Obama warns of historic hurricane

26 August 2011 Last updated at 12:02 ET

President Barack Obama has warned Hurricane Irene, currently looming off the east coast of the US, could be a “historic” storm.

Seven states from North Carolina to Connecticut have declared emergencies ahead of Irene’s arrival.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of four states.

The storm has weakened slightly to category two, with winds up to 105mph (169km/h), a strength at which it is expected to make landfall.

Irene, which has already caused havoc in the Caribbean, is expected to hit the coast of North Carolina on Saturday before barrelling northwards to Washington and New York City a day later.

‘Don’t delay’

At 11:00 EDT on Friday (15:00 GMT on Friday), the storm was 330 miles south-south-west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Mr Obama, on holiday in Martha’s vineyard, an island on the Massachusetts coast, said in a statement to reporters: “All indications point to this being a historic hurricane.”

In Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, residents prepared for evacuation

“I cannot stress this highly enough: if are in the projected path of the hurricane have to take precautions now,” he added.

“Don’t wait, don’t delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. All of us have to take this storm seriously. If are given an evacuation order, please follow it.”

Irene, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, could affect up to 65 million people in major cities along the east coast from Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston – the most densely populated corridor in America.

“We’re going to have damages, we just don’t know how bad,” Craig Fugate, head of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the Associated Press news agency.

“This is one of the largest populations that will be impacted by one storm at one time.”

Huge wind span

If it hits New York and New England at category two, it will be the region’s strongest storm since Hurricane Bob glanced off Massachusetts in 1991, and Hurricane Gloria, which caused extensive damage to New York City in 1985.

Irene boasts hurricane force winds extending 90 miles from its centre, and tropical storm winds reaching up to 290 miles from the eye.

The American Red Cross said it was preparing dozens of emergency shelters along the east coast.

States of emergency have been declared in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina.

President Obama also declared an emergency in North Carolina, a move allowing greater co-ordination between state and US federal disaster management authorities.

Heightened waves have already begun hitting North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Subway flooding fears

More than 200,000 people are evacuating from coastal parts of the state, while residents hoping to ride out the storm are stocking up on food, water and fuel.

In Washington DC, which is under a tropical storm watch, Sunday’s scheduled dedication of the newly opened memorial for Martin Luther King Jr – which President Obama had been expected to attend – has been postponed until at least September.

The power company serving the Washington area warned of “potential widespread power outages” at the weekend.

US authorities are warning of dangerous storm-surge seas, high waves and rip-tide currents up the east coast as far as Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

In the nation’s biggest city, New York hundreds of thousands of people in low-lying and beach-front areas have been advised to move where ahead of Irene’s anticipated arrival on Sunday.

Much of New York’s subway system and other infrastructure is underground and could be flooded, officials have noted.

Amtrak, America’s passenger rail service, announced it was cancelling train travel south of Washington on the east coast, and airlines predicted widespread disruptions to air travel at the weekend.

In Virginia, the US Navy ordered its Second Fleet to leave Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on Thursday morning and head out to sea.

“The forecasted destructive winds and tidal surge is too great to keep the ships in port,” said Vice Adm Daniel Holloway, the fleet’s commander.

Send r pictures and videos to rpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If have a large file can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

— ’re ’s , . : A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.