Irene lashing Bahamas at major hurricane status

(CNS): The Atlantic’s first hurricane of the season also became its first ‘major’ hurricane on Wednesday morning. The National Hurricane Centre in Miami reported that Irene had become a category three hurricane at 7am local time as the eye headed for the Crooked and Acklins Islands in the Bahamas with winds of almost 115 mph. Travelling at 9 mph toward the west-northwest experts said the hurricane was expected to turn toward the northwest during the day and further strengthening was possible.  On the forecast track the core of Irene will move across the Southeastern and Central Bahamas today and over the Northwestern Bahamas tomorrow.

Hurricane force winds currently extend outward up to 40 miles from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles. An unofficial reporting station at Pine Cay in the Caicos Islands recently reported a wind gust to 65 mph earlier this morning.

As the storm began pounding the Bahamas where storm surge could hit 11 feet, Geoffrey Greene, senior meteorologist with the Bahamas Department of Meteorology told the Miami Herald that flooding was always more of a concern. "We are a flat island nation. We know we're going to get some flooding."

Meanwhile, the US press was also reporting that evacuation was starting in North Carolina where forecasters predict that Irene will make landfall in the US sometime on Saturday as a category four hurricane.

Go to NHC for more on Irene and two other areas of low pressure brewing in the Atlantic