Hurricane Irene arrived in the U.S.

Hurricane Irene on Saturday, demoted to a category, has just reached North Carolina. The mayor of New York, meanwhile ordered the evacuation of 370,000 people

Hurricane Irene on Saturday, demoted to Class 1, on Saturday reached the Atlantic coast of the United States. He arrived near Cape Lookout, North Carolina. The people had started on Friday night to feel the first effects of Hurricane Irene, whose arrival has led the authorities to implement emergency measures including evacuation orders unprecedented in New York. Rain and high winds are identical to those generated by a tropical storm.

States Carolina to Maine through Washington, the local authorities declared a state of emergency at the approach of the storm about 900 km in diameter could affect 55 million Americans. Barack Obama said that the consequences of the hurricane, an unusually wide, could be "extremely dangerous and costly." "Everything suggests that this will be a historic hurricane," said the American president to his compatriots, who remember the devastating passage of Katrina on New Orleans in 2005.

Evacuation of 370 000 in New York

Friday night, North Carolina, trees were uprooted, the areas were flooded and electricity was cut to 7600 inhabitants of the city of Wilmington because of weathering due to the first hurricane.

Hurricane Irene arrived in the U.S.

Hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists have begun to move away from the likely path of depression. In New York, 370,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in low lying areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, the authorities feared flooding from Sunday in the city but also on Long Island, more East. "We had never done until now in a forced evacuation, and we would not do it today if we did not think this storm was likely to be very dangerous," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He added: "It's not a joke, your life could be in danger."

The army ready to respond

U.S. airlines for their part, canceled nearly 8,000 flights and moved their equipment out of the likely path of the hurricane. Transit will close at noon and the roads could be cut if the winds are above 90 km / h.

Leon Panetta, the Defence Secretary, announced that the army was ready to assist, if necessary, and that more than 100,000 members of the National Guard could be made available to affected States.

The people stayed near the Atlantic coast have established reserves of food and water and tried to protect their homes and property.