Hurricane Irene space photos

Hurricane Irene space photos - Hurricane Irene crash onto a beach in Ocean City, Md., Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011, as Hurricane Irene heads toward the Maryland coast and slammed into the East Coast on Saturday, killing at least six people, cutting off power to nearly one million and leaving a trail of destruction as it continued its path north.

The storm made landfall early Saturday morning on North Carolina's Outer Banks, according to Jeff Masters at Weather Underground, where winds as high as 110 mph ripped shingles and siding off houses.

In Virginia, falling trees -- one on a house and another one a car -- killed two people, the Associated Press reports.

In anticipation of Irene's arrival, Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, ordered the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people from low-lying areas. In an unprecedented move, the city's public transportation system was shut down. By Saturday afternoon, parts of New York looked like a ghost town.

Hurricane warnings have been lifted south of Cape Fear, N.C., according to the National Weather Service, but much of the East Coast -- from as far south as Surf City, N.C. to as far north as Sagamore Beach, M.A. -- remains on high alert.An Expedition 28 crew member aboard the International Space Station captured this image of Hurricane Irene off the east coast of the United States on Friday, August 26, 2011, around 4:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. GMT).