Keeping an eye on Irene

Hurricane Irene's western edges begin strafing the North Carolina coast in this satellite image from NOAA and the National Hurricane Center taken at 3:15 a.m. Eastern, Aug. 26, 2011. Latest forecasts had Irene crashing up the North Carolina coastline Saturday, then churning up the East while drenching areas from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened storm reaches New England.

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Nags Head Ocean Rescue lifeguards Ben Mechak, left, an Erika Audfroid hoist a no swimming flag in Nags Head, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011 as Hurricane Irene takes aim at the North Carolina coast.

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Homes boarded up on North Carolina's Outer Banks — AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

A message is left for Hurricane Irene on one house, left, as a resident boards up another in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Irene in Nags Head, N.C., Aug. 25, 2011 on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

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Nags Head police officer Edward Mann speaks with resident Debbie Hickey about Hurricane Irene as it approaches the Outer Banks in Nags Head, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011. Mann was warning residents who have not evacuated that assistance will be limited after the storm winds reach 60 miles per hour.

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Jake Overton, right, and Jay Overton, second right, fill sand bags in front of an open store with boarded up windows in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Irene in Nags Head, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011 on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Latest forecasts had Irene crashing up the North Carolina coastline Saturday, then churning up the East while drenching areas from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened storm reaches New England.

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People buy generators and plywood boards as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Irene in Kitty Hawk, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011 on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

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President Barack Obama speaks about Hurricane Irene in Chilmark, Mass. on Martha's Vineyard on Aug. 26, 2011.

During his statement, the president urged Americans to "take precautions now" to prepare for a hurricane that he said is projected to be "historic." "I cannot stress this highly enough," Mr. Obama said. "If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. Don't wait. Don't delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst."

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Hurricane Specialists at the National Hurricane Center Dan Brown, left, and Eric Blake, right, review the track and intensity of Hurricane Irene on Aug. 23, 2011, in Miami.

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Jeremy Pickett boards the windows of a store in Cape Hatteras, N.C., in preparation for Hurricane Irene on Aug. 24, 2011. Evacuations began on Ocracoke Island, off North Carolina, as Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday, with the East Coast in its sights.

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People who are evacuated from Ocracoke Island arrive at Cape Hatteras ferry terminal in preparation for Hurricane Irene in Cape Hatteras, N.C., on Aug. 24, 2011. Evacuations began on a tiny barrier island off North Carolina as Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday, with the East Coast in its sights.

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Ferry parking at Cape Hatteras is empty as evacuations from Ocracoke Island have begun Aug. 24, 2011, in preparation for Hurricane Irene in Cape Hatteras, N.C. Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday. with the East Coast in its sights.

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Heeding a mandatory visitor evacuation, Shawn Wyn of Cleona, Pa., right, and his family pack up as they leave their rented beach house in Nags Head, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011, in North Carolina's Outer Banks. A hurricane watch was issued on Aug. 25 for much of the North Carolina coast. Officials along the East Coast of the United States are calculating what they need to do if Irene becomes the first major hurricane to strike the region in seven years.

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A sign declaring a mandatory evacuation in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Irene is seen as motorists head north in Nags Head, N.C., Aug. 25, 2011 on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

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"I think the retailers will jack up prices overnight. We'll go through the gas anyway," said Plantation Resort landscaping manager Chris Jaeger as he filled his truck and 10 five-gallon gas containers Aug. 23, 2011, in Garden City, S.C. He said they gassed up their vehicles Monday and just want to be prepared in case Hurricane Irene hits the area.

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Rex Johnson puts plywood over the windows of his condo in Carolina Beach, N.C., as he prepares for Hurricane Irene Aug. 24, 2011. Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday, with the East Coast in its sights.

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People play at the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Avon, N.C., Aug. 24, 2011. Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas Wednesday.

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Tim Waterfield, left, and Byron Wilson, an employee with Dare Building supply, load plywood into Waterfield's truck in Buxton, N.C., Aug. 24, 2011. Residents are stocking up on plywood to board up their structures as Hurricane Irene moves up the East Coast threatening the North Carolina Outer Banks.

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Rob Melby makes sandbags to protect his business in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Aug. 25, 2011 as Hurricane Irene heads toward the North Carolina coast.

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AP Photo/The Jacksonville Daily News, John Althouse

Michael Holland operates a tractor hauling two trailers as laborers fill them with hand-cut tobacco on fields of the Aman Farms in Maysville, N.C., Aug. 23, 2011. Tobacco is ready for harvest and they hope to reap as much as possible before the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Irene later this week.

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Surfers look at the waves crashing against the Oceana Pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011 as Hurricane Irene heads toward the North Carolina coast. — AP Photo/Chuck Burton

Meanwhile, further north, surfers look at the waves crashing against the Oceana Pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Aug. 26, 2011 as Hurricane Irene heads toward the North Carolina coast.

Workers outside the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City NJ remove beach umbrellas and chairs from a beachfront storage shed on Aug. 26, 2011 as Hurricane Irene approached the gambling resort. Atlantic City's 11 casinos are starting to shut down as Hurricane Irene threatens the nation's second-largest gambling resort.

