Editor's Comment: As always with natural disasters, the poor suffer the greatest for lack of decent housing and protection from the elements. The photos and comments we've added below were taken yesterday in San Cristobal, South of Santo Domingo as Hurricane Irene lashed the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with Dominican Republic. Our contacts in Puerto Rico reported very heavy rains in San Juan but fair weather in the western town of Adjuntas. Today it's battering the Bahamas where many homes were washed away and headed for Florida and is then expected to go up the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Evacuations in some places may be mandatory. The U.S. weather services expects the hurricane to hit Virginia directly within 36 hours of this report and NYC is in it's path. The ground is already saturated in the NJ-NYC area there is concern about flooding. High water of more than 25 foot waves are expected. Heavy rains and high winds are expected to move up into Canada.

- Les Blough, Editor 

Hurricane Irene battering the seafront in the Dominican Republic

Waters: People wade to their destinations through muddy water in a flooded street in San Cristobal, south of Santo Domingo, on Wednesday.

This woman carries her shoes while wading knee-deep through a flooded street in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, as Hurricane Irene continued to strengthen over the Caribbean when it was en route to the Bahamas.

A little boy guards a family mattress as people salvaged what belongings they could from flooded homes in San Cristobal on Wednesday.

Hurricane Irene damaged hundreds of homes on small Bahamian islands but largely spared the capital, Nassau, as it tore over the sprawling archipelago in its way toward the U.S. East Coast as a major Category 3 storm.

As the destruction was being assessed in the Caribbean, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned residents living in low-lying areas on Thursday to seek shelter on higher ground possibly by Friday, before the storm is forecast to thrash the area. Bloomberg told reporters the mass transit system may have to be shut down on Saturday.

There were no immediate reports on Thursday of deaths in the Bahamas from the Category 3 hurricane, but some small settlements reported up to 90 per cent of their homes damaged while assessments from other islands were not in because telephone lines were down.

Authorities and residents were clearly pleased that Irene had shifted course and largely skirted populous New Providence island, which is home to more than 200,000 people and some of the most famous resorts in the Bahamas. Irene left a mess of scattered debris, toppled trees and minor flooding but no major damage.

"For the last three or four major hurricanes that I can recall, we've managed to skirt the eye of the hurricane," said Charlton Knowles, who runs a pizza restaurant in Nassau. "If the only things we are having are downed trees and pickets fences, then it's just a severe storm and that's all."

Concern for other islands
Downtown Nassau with its colorful limestone buildings was largely unscathed, but the Straw Market, a well-known shopping spot for tourists, did not survive the night. The canvas roof was torn and the metal frame was damaged, leaving about 600 craft stalls exposed to the wind and rain.Nassau residents expressed concern about fellow Bahamians in Eleuthera and other islands.

About 90 per cent of the homes in two settlements known as Lovely Bay and Chesters on Acklins Islands were destroyed and no longer inhabitable, said Gayle Outten-Moncur, the operating officer of the Emergency Management Agency in the Bahamas. A total of about 100 homes were damaged, she said.

On the island of Mayaguana, where roughly 250 people live, about 40 homes were damaged, she said.

There are also reports of extensive damage on Cat Island, Long Island and Eleuthera, but authorities have not been able to complete full assessments and conditions were still dangerous on Thursday.

Few casualties predicted
Irene is only the third storm since 1866 to cross the entire length of the island chain, and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the country was bracing for extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. But he predicted few casualties overall.

"As a general statement we do a fair job of managing hurricanes so personal injuries, we hope, will not be substantial," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, warned Thursday that an "extremely dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 7 to 11 feet (2 to 3 metres) above normal tide levels over the Bahamas." It said Irene is expected to dump from 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) of rain on the islands.

Irene's core was forecast to continue moving over the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday before heading north toward the U.S.

Hurricane watches were issued from North Carolina to New Jersey and warnings for the entire North Carolina coast to the Virginia border. Maximum sustained winds for Irene were still at 185 km/h but forecasters expect it to gather strength as it hits the warm Atlantic waters.

Storm expected Saturday in North Carolina
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey also made emergency declarations to free up storm recovery resources. In Virginia, the U.S. Navy ordered the Second Fleet to leave Norfolk Naval Station to keep ships safe from the approaching hurricane.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said it is expected to dump from 15 to 30 centimetres of rain on the islands.

Irene's core was forecast to continue moving over the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday before heading north toward the United States, where it sent thousands of vacationers fleeing and threatened up to 65 million people from the Carolinas to New England. It would be the strongest to strike the East Coast in seven years.

Hurricane watches were issued from North Carolina to New Jersey. Irene's projected path has it bringing misery to Washington, New York and Boston.

The former chief of the National Hurricane Center called it one of his three worst possible situations.

"One of my greatest nightmares was having a major hurricane go up the whole Northeast Coast," Max Mayfield, the centre's retired director, told The Associated Press.

He said the damage will probably climb into billions of dollars: "This is going to have an impact on the United States economy."

It is a massive storm, with tropical-force winds extending almost twice as far as normal, about the same size as Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

"It's not going to be a Katrina, but it's serious," said MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel. "People have to take it seriously."

Irene was expected to come ashore Saturday in North Carolina with 185 km/h winds and could dump a foot of rain.

Hurricanes are rare in the U.S. Northeast because the region's cooler seas tend to weaken storms as they approach, and they have to take a narrow track to strike New York without first hitting other parts of the coast and weakening there.

On Thursday in North Carolina, three coastal counties issued evacuation orders covering more than 200,000 people, including tourists and full-time residents.

Source: CBC News