Hurricane Irene 2011

Hurricane Irene became the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season the weekend of August 20-21 2011 and was considered by the National Hurricane Center as Category 3 with 125 mph max sustained winds at its highest point on Thursday Aug 25th 2011 - when it was passing the outer banks of Florida. Irene passed over Puerto Rico on Sunday (8/21), The Dominican Republic on Monday (8/22) and Turks and Caicos Islands Tues night (8/23) into Wed. The Southeastern and Central Bahamas on Wednesday (8/24) and hit the Northwestern Bahamas Thursday (8/25). As Irene moved closer to the East Coast into Friday (8/26), and passed well off the coast of Florida coastline. Tropical storm conditions lashed the South Carolina coast, as Irene made her way to North Carolina Friday evening and into Saturday morning August 27th 2011. As the storm touched land and passed strongly through North Carolina, wind speeds had decreased but gained a faster rate of travel. The center of Irene headed past Virginia on the outskirts of the its coast into Saturday night and then straignt for New Jersey and New york as it made land fall causing major floods, power outages, downed trees and general disorder. New England regions were affected thru Sunday morning into Sunday night Aug 28th 2011 causing more major flooding and destruction. As of 11pm Sun Aug 28th. Irene became post-tropical near the U.S./Canadian Border.

As of Monday 5:00am EDT 8/29/2011 remnants of Irene moved into Quebec and Newfoundland. Widespread major flooding continues over sections of the Northeast United States. Irene's path moved North-Northeast at 25 MPH (40 KM/H) as it passed Canada after having mangled the New England region with heavy rains and high winds; while major river flooding is occurring in parts of the Northeast. The deadly storm battered New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and surrounding states as it pounded the coasts, causing major flooding, power outages and drenching the upper-Atlantic states and Eastern Canada.

Irene is a Post Tropical Cyclone "hurricane" and had slightly weakened from a 3 on Thursday and a 2 on Friday, 1 on Saturday and sustaining a 1 on Sun morning and then dropped to Tropcial Storm status Mid Sun.

It should be noted that just because the eye of a hurricane is not directly in the path of your city or state, potentially dangerous winds and severe weather can still reach 50-100 miles from the center of the storm. If you live in an evacuation zone, be sure to listen to your local officials for evacuation orders. Be prepared for any type of impact and have your plan ready!

US Watches and Warnings
Flood warnings and high wind warnings are in effect for parts of the Northern Mid-Atlantic into New England

Thursday August 25th 2011
Irene had effects on the outer-banks of Florida coastal line mid Thursday August 25th 2011 thru very early Friday morning August 26th 2011.

Friday August 26th 2011
Strong winds and rain caused severe weather conditions over the coastal lines of Florida and Georgia despite the forecast path of Irene being more out in the Atlantic. Hurricane Irene's path headed to upper coastal areas of South Carolina, but North Carolina's inner coastal areas were in the direct path where Irene made land fall - overnight into Sat morning.

Saturday August 27th 2011
Irene battered eastern North Carolina , Such as Wilmington, NC (Weather | Traffic) and Jacksonville, NC (Weather | Traffic), but moved more out towards the Atlantic. Land fall by evening Sat to early Sun August 28th 2011, the Virginia coastal line was in the path of Irene as the state experienced heavy winds, rain, coastal flooding and casualties.

Sunday August 28th 2011.
By Early Sun thru Sun night Aug 29th, states including New York, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine had directly experienced Hurricane Irene as the it has made land fall and cuased major flooding and power outages, and casualties. Irene weakend and moved into Eastern Canada overnight into Monday.

Monday August 29th 2011.
Gale-Force winds affected coastal areas from Eastern Long Island to Maine through early Monday. By late Sunday Aug 28th to early morning Monday Aug 29th, South Eastern regions of Canada were on the path including Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Refer to Ready.gov for a comprehensive list of hurricane preparedness information.

Rainfall amounts of 10 to 14 inches occurred over a large portion of Eastern North Carolina and extreme Southeastern Virginia, with the highest amount of 15.66 inches reported at Bunyan North Carolina. The heaviest of up to 15 inches of rain were concentrated around the Outer Banks, where Irene had made landfall.