Hurricane Irene: crashes ashore in North Carolina

After the crash ashore at Cape Lookout, NC early Saturday as a category one hurricane with wind speeds of 85 miles per hour, Hurricane Irene Outer Banks raked in North Carolina and inland, with wind and rain beat punishment.

Residents of the state braced for widespread power outages and flooding as the storm slowly moving heavy set of Pamlico Sound, with little to block his path to the center of the storm hit land in the province Dare, along the coast.

The storm flooded streets and gardens, long-leaf pines and weeping willows bending and scattering debris on the way. Irene weakened slightly overnight, but forecasters said it is still a very dangerous storm, because it is so large - nearly 450 miles wide - and it moves very slowly, as only 14 mph

Manteo, the main town of the island of Roanoke, a few miles west of Nags Head and the rest of the Outer Banks, in the direct path of the hurricane. The deserted streets of the city were soon filled with water Saturday morning, strong winds tore enter the nearby beaches.

"It will get worse as the day progresses," said Kathryn Bryan Dare County Emergency Management office in Manteo.

Forecasters said the worst effects of the storm could slowly increase to 12 hours in eastern North Carolina, where the governor. Beverly Perdue said as many 3.5 million people may be affected by the hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center warned of "extremely dangerous storm surge", with storm surge of five to nine feet. The center consists of six to ten inches of rain over much of eastern North Carolina, with up to 15 inches in some places.

Bryan said the coastal authorities are worried that if the eye of the storm over the top Outer Banks on Wednesday, temporarily clear skies, which encourages people to leave their homes to look around.

"People still want to go out and Looky-loo, but it is behind the storm gets worse, with the largest storm surge," said Bryan. "If you have decided to stay, you stay home all day."

The power was eliminated a few houses shortly after 20 hours in Manteo, but Bryan said there were no reports of widespread power outages. Strong waves on the beaches of Hatteras Island, flooding the community of Mirlo Beach on the island.

The waves caused piers to collapse in Atlantic Beach and Bogue Inlet in the southern Outer Banks, News and Observer of Raleigh reported. The center of Wilmington, NC, was flooded with a foot-and-a-half to two meters of water.