Latest forecasts had Irene crashing up the North Carolina coastline Saturday, then churning up the East while drenching areas from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened storm reaches New England.

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A police officer is on crowd control duty outside the Atlantic City Convention Center Aug. 26, 2011 in Atlantic City, N.J. The center was being used as an evacuation center for hundreds of city residents fleeing the approach of Hurricane Irene.

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A sign saying 'Go Away Irene!' is spray painted on a baorded up storefront in preparation for Hurricane Irene August 26, 2011 in Cape May, New Jersey. — William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

A sign saying 'Go Away Irene!' is spray painted on a boarded up storefront in preparation for Hurricane Irene August 26, 2011 in Cape May, New Jersey.

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Even in New York City - a metropolis not accustomed to hurricanes - storm preps are in full swing. Shoppers stock up on water from rapidly emptying shelves at a grocery store in Far Rockaway in New York, Aug. 25, 2011. Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged New York City residents living in low-lying areas to line up a place to stay on high ground ahead of a possible evacuation this weekend due to Hurricane Irene.

Latest forecasts had Irene crashing up the North Carolina coastline Saturday, then churning up the East while drenching areas from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened storm reaches New England.

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Construction cranes stand on the World Trade Center site on Aug. 26, 2011 in New York. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Friday it is securing all cranes and other construction equipment at the site due to Hurricane Irene.

Even if the winds aren't strong enough to damage buildings in a metropolis made largely of brick, concrete and steel, a lot of New York's subways and other infrastructure are underground, making them subject to flooding.

New York's two airports are close to the water and could be inundated, as could densely packed neighborhoods, if the storm pushes ocean water into the city's waterways, officials said. In 2008, the city had a brush with Tropical Storm Hanna, which dumped 3 inches of rain on Manhattan.

In the last 200 years, New York has seen only a few significant hurricanes. In September 1821, a hurricane raised tides by 13 feet in an hour and flooded all of Manhattan south of Canal Street, the southernmost tip of the city. The area now includes Wall Street and the World Trade Center memorial.

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Ambulances wait to evacuate patients at Coney Island Hospital Aug. 26, 2011, in advance of Hurricane Irene, which is expected to make landfall in New York City in a day or two. Coney Island, as well as numerous neighborhoods in the city, are located near the region's waterways.

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Clouds gather over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Aug. 26, 2011. The memorial's dedication ceremony has been postponed due to the impending arrival of the hurricane.

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With the Washington Monument behind them, workers pack-up a portion of the 30,000 chairs at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Aug. 26, 2011. The memorial's dedication ceremony has been postponed due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene.

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In this photo taken Aug. 23, 2011, Bill Olney, an electronics technician prepares a dropsonde to be sent into Hurricane Irene.

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Bill Tiernan,AP Photo/TheVirginian-Pilot

Crew members of the guided missile destroyer Mason load food supplies aboard the ship on Aug. 25, 2011 as the ship prepared to get underway with other Navy ships from the Norfolk Naval Station ahead of approaching hurricane Irene. The U.S. Navy ordered more than 60 ships out to safer waters Thursday so they could better weather the storm.

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Tugboats help Navy guided missile destroyers the Jason Dunham, left, and the the Winston Churchill, leave the Norfolk Naval Station Aug. 25, 2011 as Hurricane Irene approaches. The U.S. Navy ordered more than 60 ships out to safer waters Thursday so they could better weather the storm.

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Before heading towards the U.S. mainland, Irene impacted several Caribbean islands, including the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Haiti. A man walks along the waterfront as Hurricane Irene passes to the east of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, Aug. 25, 2011. Irene is pounding the Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane.

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Power lines downed by Irene in Nassau, Bahamas — AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

A man walks past a downed power line in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in Nassau, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, Aug. 25, 2011.

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A man stops to photograph a downed utility pole as Hurricane Irene passes to the east of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, Aug. 25, 2011. Irene is pounding the Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane.

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Residents watch the river waters outside their home in the Moscu neighborhood of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, after the passing of Hurricane Irene on Aug. 24, 2010. Flooding, rising rivers and mudslides have prompted the Dominican Republic government to evacuate nearly 38,000 people.

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A resident watches the sea surge along a beach covered by debris after the passing of Hurricane Irene in Nagua on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, Aug. 23, 2011. Irene lashed the northern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where crews have begun cleaning up debris and the government warned of flooding.

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Here, civil defense workers prepare to remove debris from a road after hurricane Irene hit the area in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, Aug. 22, 2011.

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A man wades through a flooded street after hurricane Irene hit the area in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, Aug. 22, 2011.

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A man walks away from Los Yayales beach after watching the sea surge caused by the approach of Hurricane Irene to Nagua, in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, Aug, 22, 2011. A strengthening Hurricane Irene roared off the Dominican Republic's resort-dotted northern coast on Monday night, whipping up high waves and torrential downpours.

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