East Coast Prepares for Hurricane; New York, Washington DC could be Affected

Brace for impact:

"Very large storm" seen moving up U.S. Atlantic seaboard

* Washington, New York could feel storm's impact

* Turks-Caicos, Bahamas warned of "dangerous" storm surge (Updates with Irene weakening, adds Bahamas, Carolina detail)

By Neil Hartnell

NASSAU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The United States put its eastern seaboard on alert for Hurricane Irene on Tuesday as the powerful storm barreled up from the Caribbean on a path that could hit the U.S. coast on the weekend.

Even as the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season pounded the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas with battering winds and rain and dangerous storm surge, coastal residents in Florida and the Carolinas were preparing for Irene's approach.

"I pray God's blessing on us all," Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said as he urged residents of his Atlantic archipelago nation southeast of Florida to take shelter.

Irene is the ninth named storm of the busy June-through-November season [ID:nN1E77M1W4] and looks set to be the first hurricane to hit the United States since Ike pounded the Texas coast in 2008.

It weakened on Tuesday to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of intensity, but could strengthen into a major Category 3 storm with winds over 111 miles per hour (178 km per hour) by Thursday, the Hurricane Center forecasters said.

Please bookmark!