East Coast on Alert for Hurricane Irene

The East Coast is a busy place these days.

Still shaken by Tuesday's earthquake, the region braced Wednesday for Hurricane Irene, which threatened to wreck the plans of weekend beachgoers and disrupt the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The powerful hurricane was expected to dump several inches of rain Saturday as it churns along the Atlantic Coast.

And although it was still hundreds of miles away, meteorologists said it could produce stormy and treacherous conditions along the beaches of North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey as it passes.

Forecasters said they expected the worst Saturday night, as the storm center passes off the Virginia capes. By noon Sunday, Irene is expected to be off Atlantic City, N.J., and accelerating north into cooler water.