Powerful Hurricane Irene churns toward southeast US

Storm to become larger, stronger as it nears U.S.

A strengthening Hurricane Irene churned on a northwest track toward the Southeast United States on Tuesday, threatening the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas with battering winds and rain and dangerous surf.

While the U.S. National Hurricane Center's five-day forecast now sees a possible landfall in North Carolina this weekend, forecasters have been cautioning that such projections can have a margin of error of as much as 250 miles (400 km).

Irene, now a Category 2 storm, was heading over the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas. It was expected to become a major Category 3 storm, with winds over 111 mph (178 kph), by Wednesday and intensify further to a Category 4 as it neared the southeast U.S. coast by Friday. To read more, click here.

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