Workers board up a shop in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on Friday. (AFP)

Nags Head (North Carolina), Aug. 26 (AP): Some 65 million people along the densely populated US east coast waited warily today for a dangerous hurricane that could inflict billions in damages in an arc from Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

Rain carried by Hurricane Irene’s outer bands was already reaching the southeastern part of North Carolina said National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Zouzias. But the main thrust of the hurricane was not expected in North Carolina until sometime tomorrow.

Irene would be the strongest to strike the East Coast in seven years.

By late this morning, Irene remained a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds near 169kmph. Little change in strength was expected by the time Irene reaches the North Carolina coast tomorrow, the National Hurricane Centre said.

Speaking from his vacation rental on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, also in Irene’s path, President Barack Obama urged Americans in the path of Hurricane Irene to heed instructions from state and local officials, especially if directed to evacuate.

“I cannot stress this highly enough, if you are in the projected path of this hurricane you have to take precautions now,” the President said, adding that all indications point to Irene being a historic hurricane.

The U.S. hurricane warning area was expanded to covered the coast from North Carolina north to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, which is just south of New York city. A hurricane watch extended even farther north and included Long Island, and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts.

North Carolina was just first in line along the Eastern Seaboard — home to some of the nation’s most heavily populated areas and some of its priciest real estate. Besides major cities, sprawling suburban bedroom communities, ports, airports, highway networks, cropland and mile after mile of beachfront neighbourhoods are in harm’s way.