A ferry from Ocracoke Island arrives in Hatteras, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. A visitor evacuation is underway on Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Irene approaches the Carolinas and the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
A ferry from Ocracoke Island arrives in Hatteras, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. A visitor evacuation is underway on Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Irene approaches the Carolinas and the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
A ferry from Ocracoke Island delivers passengers to Hatteras, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. A visitor evacuation is underway on Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Irene approaches the Carolinas and the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
A ferry from from Ocracoke Island delivers passengers in Hatteras, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. A visitor evacuation is underway on Ocracoke Island as Hurricane Irene approaches the Carolinas and the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Graphic shows the current location of Hurricane Irene
A setting sun is seen across the Croatan Sound near Manteo, N.C., Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. Hurricane Irene threatens the North Carolina Outer Banks as it moves up the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
HATTERAS, North Carolina (AP) ? Tourists began evacuating from a tiny barrier island off North Carolina on Wednesday as Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas with the East Coast in its sights.
So far, things were going smoothly, said Tommy Hutcherson, owner of the Ocracoke Variety Store on Ocracoke Island. Cars had lined up at gas pumps to top off before leaving ahead of Irene, which had winds near 120 mph (193 kph) as of Wednesday afternoon.
Irene is expected to get stronger over warm ocean waters and could become a Category 4 storm with winds of at least 131 mph (211 kph) by Thursday.
The evacuation 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.
As Irene churned in the Caribbean, tourists scurried from hotels in the Bahamian capital of Nassau to catch flights off the island before the airport's expected afternoon closure. Officials as far north as Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the U.S. also were getting ready for Irene.
The first ferry to leave Ocracoke Island in North Carolina arrived just before 5:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) in nearby Hatteras with around a dozen cars on board.
The 16-mile-long (25-kilometer-long) barrier island is accessible only by boats that can carry no more than 50 cars at a time. It is home to about 800 year-round residents and a tourist population that swells into the thousands when vacationers rent rooms and cottages. Tourists were told to evacuate Wednesday. Island residents were told to get out on Thursday.
Federal officials have warned Irene could cause flooding, power outages or worse all along the East Coast as far north as Maine, even if it stays offshore. The projected path has gradually shifted to the east, and Irene could make landfall anywhere from South Carolina to Massachusetts over the weekend.
As of 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) Wednesday, Irene was centered about 250 miles (402 kilometers) southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas and was moving northwest near 12 mph (19 kph).
Speaking Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said people as far north as New England should be ready for the storm. When asked about concerns preparing the Northeast for a hurricane, which is uncommon in that part of the country, Fugate cited Tuesday's earthquake that rattled the East Coast.
"It's a reminder that we don't always get to pick the next disaster," Fugate said. During a conference call Wednesday, he also urged people to listen to local officials, saying that many times "evacuation orders are given when the skies are blue."
Irene had already wrought destruction across the Caribbean, giving a glimpse of what the storm might bring to the Eastern Seaboard.
In Puerto Rico, tens of thousands were without power, and one woman died after trying to cross a swollen river in her car. Hundreds were displaced by flooding in the Dominican Republic, forced to take refuge in schools and churches.
In Cuba, the storm sent waves crashing over a seawall in Baracoa, causing ankle-deep flooding in parts and damaging some sidewalks.
Hurricane conditions were already present in the southeastern Bahamas, forecasters said. The capital of Nassau buzzed with preparations Wednesday, as the government and some resorts set up emergency shelters. Many visitors scrambled to get off the island, waiting in long lines to catch planes before the airport closed.
It's been more than seven years since a major hurricane, considered a Category 3 with winds of at least 111 mph (179 kph), hit the East Coast. Hurricane Jeanne came ashore on Florida's east coast in 2004.
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Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Nassau, Bahamas, Tom Breen in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Michael Biesecker in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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