Community Corner

Mid-Atlantic Urged To Brace for Hurricane Irene

The metro region could feel the effects of the hurricane by this weekend.

The National Weather Service has upgraded Irene to a Category 3 hurricane, as winds inside the storm have reached 115 mph. It is expected to hit Mid-Atlantic waters by Saturday.

In an advisory issued at 8 a.m. Wednesday, forecasters said the eye of the hurricane is currently headed toward the Crooked and Acklin Islands, located about 250 miles southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas.

Irene lumbered into the Bahamas at 9 mph Tuesday night and has turned northwestward, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm's projected path was adjusted steadily to the east throughout the day Tuesday. Forecasters no longer expect the center of the storm to make landfall in Florida at all.

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In a press conference call with reporters, National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said on Wednesday that the storm "could actually get stronger" as it continues to move through warm, tropical waters.  The latest reports indicate the storm is moving about 12 mph, headed west-northwest. Read predicts it will turn more northward on Thursday.

The eye of the hurricane will hover near or above North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday evening. Tropical storm-force winds could reach the Carolinas by Saturday morning," Read said.

Find out what's happening in Georgetownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It’s also growing in size as it heads north," he said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Mid-Atlantic residents should take time to devise an emergency plan.

"(The earthquake) reminded people that the unexpected can happen," Fugate said. "Many folks in the Mid-Atlantic, they still have time to prepare, but that time will run out."

The local weather forecast for the Washington, D.C. metro region calls for showers and thunderstorms through the weekend with a 100 percent chance of precipitation on both Saturday night and Sunday.

The Department of Defense issued a press advisory explaining it was prepared to postpone a planned NORAD flight exercise scheduled for midnight Thursday over the capital region in case of inclement weather.

At the Mayor's weekly press conference Wednesday, Millicent West from D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) said her agency was in the process of doing a whole scale hurricane preparedness exercise when the earthquake hit, Tuesday.

West said her team would complete the exercise Wednesday and begin "preparing for the impending events coming up in the city this weekend."


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