US east coast prepares for Hurricane Irene

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NORTH CAROLINA: Millions of people on the US east coast prepared Friday for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, a massive storm authorities fear will cause widespread flooding and power outages across the populous region.

Officials from North Carolina to New York declared states of emergency and tens of thousands of people were ordered to higher ground as Irene, a category two hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, raced toward the US mainland.

Irene is forecast to make landfall on Saturday at North Carolina and score a direct hit on New York City on Sunday with winds of up to 153 kilometers (93 miles) an hour.

Irene earlier tore through the Bahamas, a small country of 29 islands and hundreds of cays southeast of Florida, destroying home and uprooting trees. While there are no known casualties, local officials warned that assessments from the outlying regions were still coming in.

Earlier however the storm killed people in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. US state and federal authorities have been busy warning the 65 million people living in the path of the storm that they should expect heavy rain, flooding and possible power outages.

At 0900 GMT Friday the center of Irene was located off the Atlantic coast of Florida about 675 kilometers (420 miles) southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.

Irene had weakened slightly, with winds of 175 kilometers (110 miles) per hour, though forecasters expected it would regain strength over the next 24 hours. The storm was moving towards the north at 22 kilometers (14 miles) per hour.

Irene will be accompanied by an "extremely dangerous" storm surge that could raise water levels by as much as 11 feet (3.4 meters), the NHC said. In New York, officials fear this will cause widespread flooding, including damage to the subway system. (AFP)