Hurricane Irene claimed the first two lives in the US on her vicious journey up the East Coast Saturday as she made landfall in North Carolina earlier in the day, DPA reported.
According to the Raleigh, North Carolina, News and Observer, one man was killed by a falling tree limb and another man died of a heart attack.
Earlier this week, Irene was blamed for three deaths in the Dominican Republic.
The newspaper quoted emergency management officials about the North Carolina deaths. The ages of the victims were not available.
One man was walking outside his home in Nash County when the limb struck him mid Saturday morning. The second man in Onslow County was putting plywood over the windows of his home when he suffered the heart attack.
Another man is reported missing along the Cape Fear River, the newspaper reported.