Hurricane Irene Forecast to Hammer East Coast

This morning's Hurricane Irene update brings the track of the storm closer to the east coast.

Previous forecasts suggested Irene might be farther off the coast...now the storm is expected to make landfall on the on the islands off N. Carolina. It is expected to be a cat. 3. The high storm surge could forever change the landscape of the very popular and populated shorelines.

Irene is expected to hug the coast and hit New England as a cat. 1 or 2 on Sunday. Long Island could see a direct hit with storm surge of 8 to 10 feet above sea level. Roughly 3 million people live on Long Island. Evacuations may already be underway. I hope that is the case.

Check out this live web camera off North Carolina. www.surfchex.com

Many folks were hitting the beach early today to catch the bigger waves as Hurricane Irene already was kicking up the surf.