Hurricane Irene's destructive fury< /a> to is aimed directly at the Carolinas, but it is expected to then churn its way up the East Coast battering cities and towns as far north as Boston.
"This one's going to affect everybody as it goes up the coast. We don't see it moving far out to sea and skipping a few of the places that in the past it had skipped," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.
It is expected to be the worst storm to hit the East Coast of the United States in at least 20 years, forecasters say.
The Category 3 storm is currently moving over the northwestern Bahamas sustaining winds as high as 115 mph with even higher gusts.
Overnight, the slow moving storm lashed the Bahamas, uprooting trees, shattering glass and leaving much of the southeastern islands without power.
As the storm clears the island and continues over the warm water of the Atlantic, its wind speed is expected to strengthen and the size of the storm could increase to a category 4 with wind speeds of at least 131 mph.
Based on its current path, Irene could hit Cape Hatteras, N.C., by Saturday. It will weaken somewhat as it claws its way up the hit coast, but is expected to be still packing winds of 50 to 70 mph when it reaches New York City and Boston. It is expected to dump 6 to 12 inches of rain on the Jersey shore, Long Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Hurricane Irene Hits The Bahamas; Aftershock From Virginia Quake
Watch Video National Hurricane Center Director on Irene's Path
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In North Carolina, the roadways are clogged as tourists and locals flee to get ahead of the storm. The National Hurricane Center issued a Hurricane Watch in much of coastal North Carolina this morning. Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks is under a mandatory evacuation order.
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Captain Al Foreman has been a charter boat captain for 40 years on the Outer Banks and fears this storm might be the worst he's seen.
"Everything is so low here on the Outer Banks, nothing is built really high. It wouldn't take much of a storm surge to do a lot of damage," Foreman said.
The Navy is preparing to move 126 warships, the entire Second Fleet, out of Irene's path.
What's making Irene's fury unique is not only it's size at 750 miles wide, but its slow pace.
"It's already a fairly large storm and as it moves northwards, it's going to get even larger and very important, this one on our forecast is moving slower by quite a bit than the average storms," Read said. "It gives more time to build up the tidal elevations and the storm surge that will be associated with this storm. It's too early to pinpoint, but there's a large area of the coast that may be impacted by the dangerous storm surge on this path."
Irene is expected to move at 15 to 20 miles per hour as it crosses the northeast, Read said. A typical storm moves at 25 to 35 miles per hour.
Behind Irene, another tropical depression formed in the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center says the depression could be Tropical Storm Jose later today.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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