Hurricane Irene could strike New Jersey as a category 2 hurricane early Sunday in what the New Jersey climatologist says could be the "most devastating storm to ever hit the state."

As of 11 a.m., current forecasts call for Irene to potentially make landfall in New Jersey (see interactive map below) sometime early Sunday, after impacting the North Carolina coast.

National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said in a conference call that though plenty of uncertainty still exists with regard the intensity and track of Irene when it reaches New Jersey, the storm could approach the state as a low end category 2 hurricane, which pack winds from 96-110 miles per hour.



"The last month of rainfall from southern New Jersey to New England has been much above normal," Read said. "At a very minimum we'll get 5-10 inches of rain across the area. You're going to get a lot of treefall out of that and a lot of flooding out of that."

David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University, said if the storm's track remains the same, the damage could be immense.

"If the current forecast track holds we may be talking about the most devastating to hit the state on record," he said. "It’s a very serious situation. I don’t want to invoke panic but anyone who doesn’t treat this with the utmost respect could put themselves in danger."

Robinson said in a worst case scenario, the storm could bring the record-breaking rains of Hurricane Floyd, the statewide 70 mile per hour wind gusts that occurred in March of 2010 and the coastal destruction of the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, which devastated much of the New Jersey shore.

"Anyone can paint the worst case scenario. No one is saying they’ll all come into fruition," he said. "But you have to understand, we are very vulnerable."

Gov. Christie said he was weighing whether to order a mandatory evacuation of the shore areas. For now, he said people on a barrier island and any other beach community from Sandy Hook to Cape May should begin preparing now to leave.

"We are not overreacting, we need to be ready for this," Christie said.

Charlie McKenna, director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, urged residents to begin buying supplies, including bottled water and nonperishable canned goods.

He said residents should also have first-aid kits, flashlights and batteries on hand.

More information can be found at http://ready.nj.gov/.

Star-Ledger reporter Ginger Gibson contributed to this article.

Stephen Stirling is a New Jersey weather fanatic. He welcomes suggestions for weather-related stories, issues and topics. Drop him a note at sstirling@starledger.com or follow him on Twitter for live updates.

View Irene Track 8.25 in a larger map

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