Authorities along the densely populated east coast of the United States have begun evacuating visitors at popular beach resort areas in preparation for Hurricane Irene.

Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for much of the North Carolina coast Thursday, as the powerful storm pounded The Bahamas with winds as high as 185 kilometers per hour.

There have been reports of widespread damage on two southern islands of The Bahamas, but no injuries have been reported.

The storm is expected to strengthen on Thursday and turn northward off the southeast coast of the U.S. by early Friday. It is then forecast to move up the eastern coast.

In Virginia, the U.S. Navy ordered its ships out to sea, where it said they can better weather such storms.

At last report, forecasters said Irene, a Category Three storm on a five-point scale, was about 105 kilometers east-northeast of Nassau, Bahamas, moving northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.

Irene is the first hurricane to seriously threaten the United States in three years. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says that emergency personnel are preparing all along the coast.

Authorities say Irene could cause flooding in the U.S. mid-Atlantic and New England regions, where soil is saturated from recent heavy rains. They say Irene's tropical storm-force winds extend 410 kilometers from the center.