, La Niña, appeared in 2010, reducing shear and establishing general atmospheric conditions that favor hurricane formation.

This year, conditions in the tropical Pacific are in a neutral phase, which also tend to make formation more likely than during an El Niño year.

In addition to their high levels of street cred as natural hazards, tropical cyclones also figure into seasonal drought forecasts as drought busters. Drought has gripped much of the southern tier of the US for months, with "extreme" to "exceptional" conditions spanning Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and much of Louisiana. Drought at lesser intensities also span much of the rest of the Southeast.

Forecasters had expected some relief for parts of southern Texas and the Southeast with the coming of the hurricane season. But air over Texas has been so dry that when tropical storm Don made landfall along Texas' Padre Island, Don dropped a paltry two-thirds of an inch of rain along the coast, far less than forecasters expected based on experience with past tropical storms or weaker tropical depressions.

By contrast, tropical depression Harvey, which made its second and final landfall along the Mexican state of Veracruz Monday morning after crossing Guatemala, was dumping between two to four inches of rain along its path, with some locations expecting to get as much as 10 inches.

IN PICTURES: Hurricane Irene

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Hurricane Irene Affirms 'Magic' Hurricane Date (LiveScience.com)

Hurricane watchers circle Aug. 20 on their calendars every year. This is the "magic" date when hurricane season seems to kicks into high gear.

Like clockwork, Hurricane Irene — the Atlantic's first hurricane of 2011 — was born on Aug. 22, later strengthening to a Category 2 hurricane. Last year was another good example of an active storm season ramping up after Aug. 20. All of the 2010's major hurricanes (those of Category 3 or higher) formed after Aug. 20, starting with Danielle on Aug. 21.

Aug. 20 seems to be special because around this time, the air and ocean are in just the right state to foster and feed the monster storms. In climate-speak, this time of year is when vertical shear (a change in wind directions with height) in the atmosphere is low enough and sea surface temperatures are warm enough to create big storms.

"Now, storms can get going before Aug. 20, but this is typically about when they start," said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane forecaster at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

This year was typical in saving its biggest storm so far for after Aug. 20, but it was unprecedented in the number of tropical storms that fizzled before reaching hurricane strength. The 2011 hurricane season began with eight tropical storms that all failed to become hurricanes before Irene broke the streak. One reason for the flurry of tropical storms is that scientists are naming more tropical storms than in past years, Klotzbach said.

The last time a hurricane season saw so many tropical storms before seeing a hurricane was 2002. That year, Tropical Storm Gustav eventually broke the string by strengthening to a Category 4 hurricane. Gustav struck Louisiana on Sept. 8, killing 112 people.

The hurricane forecast from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls for 14 to 19 named storms (which include tropical storms and hurricanes), seven to 10 hurricanes and three to five major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher).

Irene is currently a Category 2 storm, with winds of up to 100 mph (160 kph), and is the first serious threat to the U.S. coast in three years. If no hurricanes make landfall in 2011, this three-season lull will be the longest in recorded history.

Email OurAmazingPlanet staff writer Brett Israel at @btisrael.

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Hurricane Irene Spotted From Space (SPACE.com)

Hurricane Irene, the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, was seen from space today (Aug. 22) as it roared past Puerto Rico.

Irene formed as a tropical storm east of the Leeward Islands on Aug. 20. By early Aug. 22, the storm had strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Irene had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with higher gusts. The storm was located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 11:20 a.m. local time (15:20 UTC) on Aug. 22. Storm clouds cover part of the Dominican Republic, and all of Puerto Rico. [See satellite photos of Hurricane Irene]

As of Aug. 22, Irene had cut power to more than a million residents of Puerto Rico, according to ABC News. The Miami Herald reported that heavy rains had pushed at least five rivers over their banks on the island. Citing continuing rains, downed power lines, and potential landslides, the Puerto Rico governor urged residents to stay indoors.

Moving westward to the island of Hispaniola, Irene menaced the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The storm’s worst winds and rains remained north of the island, reducing the threat of deadly flooding, according to news reports. Nevertheless, authorities worried about approximately 600,000 Haitians still living in Port Au Prince tent cities after the 2010 earthquake. [Weirdo Weather: 7 Weird Weather Events]

The NHC reported that a hurricane warning was in effect for the north coast of the Dominican Republic, the southeastern Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. A hurricane watch was in effect for the north coast of Haiti. Irene was moving toward the west-northwest at roughly 12 mph (19 kph), and was expected to continue in that direction for the next day or two.

Five-day projections released by the NHC on Aug. 22 showed Irene heading for the continental United States, potentially making landfall in Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas.

Irene is the first hurricane for what has been forecast to be an active season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) updated its forecast on Aug. 4, predicting 14 to 19 named storms (which include tropical storms and hurricanes), seven to 10 hurricanes and three to five major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). An average Atlantic hurricane season will see 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes. August through October are the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season.

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Charleston, S.C., Prepares for Hurricane Irene (ContributorNetwork)

FIRST PERSON | CHARLESTON, S.C. -- When you're at the beach with girlfriends, there's not a lot of newspaper reading going on. We're not keeping up with the world; we're here to celebrate birthdays. It's only through social media and the telephone that I learned I'm in Hurricane Irene's expected path. Whether I stay at our vacation spot on Ocean Isle Beach or go home to Charleston, I'll face tropical storms or worse.

