Atlantic City Braces for Hurricane Irene as Models Shift West

Hurricane models began shifting the track of dangerous Hurricane Irene west on Thursday morning as the storm makes a beeline towards the gambling Mecca of Atlantic City.

Irene is forecast to still be a category 2 storm by the time it brushes the East Coast resort city during the early morning hours of Sunday.  While landfall could occur along the North Carolina Outer Banks, current forecast models have the storm running parallel along the East Coast of the United States during what is typically one of the busiest travel periods leading up to the Labor Day weekend.

The last major tropical cyclone to cause significant damage to the Atlantic City area was Hurricane Donna in 1960.  That category 2 storm caused a surge of up to 6 feet.

One of the worst hurricanes on record to have struck Atlantic City was the 1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane with a storm surge of over 9 feet.  Hundreds of homes were destroyed and the boardwalk washed away.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com