Washington, August 28: Hurricane Irene has begun to hammer New York City in the United States, with the city’s mayor warning of a grave danger and a rapid deterioration of conditions.
“Conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference as the massive hurricane Irene began to hit the city late on Saturday, Reuters reported.
“The storm is now finally hitting New York City. The winds will increase, the rain will increase and the tidal surge will increase,” Bloomberg added.
The mayor had earlier ordered a mandatory evacuation of 370,000 people living near the water’s edge.
However, at the Saturday press conference Bloomberg announced, “The time for evacuation is over. Everyone should now go inside and stay inside,” because the edge of hurricane Irene has reached the city.
Apart from New York’s three major airports, officials have shut down the city’s subway, which is America’s largest subway system carrying about 7 million people on average weekdays.
A September 1821 hurricane raised tides by 13 feet in an hour and flooded all of Manhattan south of Canal Street — an area that now includes the US’s financial capital.
Irene, which is a 930-km wide storm, has unleashed winds of 130 kph.
The hurricane would be the strongest to strike the eastern US seaboard in seven years.
At least eight people including an 11-year-old boy have died in storm-related incidents along the Eastern Seaboard.
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency to free up resources, as authorities all the way to New England urged residents in low-lying areas to gather supplies and move to a safe location.
The giant storm is expected to affect at least 65 million people; and real estate experts are forecasting damages in the billions of dollars of potential insurance payouts.
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency says damages could exceed most previous storms because so many people live along the US East Coast and property values are high.
——Agencies