Although it is too early to talk about exact track and intensity of the storm, all forecast models are in agreement that the storm will track across the Maritimes early next week.Īlthough there is often an error of approximately 400 kilometres when you get that far out in model forecasts, there is some confidence in Irene's current track. The finale of Irene will take place in Atlantic Canada. coastline, potentially making landfall in North Carolina Saturday evening as a major Category 3 storm, and then again along the coast of New England on Sunday night. Hurricane Irene is on track to hug the U.S. Island residents were told to get out on Thursday.ĬBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe on Irene's impact on Canada: Tourists were told to evacuate Wednesday. The barrier island is home to about 800 year-round residents and a tourist population that swells into the thousands when vacationers rent rooms and cottages. It won't be easy to get thousands of people off Ocracoke Island, which is accessible only by boat. in nearby Hatteras with around a dozen cars on board.

The first ferry to leave Ocracoke Island arrived just before 5:30 a.m. The evacuation in North Carolina was a test of whether people in the crosshairs of the first major hurricane along the East Coast in years would heed orders to get out of the way. Irene's maximum sustained winds increased to near 185 km/h with additional strengthening forecast, the U.S. East Coast in its sights, in a storm also expected to hit parts of Canada. While both location and damage area show their own associations with risk perception, combining location with damage area presents a broader picture of how risk perception varies with location.Evacuations began on a tiny barrier island off North Carolina as Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday with the U.S. Overall, a majority of respondents believed that the track change increased the hazards associated with hurricanes, while the intensity reduction decreased them. However, based on intensity change, Outer Banks residents perceived themselves to be at more risk than did Inner Banks residents. Based on track change, Inner Banks residents believed they were at greater risk and had increases in their perceptions of personal risk.

Results also show that track change and intensity change influence the perception of risk. Based on residing in one of the damage areas, risk perception varies with hazards associated with hurricanes. Based on location on either the Inner Banks or Outer Banks, risk perception varies with respect to the issued advisories. Using the Chi Square Test for Association, the results show a significant difference in risk perception with location.

Hurricane Irene provides an interesting case study because of the change in track and intensity prior to landfall. This created three locational factors that were tested for their association with risk perception. The first definition used the physical location of the resident (either Inner Banks or Outer Banks), while the second definition used the anticipated impacts from the hurricane (flooding, storm surge, wind damage). Location is addressed using two definitions. Through the use of mail-out surveys of residents in Beaufort County and Dare County, North Carolina, this research explores how risk perception varies with location and addresses how changes in the characteristics of a hurricane influence the perception of their risk to hurricanes. However, two factors have generally been overlooked. The perception of risk to natural hazards is a very complex topic and there are multiple factors that influence it.

Irene hurricane track