Hurricane Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, Saturday as a weaker but still massive Category One storm, US government forecasters said.
As its eye came ashore, Irene packed sustained winds of 85 miles an hour (140 kilometers), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
After North Carolina, the hurricane was forecast to churn up the eastern seaboard towards Washington, New York and Boston.
The densely populated corridor, home to more than 65 million people, was under threat of flooding, storm surges, power outages and destruction that experts said could cost up to $12 billion.
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