Obama declares emergency in four states as Hurricane Irene approaches

Washington:  US President Barack Obama today declared emergency in the three states of New York, Virginia and Massachusetts, empowering federal agencies to take the steps required to protect people and property as Hurricane Irene approached. The cyclone gushed toward the eastern shores of the United States with a sustained wind speed of 100 miles per hour.

While Obama declared emergency in New York early in the day, the US President approved the emergency declaration for the States of Virginia and Massachusetts around midnight soon after he arrived at the White House, a day early from his summer vacation.

Emergency in North Carolina was declared earlier. Obama's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency to the local population. The governmental bodies may now take action to provide appropriate assistance during emergency measures, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in these three States.

Governors of Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York have already declared states of emergency as Hurricane Irene nears land. Federal storm-surge maps showed the potential for four-to-10-foot surges across a massive swath of the eastern United States, with potentially disastrous impacts in eastern North Carolina, the Tidewater area of Virginia, and the Potomac River that runs through Washington.

"Hurricane Irene lashed coastal North Carolina late Friday and had metropolitan New York in its sights, staying on an unusual track that could bring deadly storm surge, heavy rainfall and misery to millions," CNN reported from North Carolina.