Hurricane Irene is now a Category 2 storm with 100 mph maximum sustained winds. According to the National Hurricane Center, she's expected to reach Category 3 strength by Wednesday morning. The hurricane has my full attention now.

My husband called this morning so we could plan. When faced with the potential of a hurricane, we strive to have supplies to carry us through a week with no electricity. He's responsible for finding flashlights, a transistor radio, and making sure we have batteries. Additionally, he'll get our primary and backup canisters of propane topped off (if he can find any propane) and get his car filled with petrol. Then he'll hit the ATM.

Groceries are my responsibility. I went to the store here on OIB to load up on beanie weenies and chicken noodle soup for Eddie, black bean soup, canned cheese ravioli and canned vegetables for me. I also stocked up on fresh fruit, peanut butter, bread and water. These groceries, combined with our Charleston inventory, should last a week. There's already plenty of dog food and cat food at home.

My plan is to drive from Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., to Charleston, S.C., on Thursday. The National Weather Service forecast predicts tropical storm conditions will reach Charleston on Friday, so I should be ahead of the storm. When I get home we'll gather up the candles and matches and fill the bathtubs with water. We'll bring the potted plants, outdoor furniture and anything else that can become a missile inside.

If Hurricane Irene stays a Category 3, we intend to ride it out-unless Charleston is told to evacuate. If the storm reaches a Category 4, we don't need to be told what to do. We'll head west, up to the Ashville area.

Out-of-town friends have called offering places of refuge, so we know there are accommodations available for me, my husband, our cat and our dog. Whether we stay or go, I'm comforted by the fact that we have done what we can to prepare for Hurricane Irene.

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Survival of the Fittest: Hurricane Irene Will Not Threaten My Family (ContributorNetwork)

FIRST PERSON | OAK ISLAND, N.C. -- At any given moment, I can take my family two blocks to the beach to enjoy a day filled with sun and fun. Living in Oak Island has its perks, but the drawbacks are living in a constant state of fear during hurricane season. Mother Nature is powerful, but nothing will threaten my family.

According to the latest information from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Irene is expected to make landfall Saturday near Wilmington, N.C., 30 minutes away from my house. Am I scared, yes, but I will do everything to prevent loss of life and property.

Preparing for the Worst

Last year, the North Carolina coast felt the effects of Hurricane Earl and survived unscathed. This year, I am not taking any chances. When the initial reports circulated concerning the path of Hurricane Irene, I jumped into action. With my home sitting only 5 feet above sea level, my fear is the storm surge engulfing my home with water.

I grabbed all of the important papers, birth certificates, bills and placed them in a water resistant bag. My children became my little helpers and began packing cloths for the next several days as my wife filled both cars with gas and got extra money out of the ATM.

Canned food, potable water, chargers and computers were situated in one centralized location. All of the mattresses are moved to the highest location in the house with extra linens placed in trash bags to prevent water damage. With only two access roads leading off the island, I have to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice.

Stick It Out or Head for the Hills

Hurricane Irene is forecast to make landfall as a Category 3 with sustained winds of 110 mph. A storm of that magnitude is not something I am willing ride out, so we are leaving Friday. We are driving to Fayetteville, two hours away from my home. The town is still in the path of Hurricane Irene, but my family and I have a greater chance of survival. We only hope that when we return back home we can still enjoy our fun in the sun with a house untouched by Hurricane Irene.

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Hurricane Irene strengthens on path to U.S. coast (Reuters)

NASSAU (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene looked set to become a major storm on Wednesday as it roared up from the Caribbean on a path that prompted residents along the U.S. east coast to prepare for a possible hit over the weekend.

Irene is a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale, with top winds of 110 miles per hour (175 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Strengthening is forecast and Irene will likely become a major hurricane later today," the center said.

It will become a Category 3 storm when winds rise above 111 mph.

Even as the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season pounded the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas with winds, rain and high tides, people in the Carolinas on the southeastern U.S. coast were getting ready for its approach.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Irene was about 370 miles southeast of Nassau and about 955 miles south of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Irene, the ninth named storm of the June-through-November season, looks set to be the first hurricane to hit the United States since Ike pounded the Texas coast in 2008. But forecasts showed it posing no threat to U.S. oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane center warned of "an extremely dangerous storm surge" that will raise water levels by as much as 11 feet above normal tides in the central and northwestern Bahamas and by as much as 8 feet in the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.

The storm is forecast to approach the coast of the Carolinas on Saturday morning. After that, the saturated New England region could be at risk from torrential rains, high winds and flooding from Irene, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said on Tuesday.

Major eastern cities like Washington and New York could feel some impact, the forecasts showed.

In North Carolina, Governor Bev Perdue urged residents to ensure they had three days worth of food, water and supplies.

Voluntary evacuations were to begin on Wednesday for parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks, a stretch of barrier islands and beaches that are popular summer holiday spots.

Irene drenched the northeastern Caribbean islands earlier in the week. The first death from the storm was reported on Tuesday in Puerto Rico, where a woman was swept away.

Heavy rains continued to pelt the U.S. Caribbean territory, causing flooding and mudslides. Nearly 300,000 residents were without electricity and 58,000 were without water. (Additional reporting by Jane Sutton and Tom Brown in Miami, Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C., Edwin Barnett in Raleigh, N.C., Barbara Liston in Orlando; Writing by Pascal Fletcher and John O'Callaghan; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

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