Hurricane Irene, the monster storm rolling up the East Coast, has claimed its first lives, a North Carolina man killed outside his home by a tree limb that blew down this morning and another who reportedly died of a heart attack.
The first man was hit while he was walking around his house this morning in a rural area of Nash County, where winds were roaring at more than 60 mph, county Emergency Management Director Brian Brantley told the Associated Press.
The second man was putting plywood over the windows of his Onslow County, N.C. home when he suffered a heart attack and died, according to the News & Observer.
A third man has been reported missing in the Cape Fear River in Castle Hayne.
The center of Hurricane Irene hit the coast of North Carolina near Cape Lookout around 7:30 a.m. ET with Category 1-force winds of 85 mph.
Hurricane warnings for the next 48 hours have been issued for North Carolina; Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Maryland; Delaware; New York; Pennsylvania; New Jersey; and coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Defense Secretary Panetta has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for 6,500 active duty troops from all the services to support hurricane relief efforts if necessary.
Gerry Broome/AP Photo
Eastern North Carolina has already seen three tornadoes in the past few days, and the majority of the state and areas of Maryland and Virginia are under tornado watches through Sunday.
Stacy Township, on the coast of North Carolina, was battered with 93 mph wind gusts this morning, and winds up to 115 mph have been reported in parts of eastern North Carolina.
The far end of the fishing pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C., collapsed overnight. Though much of the 100-foot long pier is still standing, but its end has disappeared into the ocean.
Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, in the outer banks of North Carolina, are experiencing the worst flooding, according to multiple reports. Flash flood warnings across eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia over the next several hours.
Nearly 200,000 homes in North Carolina are experiencing power outages, according to Power Energy. Winds up to 85 mph ripped power lines from their poles, causing many of the shortages. The hardest hit areas were Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
"Our crews are restoring service as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so," Power Energy tweeted.
For more on how Hurricane Irene is affecting the North Carolina coast and the surrounding area, go to ABC News affiliate WTVD-TV
All airports in the New York area will stop accepting arrivals at noon today. The airports expected to be affected the most are in New York (Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia), Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C.
The American Red Cross has opened 150 shelters across the Northeast and is preparing to open dozens more as the storm moves north.
"We have operations in more than a dozen states. Our priority right now is sheltering," said Gail J. McGovern, the Head of American Red Cross in a press conference this morning.
"We're now in the middle of what could be one of the largest responses the Red Cross has had in recent memory," McGovern added.
McGovern encouraged people to register on "Safe and Well," a website that allows people to inform family members that they are OK.
New York City Evacuations
Evacuations began Friday in New York City with the sick and the elderly.
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