North Carolina was first to feel the potentially catastrophic wrath of Hurricane Irene.

The storm reportedly made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, bathing the state in heavy rains and hurricane force winds.

More than two million people along the East Coast were told to evacuate in anticipation of the weekend’s storm. New York City shut down the nation’s largest subway system for the first time because of a national disaster.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Irene’s Maximum sustained winds were about 85 mph, which is down from about 100 mph on Friday.

However, they warned that Irene would remain a serious threat as it makes its way toward the mid-Atlantic.

Stay tuned to BET.com for more updates on Hurricane Irene.

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