Hurricane Irene slammed New York today with strong winds and heavy rain after battering the eastern coast of the US where it left at least 10 people dead and millions without power.
An emergency was declared in eight affected states on the eastern coast even as the hurricane monitors said windspeeds had diminished as the storm moved north.
The US President, Mr Barack Obama, himself was on top of the things personally, monitoring the preparedness for hurricane Irene, the first to hit the Big Apple in decades.
America’s economic nerve centre New York virtually shut down as New Yorkers prepared for the onslaught of violent winds and flooding.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said time was already up to evacuate and those still in the city must take precautions.
“At this point, if you haven’t evacuated, our suggestion is you stay where you are... Nature is a lot stronger than the rest of us,” he said.
The National Hurricane Center said windspeeds had diminished as the storm moved north capping off at 75 miles an hour, slightly above the minimum needed to consider a Category I hurricane. However, weather experts said the relentless rain still made it very dangerous.
“Even though they are saying that the storm is quote-on-quote weakening, hurricane winds are hurricane winds,” Mr John Searing, the deputy commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, said just before daybreak as he prepared to deal with the damage.
“Whether they say its 80 miles or 75 miles an hour, what’s the physical difference in that?” he was quoted as saying by New York Times.
Mr Obama, who has declared State of Emergency in eight States, held two conference calls with his top national team.
Cities in several States had declared curfew and police were not allowing people to come out on the streets.
Emergency shelter homes were opened in cities across the eastern coast so that people affected by the hurricane can take shelter.
“The President asked to be kept apprised of developments throughout the night and said that he wants the group to re-convene tomorrow morning,” the White House said.
As almost all airports were shut down due to precautionary measures, thousands of flights have been cancelled.
The flightaware.com website, which tracks airport arrivals and departures, estimated that 8,337 flights would be cancelled during the week-end, mainly US domestic trips. It warned that the figure would rise.
Air India flights from New Delhi and Mumbai have also been cancelled today from both the airports in New York and New Jersey, an airlines official said.
All the Hindu temples and gurdwaras in the region, which are normally thronged by Indian Americans on Sundays, have been closed as a precautionary measure.
Metro services were suspended in several cities including New York, Washington and Boston.
Reports said at least 10 had died in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
Mr Bloomberg had asked people earlier to abide by evacuation orders and be prepared for the upcoming “big storm’’.
“Be prepared. Have some food, flashlight, batteries, extra water, the source of things that will help you get through in case particularly power is out for some period,” Ms Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security said.
Defence Secretary, Mr Leon Panetta, issued a prepare-to-deploy order for 6,500 active duty troops from all the services to support hurricane relief efforts if ordered.