
Hurricane Irene was skirting past the Delmarva Peninsula around 11 p.m Saturday, moving at 16 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The Washington, D.C. area experienced waves of heavy rain Saturday. The brunt of the storm is expected to hit the region overnight.
The weather service reports the eye of the storm made its way through Cape Lookout, N.C. around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, and continued across eastern North Carolina in the afternoon.
Hurricane Irene's estimated intensity at landfall this morning was 85 miles per hour, downgrading it from a Category 2 hurricane to a Category 1, according to the weather service. However, despite the downgrade, NHC hurricane specialist Mike Brennan tells NPR the hazards are still the same.
Brennan says some mid-Atlantic coastal areas are going to experience hurricane conditions for several hours and tropical storm conditions for 24 hours.
The hurricane is scheduled to move along the mid-Atlantic coast late Saturday night, and along southern New England on Sunday.

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