Irene Shuts Off Power

From AccuWeather.com:

As of noon Saturday, already hundreds of thousands of customers were without power in Virginia and North Carolina.

Hurricane Irene made landfall on Cape Lookout in eastern North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane and will continue track to the north with conditions deteriorating for millions across the mid-Atlantic through tonight.

History of the storm:

11 a.m. Aug. 27: The eye of Hurricane Irene was re-orientating over Pamlico Sound, N.C. Wind gusts to hurricane force, 74 mph or greater, will continue to be experienced over the next several hours, along with a damaging storm surge. Rainfall of six to nine inches has already occurred in eastern North Carolina.

Power outages have begun to affect data collection in N. C. and southeastern Virginia. Winds have gusted to 63 mph in Hampton Roads, Va., 65 mph in Wilmington, 67 mph in Elizabeth City, 70 mph in Morehead City, 74 mph in New Bern, and 88 mph at Cape Hatteras, N.C.

A gust of 115 mph was recorded at Cedar Island, N.C., which was in the northeastern eyewall at time of landfall around 8 a.m.

Tropical storm-force winds have begun in southeastern Virginia.

Although slightly weaker as a Category 1 hurricane prior to landfall, Irene remains a tremendous threat to the East Coast in terms of rain, wind and flooding.

The wind field associated with Irene remains large and this will thus have more impact than is commonly associated with a storm of this intensity, said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Randy Adkins.