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U.S. East Coast on high alert ahead of Irene

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The East Coast of the United States is bracing for the worst on Friday with "historic" Hurricane Irene closing in on, threatening to wreak havoc on its projected path.

Hurricane Irene track forecast (Data as of 5 p.m. PDT Friday) [maps.google.com]

U.S. President Barack Obama declared on Friday a state of emergency for New York state, the latest of ten states along the East Coast that are now under the emergency state, which makes them eligible for federal disaster relief aid. The declaration mandates the coordination of disaster relief efforts among federal agencies, including the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which have been working around the clock to monitor the advance of Hurricane Irene.

Irene, estimated to threaten over 65 million residents living along the East Coast, is expected to landfall North Carolina early Saturday, before continuing its advance up north. It is going to hit the New York City and Long Island on Sunday.

Hurricane warnings have already been issued along a long stretch of the East Coast from North Carolina in the south to New England in the north. In addition to New York, state of emergency has also been imposed in nine other states, including North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.

Earlier Friday, the New York City issued a hurricane warning, the first since 1985, which ordered about 300,000 residents living in the coastal and low-lying areas to evacuate ahead of Irene's arrival.

"There is a very dangerous storm headed in our direction. If you don't follow this (order), people might die," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned while issuing the evacuation order.

At a press conference on Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that mandatory evacuation had been ordered in four counties, including the Atlantic County, Cape May County, Ocean County and Monmouth County. "Get the hell off the beach," Christie told those who refused to heed the order.

Authorities in Washington D.C. and some cities in Virginia have been distributing sandbags to local residents in recent days to help them get prepared for possible flooding as a result of Hurricane Irene which is expected to strike the region on Sunday.

As of Friday afternoon, Irene was causing heavy rain, high wind and rough seas along the coast of North Carolina. U.S. authorities have warned that the hurricane could bring massive flooding, power outages, property damage, and even loss of life.

Obama cut short his vacation in Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts on Friday to return to Washington a day ahead of schedule, to deal with the emergency situation related to Hurricane Irene.

The White House made the announcement shortly after Obama issued a statement from his vacation site, calling on residents on the East Coast living in the projected path of Hurricane Irene to take it "seriously," and get prepared.

"I cannot stress this highly enough. If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now," said Obama, who called Irene a storm of "historic proportions."

Obama convened a conference call Friday morning and was briefed by Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and other senior administration officials about the preparations for Hurricane Irene.

Meanwhile, Napolitano, in a joint news conference with FEMA's Fugate, National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read and American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern, warned that Irene could cause significant power outages and people could be cut off for days.

For his part, McGovern warned of Irene's potential damage, saying recovery could take weeks, or maybe even months, for some residents.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department announced Friday it was providing support to the FEMA for its efforts to prepare for Hurricane Irene's attack on the U.S. East Coast, by mobilizing resources and personnel to tackle the storm.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta directed U.S. Northern Command to provide support as identified by FEMA, while designating Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Westover Air Reserve Base in Massachusetts, as FEMA Incident Support Bases. The Pentagon also propositioned 225 trucks loaded with equipment, food, water, and generators at Fort Bragg.

In addition, 18 military helicopters have been deployed to the eastern coastal states for life saving and life sustaining support. About 101,000 National Guard troops were mobilized to provide disaster relief and rescue missions to the possibly affected states, territories and Washington D.C. if needed.

Heeding governments' warnings, residents living along the East Coast have been snapping up emergency goods, including portable generators, bottled water, canned food and flashlights, in anticipation of power outages and possible supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Irene.

In the past days, hardware stores, grocers and whole-sale retailers, such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart, in the East Coast have been crowded with shoppers who emptied shelves of emergency goods and formed long lines at the cashier's counters. Some shops reported that the business tripled what is a normal day.

A short supply of emergency goods has been caused by the preparations for Hurricane Irene. The Ace Hardware in Nags Head, North Carolina, had sold out of portable generators by Thursday. On Friday, Home Depot, the U.S. largest home improvement retailer, sent out 500 trucks to transport emergency supplies to its stores along the East Coast to meet the sudden increase of demand.

Despite the short-term surge in business triggered by emergency preparations, analysts warned that Hurricane Irene could serve another blow to the already fragile U.S. economy. It is estimated that the disaster created by Irene would cause a loss of as high as 10 billion U.S. dollars.