Irene Pounds Bahamas, N. Carolina on Hurricane Watch

Hurricane Irene washed away homes in the Bahamas Thursday as its battering winds and rain headed toward the U.S. eastern seaboard including densely populated New York and New England. U.S. emergency officials have urged residents from the Carolinas north to New England to watch for Irene, now a major Category 3 storm, which is forecast to rake up the coast starting Saturday. The northern part of the North Carolina coast went on a hurricane watch in anticipation of Irene’s forecast landfall on Saturday evening in the state’s eastern Outer Banks barrier islands, which are popular with vacationers in the summer.