Tourists told to flee from US hurricane

Tourists on North Carolina’s Outer Banks were yesterday told to leave the exposed strip of coastal villages and beaches as forecasters warned the hurricane, which is expected to hit the area tomorrow, will blow up into a monstrous category 4, stronger than Katrina which hit land at category 3, wreaking havoc across Gulf states in 2005 and devastating New Orleans.

Hurricane Irene, yesterday rated at category 3, had already severely damaged dozens of homes in the southern Bahamas.

The National Emergency Management Agency reported a settlement known as Lovely Bay on Acklins island in the Bahamas was destroyed while at least 40 homes were badly damaged on the island of Mayaguana.

Trees were knocked down and streets flooded throughout the archipelago but, by yesterday afternoon, no deaths or injuries had been reported.

Irene’s wind weakened to about 115mph on Wednesday as the storm battered the island of Eleuthera. Winds in the capital of Nassau were not expected to exceed 65mph.

Officials in North Carolina’s string of barrier islands estimate up to 150,000 tourists would be leaving and schools in the region have closed on what was to be the first day of the academic year.

In Virginia, the US Navy ordered the Second Fleet to leave Norfolk Naval Station to keep ships safe. The order applied to 64 vessels in south-eastern Virginia. Nine ships were already at sea.

Another tropical depression formed over the Atlantic, with the US National Hurricane Centre saying it was likely to become a tropical storm later yesterday.

Forecasters say that Irene could hit North Carolina’s Outer Banks tomorrow before moving up the East Coast, dumping rain from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened form reaches land in Connecticut. It should peter out in Maine by Monday afternoon.