A man is seen on along the shore of Atlantic as Hurricane Irene kicks up waves along Myrtle Beach, South Carolina early Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011
/ Barrington Broadcasting Myrtle Beach, SC
Hurricane Irene has weakened but it's still big enough and strong enough to cause significant damage up the Eastern Seaboard.
North Carolina has been first in line, getting hit by wind gusts as high as 115 mph, 7-foot waves and storm surge that's inundated coastal and low-lying communities. Forecasters are warning that Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are in for the same, as are New York Harbor and Long Island Sound.
At least five deaths are being blamed on the storm, including three people killed by falling trees or tree limbs, a surfer lost in heavy waves off Florida, and a North Carolina child who died at an intersection where traffic lights had failed. The winds have been snapping trees and power lines, leaving nearly 900,000 homes and businesses in the dark.
View live and time-lapsed video of the Hurricane's Path from WNWO's WeatherBug network: Brooklyn, NY - Mamaroneck, NY - Margate City, NJ - Jersey City, NJ - North Shore, VA - Wilmington, NC
Airlines have scrapped more than 9,000 scheduled for this weekend. All five major NYC airports have cancelled all arriving flights. Millions of passengers will be affected by the time the storm finally dies and airlines work to accommodate millions of people on very full flights. Irene's center is estimated to be 500 miles wide. By late afternoon Saturday, it was positioned almost exactly where North Carolina meets Virginia at the Atlantic, moving at 13 mph back toward the ocean. Top sustained winds had eased to 80 mph, making Irene a Category 1 storm.
New York City's heavily visited streets were seemingly empty Saturday as nearly all merchants closed up shop in anticipating of the storm. NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for a halt to all public transit in the city as of Noon. Officials say there is no guarantee that public transportation will be back up and running by Monday as the city fears major flooding could affect the city, particularly Lower Manhattan.
(The Associated Press contributed to this article.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWNWO