Hurricane Irene is pummeling the east coast of the United States after making landfall in North Carolina, where it caused flooding and damage.
500-mile wide storm, with winds around 85 mph (140 km / h) moves slowly toward the north, where New York and other large cities in its path.
Over two million people has been prescribed to leave their homes.
Irene is a "large and dangerous" storm, U.S. National Security, Janet Napolitano, the secretary said Saturday.
The first death caused by the storm have been reported in North Carolina.
Authorities said that blew a large tree branch near the stick man in Raleigh, killing him.
In New York, 300 000 people living in low lying areas are told to leave in an unprecedented mandatory evacuation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Irene was a "storm of life-threatening" for New Yorkers, and that it was "stupid" and "dangerous" to ignore the order.
New York is one of the seven states of North Carolina, Connecticut, in case of declared emergency.
President Barack Obama, who cut short his visit to return to Washington, had a press conference about Hurricane with representatives of emergency on Saturday.
He had previously warned that Irene could be "a historic hurricane" and that everyone should take seriously the storm.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded to category two to one category one hurricane Irene, but said winds of 90 mph extend outward about 90 miles from the eye of the storm. Tropical force winds extend up to 290 meters.
The NHC expected to weaken Irene, after beating North Carolina, but it should remain a hurricane as it moves north along the Atlantic coast on Sunday.
"Dangerous Current"
In the eye of the hurricane crossed the North Carolina coast near Cape Lookout at about 0730 local time (11:30 GMT) on Saturday - the start of what is expected to be 36 hours of an attack on the U.S. East Coast.
Power lines have been killed and more than 400,000 people are without electricity in North Carolina and neighboring Virginia.
Storm 'extremely dangerous' is expected, parts of the state, which can raise the water level up to 11ft (3.35 m).
More than 200,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas of high waves and strong wind began to whip the islands much of the continent. The residents want the storm is bearing on how food, water and fuel.
"There can be nothing now but wait. You can feel the wind, and it's scary," one man, who led the storm told The Associated Press.
"Things are crashing against the house. I hope not worse, but I know he will. I hate hurricanes," Reasor said Leon Banks in the town of Buxton outside.
Further north, a large number of people have been moving parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York, after mandatory evacuations were ordered residents of low-lying areas.
In New York, parts of Manhattan and Staten Island at particular risk, according to projections released by the municipal authorities.
During the day, the city's transport system was closed. Airports are also disappearing.
Hospitals in the affected areas have begun to evacuate patients.
Washington, DC, Sunday's dedication of a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. - that President Obama is scheduled to be present - has been postponed until at least September. Power to serve the Washington area has warned of a "widespread power outages potential" over the weekend.
Supermarkets along the east coast is cut supplies as stocks people before the storm arrives.
"Before, I was at the supermarket, and it was absolute chaos - no caddies available, flashlight batteries are sold, each buying bottled water, and the kind of thing," Oliver of Brooklyn in New Brew York told the BBC.
The Pentagon has charged 200 trucks of relief supplies and 100 000 National Guard troops are on alert.
American Red Cross said dozens of preparing emergency shelters along the east coast.
The north-eastern corridor is the most densely populated of the United States, with more than 65 million people living in major cities along the south coast from Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston to the north.
The state of emergency was declared in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
"We're going to have injuries, we just do not know how bad," Craig Fugate Director of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, told news agency Associated Press.
"This is one of the largest populations will be affected by a storm at a time."
If Irene struck New York and New England in category two, it will be the most powerful storm in the region since Hurricane Bob in Massachusetts rebounded in 1991 and Hurricane Gloria, which caused significant damage to New York in 1985.








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