Hurricane Irene slams US, millions brace for storm’s fury (Lead)
August 27th, 2011 - 9:41 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, Aug 27 (IANS) A somewhat weakened but still ferocious, Hurricane Irene slammed into the North Carolina coast Saturday, starting its northward march up the US east coast threatening some 65 million Americans in its path.
The massive Category 1 hurricane made landfall near Cape Lookout around 7.30 a.m. with sustained winds of around 136 km per hour (85 miles per hour), thrashing sand and water in every direction, CNN reported.
Thousands of people in North Carolina were without power as reports of damage from what President Barack Obama warned could be a “hurricane of historic proportions” started filtering in.
Obama cut short his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard island in Massachusetts by a day and returned to the White House Friday night before Irene’s northward run threatened to cause trouble all the way up to Boston this weekend.
Obama has signed emergency declarations for Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local efforts.
Parts of New York City, the nation’s most populous city, including sea-level lower Manhattan, braced for major flooding and authorities ordered an unprecedented mandatory evacuation in parts of “the city that never sleeps”.
The order affects some 370,000 residents of low-lying areas of all five of the city’s boroughs, including Queens, home to the largest concentration of Indian Americans in the US with a population of over 130,000.
Five New York City hospitals also had to evacuate patients.
“The low-lying coastal areas that will be endangered most by storm surge include Coney Island and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens, South Beach, Midland Beach, and other low-lying areas on Staten Island, Battery Park City in Manhattan, and some small sections of the Bronx,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Authorities warned of widespread and prolonged power outages, flash flooding and storm surges that could flood low-lying communities and possibly inundate subway systems.
The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority and New Jersey Transit shut down their systems and five airports in metropolitan New York closed to arriving flights at noon Saturday.
Various airlines cancelled flights to and from the region starting Saturday.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
- Americans brace for 'hurricane of historic proportions' - Aug 27, 2011
- US East Coast braces for monstrous hurricane - Aug 26, 2011
- US mobilises 6,500 troops for hurricane relief - Aug 28, 2011
- Hurricane Irene leaves a million US homes without power - Aug 28, 2011
- Hurricane Irene makes landfall in North Carolina, killing 3 - Aug 27, 2011
- Hurricane Irene kills 18, impacts millions in US - Aug 29, 2011
- Obama declares emergency for New York ahead of hurricane(Lead) - Aug 27, 2011
- Weakened Irene causes little damage in New York - Aug 28, 2011
- Hurricane Irene weakens slightly as it marches toward North Carolina - Aug 26, 2011
- Hurricane Irene slams Big Apple; leaves 3 mn powerless in US - Aug 28, 2011
- Hurricane Irene kills four in US - Aug 28, 2011
- Hurricane Irene hits US coastal areas - Aug 27, 2011
- US East Coast braces for Hurricane Earl - Sep 03, 2010
- Hurricane Irene may be America's costliest catastrophe - Aug 31, 2011
- Obama inspects damage by hurricane Irene - Sep 05, 2011
Tags: barack obama, battery park city, broad channel, cape lookout, category 1 hurricane, cnn, emergency declarations, hurricane irene, lower manhattan, mandatory evacuation, manhattan beach, mayor michael bloomberg, michael bloomberg, midland beach, new york city hospitals, populous city, sand and water, storm surge, vineyard island, york connecticut