Residents of low-lying areas of New York City and those in the summer resort towns along the 100-mile Jersey Shore were ordered to evacuate Friday, as Hurricane Irene barreled toward the Mid-Atlantic region.
The hurricane was expected to make landfall in North Carolina early Saturday as a Category 2 storm, then move up the Eastern Seaboard, where more than 50 million people from the Carolinas to Massachusetts could be in its path. Rain and tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph were already pelting the coasts of the Carolinas on Friday.
This NOAA satellite image shows Hurricane Irene as it approached the East Coast on Friday.
Experts are forecasting billions of dollars in losses, though the storm's economic impact will depend on factors including its size and speed and where it makes landfall. Computer models from catastrophic-insurance provider ICAT put the estimated damage at $4.7 billion, a figure that includes destruction of homes, cars, public infrastructure and other property caused by high winds and flooding.
President Obama, speaking from his vacation rental on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., said all indications point to the storm being a historic hurricane.
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