Hurricane Irene's impact in central North Carolina

8/27, 10:45AM ET: At the time of this taping, central NC is in the outer bands of Irene with Durham and Wake counties under a wind warning (40-50 mph gusts), and the gusts in this video are creating whistling winds, the house definitely getting pelted with branches and even heaves a bit with some of the gusts. The storm is so large that its reach into the central part of the state is unusual. We should experience winds like you see here for a few more hours. Our power lines are underground so we have power, but much of Durham and counties affected have plenty of traditional power poles that fall. There are already reports of many outages east of here, and the Outer Banks/Atlantic Beach is getting pummeled. The concern in the eastern inland parts of NC is flooding. Just learned that there are at least 60,000 without power. Since we're a very dense tree state, I expect some roads will be blocked here after Irene passes. From the Weather Channel: Hurricane Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, just before 8 a.m. EDT as an 85-mph, category 1 hurricane. The center of Irene is located about 5 miles north-northeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, or about 60 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is moving to the north-northeast near 14 miles per hour. The center of Irene is forecast to cross through the North Carolina Sounds, through the Outer Banks, and back into the Atlantic today, then riding up the coast with an eventual landfall anticipated on Sunday along Long Island then on the other side of Long Island Sound in Southern New England as a minimal hurricane. *** 8/26, 7PM ET: Hurricane Irene is about to make landfall here in NC as I write this, around Morehead City. We are experiencing a downpour in Durham right now. Wind not too bad yet. Power is still on (for now). I live in Durham, and that's about dead center on the map to the west of Raleigh. Because the storm is so large in size, we are receiving the outer bands of Irene, and it's not a small deal. Wind Advisory for Durham, NC until 12 am EDT, Sun., Aug. 28, 2011 * WINDS... NORTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH. * TIMING... NOW THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. * IMPACTS... WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT... ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. SOME DOWNED TREE LIMBS AND SPORADIC POWER OUTAGES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND GUSTS OVER OVER 40 MPH WILL BE LIKELY. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN BRING DOWN TREE LIMBS AND WEAK TREES... TOSS AROUND LOSE OBJECTS... AND MAKE DRIVING VEHICLES DIFFICULT. I don't expect that this will be as damaging in the area as Fran (1996), but what's of major concern is that most of our power lines in town are above ground, so they are vulnerable to trees falling. Where we live is relatively new (houses built in the 80s-90s), so the lines are underground. The down side of the age of the neighborhood is that construction was long enough ago that we have a lot of mature trees in the area, close to the houses, so if any of them decide to fall, damage to homes is likely If you're in Wake County (just to the east, where Raleigh is, there's also a flood watch. As you can imagine, if the forecast is this bad this far inland, the coast is going to have devastation. Highway 12 in the Outer Banks is a fragile two-lane road that goes up the peninsula of the OBX. It's going to get washed out for sure, and anyone who stayed to ride this out is nuts. They will be trapped out there. I'll have updates on Twitter and other social media; there is a Irene Twitterfeed in the left column. See you on the other side of the hurricane; those in the path stay safe.

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