hurricane irene is heading toward the east coast. threatening north carolina to maine. the president has already declared an emergency for north carolina which means federal agencies can coordinate disaster relief efforts in that state. forecasters project irene will make landfall in the outer banks on saturday and move up the coast over the weekend. right now irene is leaving the bahamas. the entire eastern seaboard are going to see rain and flooding. reporter: strong hurricanes in new york are extremely rare but they do happen. south carolina, georgia and florida should be spared. but the effects of the storm have been felt in south florida. irene churned up the ocean water causing eight injuries and one near drowning. a wind gust of 53 miles per hour was recorded by a meteorologist. and here is the very latest on irene. it is a powerful hurricane. it is now a category 3 hour 3 hurricane. it s still a category 3 as it moves into the carolinas. as we move into saturday