New Yorkers brace themselves as hurricane Irene hits US coast

Hurricane Irene is now a category one storm with sustained winds of 85mph. Photograph: NOAA/Getty Images

Hurricane Irene hit the US east coast early on Saturday with driving rain and winds of 85mph. As it began its journey up the eastern seaboard, towards New York City and New England, more than 2 million people in low-lying and coastal areas were told to evacuate. Millions more were preparing for days of hurricane-force winds, rain, power cuts and disruption in its wake.

When it made landfall at Cape Lookout, on North Carolina's Outer Banks, Irene was weaker than had been forecast. The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami downgraded the storm from a category two to a category one overnight as it weakened from 100mph winds.

The centre forecast further weakening of the storm over the next 24 hours, but warned winds would still be at near-hurricane speeds and the storm would remain large and powerful as it headed towards the mid-Atlantic coast on Saturday night and southern New England on Sunday.

"The hazards are still the same," hurricane specialist Mike Brennan said. "The emphasis for this storm is on its size and duration, not necessarily how strong the strongest winds are."

In New York City, where Irene is expected to arrive on Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a strongly worded warning that the hurricane remained dangerous despite the weakening wind speeds.

"The greatest danger to us here is from a storm surge," he said. "There is no evidence that the forecast for that is changing."

Barack Obama has been visiting the Fema national response co-ordination centre in Washington, where about 50 staff are working on the federal response. He told staff: "This is obviously going to be touch and go."

At the Fema briefing, Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Centre, said they did not expect Irene to strengthen as it makes its way up the coast, but that the size of the storm meant that it still carried heavy risks. He also warned of the risk of tornadoes on the outer bands of the storm. However, he emphasised that flooding and storm surges remained the main danger, with low-lying resorts in Delaware among the areas most at risk.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for 370,000 New Yorkers who live mostly in low-lying areas, and for the first time in history the entire public transport system will be closed down, from noon on Saturday (5pm BST). But with only 70,000 places at the 100 evacuation centres, many residents are asking where they are expected to go if they leave their homes.

Some 70,000 vulnerable residents, including hospital patients and those in care homes, have already been evacuated.

Speaking at Coney Island, Brooklyn, one of several Zone A areas where mandatory evacuations have been ordered, Bloomberg said evacuees should leave immediately.

"No matter what the track is, no matter how much it weakened, this is a life-threatening storm here," he said, adding: "Staying behind is dangerous. Staying behind is foolish – it is against the law."

Several New York landmarks are under the evacuation order, including the Battery Park City area. Beaches have been closed for the weekend, as have most cultural institutions, and sporting events have been cancelled. Construction is stopping throughout the city, and workers at the site of the World Trade Centre were dismantling a crane and securing equipment. The five main New York City area airports are also scheduled to close at noon.

Hurricane-force winds from Irene first arrived in the US at dawn, and the eye passed over the southern tip of the Outer Banks an hour later. At the seaside resort town of Nags Head, in Dare County, where evacuations began on Thursday, winds whipped heavy rain, waves obscured the beach and the surf crashed up against the backs of houses and hotels.

The storm's outer bands of wind and rain lashed the North Carolina coast, leaving about 200,000 people without power, according to Progress Energy. Authorities further up the coast pleaded with residents to evacuate.

With an estimated 55 million people in the storm's path, authorities have issued hurricane watches and declared states of emergency for Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New England, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

According to the latest advice from the NHC, an "extremely dangerous" storm tide will raise water levels by as much as 5ft to 9ft in warning areas in North Carolina, and by as much as 4ft to 8ft up through Virginia to Cape Cod. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by "large, destructive and life-threatening waves".

The centre also warned of rainfall between 6in and 10in, with isolated maximums of 15in across affected regions including eastern New York, causing flash floods.

But not everyone on the coast was heeding the warnings. At the Red Hook Lobster Pound, opposite the New York harbour, owner Ralph Gorham had about $26,000 (£16,000) worth of Maine lobster stored in a refrigerator, plus a tank filled with live ones.

"I'm staying," he told the Associated Press. "But if we get, say, a few feet of water in here, it'll be a huge loss."

Mayor Bloomberg previously came under fire after a storm in December when officials were unprepared for 2ft of snow. Subway trains, buses and ambulances got stuck in the snow for hours and streets were impassable for days.

But with Irene approaching, the New York authorities are not taking any chances. Transit officials said services cannot run once sustained winds reach 39mph and they need at least eight hours to move trains and equipment to safety. The subway system will not reopen until at least Monday, after pumps remove water from flooded stations.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/27/hurricane-irene-hits-us-coast