450-mile-wide storm tracks toward major cities

MANTEO, N.C. – Hurricane Irene, a ferocious and slow-moving storm, smashed into North Carolina, then slowly swirled its way up the Eastern Seaboard, flooding low-lying areas, knocking out power to as many as a million customers and forcing the densely populated regions of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York City to take unprecedented steps as they braced for impact.

At least nine people died Saturday – in car accidents, in robust surf, by heart attack and by falling trees – in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Irene is expected to continue its northward path through New England before weakening today. The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Va.

But in the first areas to feel the lumbering hurricane’s punch, there was minor flooding and major relief.

“It’s not nearly as bad as it could have been,” said Bobby Outen, manager of Dare County, which includes Roanoke Island and much of the Outer Banks, a vulnerable stretch of Carolina coast.

Nearby Nags Head, a fragile barrier island, escaped with no serious damage. “We were lucky,” said the mayor, Bob Oakes.

Although Irene’s landfall was less catastrophic than predicted, it’s too soon to say the danger is past.

“The storm isn’t over,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Watling. “We have to wait a little longer to see how the impacts pan out in the end.”

Storm-related disruptions of daily life were immense. About 10,000 commercial airline flights were canceled, and more than 2 million people were ordered evacuated from areas inundated by the surging floodwaters that accompanied the 450-mile-wide hurricane’s northward 16 mph trek.

Anticipating the hurricane’s arrival today, New York City officials said they may shut off power in Lower Manhattan as a precaution to prevent people from getting trapped in elevators and to avoid damage to their equipment. Evacuation orders affected people in Staten Island and Battery Park in New York City, the Jersey Shore, all coastal areas of Delaware, plus parts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

“Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish and it’s against the law,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took to television to plead with about 600 seniors who refused to leave their Atlantic City high-rises. He said he feared they would be injured or worse if the hurricane’s expected 80 mph winds shattered their windows.

“You’re correct that I cannot make you leave your home, and I certainly do not intend to place you under arrest to get you to leave,” Christie said. “But if you stay where you are, you’re putting yourself in danger as well as your loved ones.”

In New York City, the country’s largest subway system came to a halt as officials took precautions against flooding. In an effort to minimize flying debris in the face of brutal, sustained winds, city sanitation workers overturned 25,000 of the city’s trash cans, pushed them against buildings, and hoped for the best.

Washington, D.C., and its suburbs had sporadic power outages, but anxiety and anticipation may have taken a bigger toll than the weather. Grocery store lines in some neighborhoods were long, and traffic was gridlocked around Washington’s Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, where the city was distributing free sandbags for possible flash floods. Residents waited hours in line only to be told in the late afternoon that the supply was exhausted.

As the hurricane’s surge reached the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday afternoon, coastal Maryland and Virginia began feeling the strength of the storm. Police stopped patrolling in Ocean City, Md., around 7 p.m. as winds picked up and streets flooded. Police in tidewater Virginia communities imposed a curfew asking that no one travel during evening hours within the city limits of Portsmouth and Hampton.

President Barack Obama, who paid an unannounced visit Saturday to the Federal Emergency Management Administration headquarters in Washington, declared a state of emergency in nine states.

The president praised emergency preparations but warned that the worst was not over. “It’s going to be a long 72 hours,” the president said.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said the large, slow-moving storm could also produce another dreaded phenomenon: tornadoes. The funnels, he said, “will not be on the ground very long,” he said. “But they can still be very devastating.”

Officials also expressed concern about 11 nuclear power plants along the Eastern Seaboard and said they had dispatched staff to make sure the plants’ reactors are protected by backup power systems, said a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Although the storm was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it made landfall in Jacksonville, N.C., and Cape Lookout, N.C., on Saturday morning, it still packed 85 mph winds and plenty of danger. Officials warned people not to underestimate Irene’s power for devastation.

“If you’re in a hurricane, you’re in a hurricane,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Saturday morning at a briefing at FEMA headquarters. “We anticipate heavy rain, potential flooding and significant power outages throughout the area of the storm, which means all up and down the Eastern Seaboard.”

But those warnings went unheeded by some. On Long Island, a block from the water in South Freeport, 23-year-old Nick Dionisio just could not bring himself to abandon his house and boats.

“You gotta watch your stuff,” Dionisio said. “I got no other choice.”

Dionisio was less worried about the winds than the 6- to 8-foot tidal surge predicted with the hurricane’s arrival late Saturday or early today, the day with the highest tide of the month.

Dionisio planned to drive his car inland, then return by foot or bike and stay awake to watch over his house and boats.

“You don’t want to be caught sleeping during this,” Dionisio said.

By this morning, the storm was expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it reached New England. It will continue to lose steam as it moves north and east across the eastern edge of Canada, finally veering into the Atlantic Ocean, off Newfoundland and Labrador.

Five hurricane-related deaths were reported in North Carolina.

On Friday, a man installing plywood on the window of his home in Onslow County died of a heart attack, said Ernie Seneca of the North Carolina Emergency Management office in Raleigh. A man in Nash County was reported killed by a falling tree limb outside his home Saturday. A third man died in Pitt County when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree. And two others were killed in car accidents, including a 15-year-old girl in Wayne County.

In Virginia, in addition to the 11-year-old killed by the falling tree, a man died in Brunswick County when a tree fell on his car.

And off New Smyrna Beach, Fla., a 55-year-old surfer died in 4- to 5-foot waves, though it was unclear if the storm played a role. A second man, a 55-year-old from New Jersey, died in the ocean off Beverly Beach.