Wilmington, North Carolina - The United States urged 55 million people on its eastern seaboard to prepare for Hurricane Irene on Friday as the powerful storm packing high winds and heavy rain bore down on the North Carolina coast.
Tens of thousands of coastal residents were evacuating, starting in eastern North Carolina, where Irene is due to make its first US landfall on Saturday, although wind gusts and downpours will be felt there from Friday.
Forecasters expect the menacing broad hurricane to rake up the densely populated US east coast starting on Saturday, extending on Sunday to New York, America's most populous city with more than 8 million residents, and beyond.
“This is a serious hurricane,” US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on a conference call with government emergency officials and forecasters.
National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said Irene, which will be the first significant hurricane to affect the populous US Northeast in decades, would lash the Atlantic seaboard with tropical storm-force winds and a “huge swath of rain” from the Carolinas to New England.
Irene weakened slightly early on Friday - to a Category 2 hurricane from a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale - but still was carrying winds of up to 105 miles per hour (165 kph).
At 11 a.m (1500 GMT), its center was about 330 miles (530 km) south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, moving north.
Coastal communities from the Carolinas to New England, stocked up on food and water and tried to secure homes, vehicles and boats. States, cities, ports, hospitals, oil refineries and nuclear plants activated emergency plans.
“We've been through about four or five (hurricanes), but this looks like it'll be the worst,” Henry Burke, a vacation home owner in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, told Reuters.
'BIG, BAD STORM'
Federal and state officials urged coastal residents to heed evacuation orders and to get ready. “The window of preparation is quickly closing,” Napolitano said.
“We are prepared for the worst, praying for the best, North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue told CNN. “This is a big, bad storm,” she added.
“Anyone who thinks this is just a normal hurricane and they can stick it out is being ... selfish and stupid,” Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley told CNN.
The US capital, Washington, was also expected to feel wind and rain impact. Extensive flight and rail service cancellations were expected.
FEMA chief Fugate warned millions on the eastern seaboard to expect power outages “for days,” flash flooding and strong winds well inland from the coast.
Hurricane warnings and watches were in effect from North Carolina northward as far as Massachusetts. Cities covered by those alerts included New York and Boston.
EQECAT, a company that helps the insurance industry predict disaster damage, said Irene's forecast track represented “one of the worst-case scenarios” for the United States. It was one of the biggest storms to threaten the northeast in decades.
Wall Street scrambled to raise cash into early next week in case Irene causes major a disruption in trading and for thousands of traders who live in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The repurchase market, a major source of cash for Wall Street to fund trades and operations, showed an increase in interest rates on loans that mature on Monday, a sign markets are worried there could be disruptions, if only temporary.
NORTHEAST CITIES PREPARE
The Miami-based hurricane center said Irene could strengthen as it closed on North Carolina and was expected to be between Category 2 and 3 on its first landfall there.
Coastal evacuations were under way in North Carolina and were ordered for beach resorts in Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. Airlines began to cut flights at eastern airports.
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have declared emergencies.
Even if the center of Irene stays offshore as it tracks up the coast, its heavy winds and rain could lash cities like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York and knock out power, forecasters said.
Irene will be the first hurricane to hit the US mainland since Ike pounded Texas in 2008.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city was bracing for storm conditions and flooding starting on Sunday.
He urged residents of vulnerable areas to move to safety on Friday because the mass transit system, the nation's biggest with 8 million passengers a day, may have to shut if flooding or high winds endanger its buses, subways and commuter trains.
Many New Yorkers in the densely packed city do not have cars, so mass transit could be vital in evacuations.
Long Island, the populous area that extends about 100 miles (160 km) east into the Atlantic Ocean from New York City, could be hit hard if Irene stays on its current track.
In Washington, Irene forced the postponement of Sunday's dedication ceremony for the new memorial honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Tens of thousands of people, including President Barack Obama, had been expected to attend.
Flooding from Irene killed at least one person in Puerto Rico and two in the Dominican Republic. The storm knocked out power in the Bahamian capital, Nassau, and blocked roads with trees. - Reuters