Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, Aug 27, 2011 (AFP) - Hurricane Irene blasted ashore in North Carolina on Saturday, unleashing floods and downing trees and power lines as it moved north on a track to batter major US cities.
At least two people were killed in storm-related incidents, officials said. With sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) an hour, Irene was a weakened but still massive category one storm when it made landfall at 8:00 am (1200 GMT) at Cape Lookout near the southern end of a chain of barrier islands. Sea water surged through beach communities on the barrier islands, ripping out piers and flooding vacation homes. The torrential rains and high winds shut down major highways, airports, and left 300,000 people without power in eastern North Carolina. One man died of a heart attack while boarding up his windows, while another crashed his car into a tree, Tom Mather, a public affairs officer with the North Carolina emergency management office, told AFP. Local television station WRAL-TV reported, citing the local sheriff, that another man was killed in rural Nash County when a tree branch fell on him as he was feeding his animals. Hundreds of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from low-lying areas from North Carolina to New York, and officials issued repeated warnings that Irene was still a dangerous hurricane and was not to be taken lightly.
The densely populated eastern seaboard, home to more than 65 million people, was under threat of flooding, storm surges, power outages and destruction that experts said could cost up to $12 billion. "This is going to be a very serious storm, no matter what the track is, no matter how much it weakens. This is a life threatening storm to people here," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Bloomberg has ordered an unprecedented mass evacuation and the rare closure of the city's extensive subway system, which began when the final trains and buses left depots at 1500 GMT. US President Barack Obama has cut short his summer vacation and returned to Washington. On Saturday, he visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency's operations center in the capital. Although weakened, Irene was forecast "to remain near hurricane strength as it moves near or over the mid-Atlantic states and approaches New England," the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said at 1500 GMT.
In North Carolina, Governor Bev Perdue said Irene had closed 10 major roads and breached two waste water treatment plants, although the damage assessments were preliminary. A local power company announced that 300,000 people were without electricity. "There are flash flood warnings throughout the east," Perdue said. "We are concerned still about the storm surge after the rain begins to abate." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged residents to abide by local evacuation orders, warning the "window of preparation is quickly closing." "Even if you're not in an evacuation zone, please know this is a big storm that covers a lot of territory. Be prepared," she told CNN. Bloomberg warned New Yorkers on Saturday not to be deceived by the storm's weakening, urging the 370,000 residents in low-lying areas under evacuation orders not to wait "until there are gale-force wind and rain to leave." "Let's stop thinking this is something that we can play with. Staying behind is dangerous. Staying behind is foolish. And it's against the law. The time to leave is right now," he said.
Beyond the city transit shutdown, all major New York area airports were to close at noon (1600 GMT), officials said. New York state meanwhile said major links into the city would be cut if winds exceeded 60 miles per hour, as predicted, and authorities called up 900 National Guard troops and 2,500 power workers to prepare for emergency repair work, the largest ever deployment. Neighboring New Jersey on Thursday ordered 750,000 people out of the Cape May area. The Miami-based NHC said Irene would likely remain a hurricane as it passed over or near the mid-Atlantic Saturday night. Irene's approach stirred painful memories of Hurricane Katrina, which smashed into the Gulf Coast in 2005, stranding thousands of people in New Orleans and overwhelming poorly prepared local and federal authorities. The popular North Carolina beach resort of Kill Devil Hills was a ghost town Saturday, as forecasters predicted up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain in some places. Further north in Washington, residents have packed into supermarkets to stock up on emergency supplies, cleaning out shelves of bottled water and batteries.
Hurricanes are rare in the northeastern United States -- the last major hurricane to hit New York was Gloria in 1985. The US military said up to 101,000 National Guard soldiers were available if needed and designated military bases in three states as staging areas. Chuck Watson, research director at Kinetic Analysis, which does computer modeling of predicted storm damage, estimated $11 billion or $12 billion from Irene in a "worst-case scenario". On New York's Rockaway Beach, Katie Richardson, 27, said on Friday that she and her friends -- all in town from Texas -- would make the most of their trip to the Big Apple, even if the city shuts down. "We're going to ride this out with granola bars and Jameson," she vowed.
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