Seven people, including two children and a surfer, were dead and the East Coast was a solid wall of red hurricane warnings Saturday as Hurricane Irene began lashing the Virginia coast on its way to what forecasters and authorities warned could be a catastrophic run north.

Neighbors said a woman came running out screaming, “Where’s my baby?!” after high winds knocked a tree into an apartment complex Saturday afternoon in Newport News, Va. Rescue crews searched for several hours before finding the boy’s body.

Later in the afternoon, a tree fell on a car in Brunswick County, killing an occupant, Virginia State Police Sgt. Michelle Anaya told the News & Messenger of Northern Virginia.

Police in Goldsboro, N.C., said a child died in a wreck after the car the child was in crashed at an intersection where Irene had knocked out power to the traffic lights. Several other people were taken to a hospital after the crash around 4 p.m. ET, Police Capt. Chad Calloway told The Associated Press.

Three other people were confirmed dead in North Carolina: one who died in a vehicle crash in Pitt County, a man who died after a branch fell on him in Nash County, and a man who died of a heart attack Thursday in Onslow County as he was trying to board up his home.

In Florida, the Volusia County Beach Patrol confirmed that a surfer was killed Saturday when he was knocked off his board at New Smyrna Beach, where surfers flocked to take advantage of 10-foot waves kicked up in the wake of Irene.

“It appears he went over a wave and might have gone head first into the ground,”