Hurricane Irene is presently a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 115 mph on track for an East Coast landfall. The wide, slow-moving major hurricane is forecast to make a direct landfall between Morehead City and the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Saturday and potentially a second landfall in the Northeast. While it’s still early, there are some expectations that Irene could be the worst storm to hit the U.S. East Coast in at least 20 years.

Overnight, Irene traveled across the Bahamas as a Category 3 storm. Widespread property damage, flooding and power outages have been reported on several islands.

North Carolina is experienced with hurricane strikes and building codes reflect that with structures designed to withstand up to 110 mph sustained winds. Since 1851, North Carolina ranks only behind Florida, Texas and Louisiana in U.S. landfall activity. Irene has many similar characteristics to past storms such as Bertha (1996), Bob (1991) and Floyd (1999), while Fran (1996) was the last hurricane to strike the North Carolina coast with a similar strength to Irene. Of these noted historical storms, all but Bertha caused damages in excess of $2.5Bn (inflated to 2011 USD; does not include population or wealth adjustments).

Best Regards,

Paul Kneuer / Kathy Sandberg / Gloria LaGrua / Jon Christianson / Heather Talarico / Duane Hynes