Emergency officials from Florida to the Carolinas are closely watching Irene today as the first hurricane to seriously threaten the U.S. in three years churns over energizing tropical waters. The storm has already cut a destructive path through the Caribbean. Forecasters say the hurricane could grow to a monstrous Category 4 storm with winds of more than 131 mph before it’s predicted to come ashore this weekend on the U.S. mainland. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami is expecting Irene to reach Category 3 strength today, says spokesman Dennis Feltgen.
Officials might begin issuing watches for parts of the U.S. mainland later today. Because the storm is so large, Florida could feel some effects from the storm by late Wednesday. Current government models have the storm’s outer bands sweeping Florida late this week before it takes aim at the Carolinas this weekend, though forecasters caution that predictions made days in advance can be off by hundreds of miles. Georgia is also likely to be affected. The last hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. was Ike, which pounded Texas in 2008. Early today, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season had maximum sustained winds around 100 mph and was centered about 55 miles northeast of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The hurricane was moving west-northwest near 10 mph. For more information on Irene, click here for the National Hurricane Center’s website.
