Hurricane Irene: New York declares state of emergency
New York has declared a state of emergency as hundreds of thousands of Americans were on Thursday night told to evacuate their homes in anticipation of Hurricane Irene. - States of emergency were also declare in North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey. In New Jersey’s Cape May County, as many as 750,000 people were last night told to evacuate. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of hospitals and other vulnerable institutions in the most low-lying areas of New York City, as New York state declared a state of emergency. Projections suggested that Irene would become the first hurricane to directly strike the US mainland since 2008, when Ike killed more than 50 people and caused about $30 billion (£18 billion) in damage.