“We are urging everyone to follow the same advice we said yesterday: Pay close attention, check back several times a day to see where the storm is headed, and get prepared for this hurricane,” he said. “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
The storm Wednesday battered parts of the Bahamas with 115-mph winds and up to a foot of rain while it made its way north toward the East Coast.
Hurricane Irene, moving at about 9 mph, was expected to remain over the island nation today. Tide levels in the Bahamas could reach as high as 11 feet above normal and a storm surge is expected to create dangerous waves near the coast, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm could make landfall in eastern North Carolina on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“It may get a little stronger over the next day or two,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.
Florida and Georgia appear as though they will be spared the worst of it, although forecasters stress that the path of the storm can quickly change.
Meanwhile, tourists on the tiny North Carolina barrier island of Ocracoke are being encouraged to evacuate immediately while full-time residents are being given an extra day to prepare their homes and collect their valuables.
Federal officials have warned Irene could cause flooding, power outages or worse all along the East Coast as far north as Maine, even if it stays offshore. The projected path has gradually shifted to the east, and Irene could make landfall anywhere from South Carolina to Massachusetts over the weekend.
Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said people as far north as New England should be ready for the storm. Asked about preparing the Northeast for a hurricane, uncommon in that part of the country, Fugate cited Tuesday’s East Coast earthquake.
“It’s a reminder that we don’t always get to pick the next disaster,” Fugate said.