History-making East Coast hurricanes

While it's not always common to see the eye of a hurricane swirling its way towards New York and New Jersey, the East Coast, especially North Carolina, has had its share of Mother Nature's fiercest storms.

But the question remains, will Irene become a historic hurricane like it's destructive predecessors -- Hurricanes Fran, Floyd, Donna and Gloria? Let's hope not!

Jay Barnes, a hurricane historian and author of "North Carolina's Hurricane History," spoke with "Early Show" co-anchors Erica Hill and Chris Wragge about the impact of hurricanes on the East Coast.

Pictured are high waves and strong winds from Hurricane Fran crashing past the 2nd Avenue Pier on Sept. 5, 1996 in Myrtle Beach, SC.

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Monster hurricanes that have hammered the East Coast

The last major hurricane similar to Irene to hit North Carolina was Fran in 1996. It was the last major (category 3 and above) hurricane to make landfall in that state.

Max Crowe takes a picture of a house leveled by the high winds and storm surge of Hurricane Fran in Holden Beach, NC on Sept. 7, 1996. Seventeen people were reported killed by the storm.

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Photo credit should read DOUG COLLIER/AFP/Getty Images

Jeff Rey (top) surveys the damage to his boat as neighbors watch after it was washed ashore in the wake of Hurricane Fran in Wilmington, N.C. on Sept. 6, 1996. Fran hit the area late Sept. 5, 1996 with winds up to 115 mph.

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From left, Catherine Gross and Wess Ryder clean up on Sept. 7, 1996, after high winds and strong storm surges from Hurricane Fran destroyed her apartment in Surf City, N.C.

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Hurricane Floyd, which was a category 2 storm, caused major interior flooding, but it wasn't as large or strong as hurricane Fran.

Water from hurricane Floyd destroys a bridge in Greenville, NC on Sept. 27, 1999.

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Four businesses along a single block on Main Street in Bound Brook lay in ruins after being destroyed by fire during a flood. Hurricane Floyd caused the nearby Raritan River to overflow its banks in this central New Jersey town. Dozens of business and many homes were destroyed.

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Some homes were deemed uninhabitable due to flooding following Hurricane Floyd. They were demolished on Beale St. in downtown Franklin, Va. on Sept. 20, 1999. About 80 homes and 140 businesses were affected by the flooding.

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Construction crews build temporary housing sites for survivors of Hurricane Floyd on Oct. 5, 1999, in Kinston, N.C. This site housed 67 families.

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U.S. President George W. Bush (2nd-L) participates in a briefing on Hurricane Isabel damage at the Virginia State Police Academy in Richmond, Va. on Sept. 22, 2003 with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (L), Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown (2nd-R), and Virginia Governor Mark Warner (R).

Nineteen deaths in Virginia were blamed on the storm and some 813,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers were without service.

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Nearly 750,000 turkeys were lost to flooding in Duplin County alone as well as 100,000 hogs, and over 23,000 on this poultry farm in Wallace, N.C. due to Hurricane Floyd. The owner, Alan Reynor, lost at least $85,000 plus cleanup costs. He also lost 2,500 hogs and his corn crop.

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According to Jay Barnes, a hurricane historian and author of "North Carolina's Hurricane History," another storm similar to Irene was Hurricane Donna in 1960. It was a category 4 in the Florida Keys and a 3 on Florida Pennisula. It then went back out to sea and struck on Atlantic Beach, N.C. and then the Virginia coast and Long Island like Irene is expected to do.

No two hurricanes are alike, he adds, but right now Irene is taking a course similar to Donna, although it doesn't appear that it will have that kind of strength in the North.

Pictured are the crew members of a two-masted schooner being tossed by Hurricane Donna in September 1960. They are rescuing a shipmate in Boston Harbor. The man on the rope was saved, but the schooner was smashed against the sea wall. Leo Renahan of the Boston Record American made this dramatic picture.

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In 1985, Hurricane Gloria was the storm that skirted off the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a category 3. It made landfall in the New York area and had a fairly significant impact in the Northeast.

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There were two older hurricanes that caused major damage along the Northeast: The Great Atlantic hurricane of 1944 and the New England Hurricane of 1938 (also known as the Long Island Express).

The Great Atlantic hurricane of '44 was similar to Irene in that it was very large in diameter and very powerful, according to hurricane historian Jay Barnes.

It raced northward and caught a lot of ships by surprise, many lives lost at sea. There was major destruction and flooding in Atlantic City, N.J., New York City and Long Island - all areas that could be affected by Hurricane Irene.

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The New England Hurricane of 1938 (or Great New England Hurricane or Yankee Clipper or Long Island Express or simply The Great Hurricane of 1938) was the first major hurricane to strike New England since 1869.

Special Section: Hurricane Irene Monster hurricanes that have hammered the East Coast