North Carolina Hits by Irene Hurricane

The center of Hurricane Irene has now hit the coast of North Carolina
near Cape Lookout with Category 1-force winds of 85 mph.

Hurricane warnings for the next 48 hours have been issued for North
Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, New York,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts.

So far, eastern North Carolina has already seen three tornadoes in the
past few days, and the majority of the state and areas of Maryland and
Virginia are under tornado watches through Sunday.

Stacy township, on the coast of North Carolina, is seeing 93 mph wind
gusts this morning.

The far end of the fishing pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C. collapsed
overnight, ABC News affiliate WTVD reported. The 100-foot long pier is
still standing, but its end has disappeared into the ocean.

ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. - The Bogue Banks is under a mandatory
evacuation. All residents are asked to leave.

It's actually pretty quiet in Atlantic Beach today. Yesterday evening
there was a lot of tension in the air as people rushed to make last
minute preparations.

There are not a whole lot of people out and about on the roads. There
is a mandatory evacuation underway for the entire 14 mile strip of the
Bogue Banks including Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores all the way
down to Emerald Isle, but there are a lot of boarded up homes and
quiet streets today.

It seems like almost everyone has already headed out.

One construction crew was out working this morning on what they called
a hurricane proof home. They say the home can withstand 180 mph winds.

They invited us back after the storm to see if the home would make it
through the storm damage free.

Something we should keep in mind is that emergency officials are
discouraging that people stay on the island. They really want everyone
to evacuate inland, but if people do decide to stay, they're staying
at their own risk.

Nearly 200,000 homes in North Carolina are experiencing power outages,
according to Power Energy. Winds up to 85 mph ripped power lines from
their poles, causing many of the shortages. The hardest hit areas were
Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, N.C.