Officials in the Bahamas say that Hurricane Irene has caused some damage as the powerful storm makes its way across the island chain. But the officials said that so far there have been no reports of any injuries or deaths. The National Hurricane Centre said on Wednesday that Irene is hitting the southeastern Bahamas hard. The storm's centre is forecast to move across over the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday. The NHC said, the storm's sustained winds have reached 195 kilometers an hour making it a Category Three storm on a five-point scale. It says, Irene could become a Category Four hurricane by Thursday. The storm is forecast to head towards the eastern coast of the United States later in the week. National Hurricane Centre Director, Bill Read, says tropical storm force winds could approach the U.S. state of North Carolina as soon as early Saturday morning. Evacuations are already under way in parts of the state. Read says the storm could become a big threat on Sunday to the northeast United States, including New York's Long Island. 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. Forecasters said, the storm is about 460 kilometers southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, moving northwest at 19 kilometers per hour. 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 335 kilometers from the centre. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to carefully consider the risk of traveling to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos due to the hurricane.