New York airports will be closed to incoming flights from noon today (US time) and airlines have cancelled up to 7,000 flights, as Hurricane Irene passes North Carolina and heads up the US east coast, threatening flooding and power outages, with emergencies declared from the Carolinas to the Canadian border. New York public transport will be closed today.
The US National Hurricane Center has downgraded Irene to Category 1 – but this is still a dangerous storm. Hurricane Irene is almost 960km wide and at 08.00 (Irish time) was about 60 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
