Hurricane Irene Bears Down On Millions In Eastern U.S.

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UNDATED -- Tens of millions of people in the eastern United States are bracing for Hurricane Irene, which forecasters say could be the biggest storm to strike the area in more than half a century. It brings the threat of heavy wind, rain and flooding after punishing the Caribbean late Thursday with winds as high as 185 kilometers per hour.

U.S. weather forecasters say they expect Hurricane Irene to affect some 65 million people along the east coast in the coming days.

The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have all declared states of emergency in order to free up resources for disaster relief.

Read Meteorologist Mike Grogan's Weather Blog: Mean Irene Means Business

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered mandatory evacuations for residents in low-lying coastal areas ahead of Hurricane Irene.

Bloomberg said at a briefing Friday that emergency shelters will be opened at 4 p.m.

The low-lying areas are scattered across the city and are home to about 270,000 residents. They include parts of Battery Park City, Coney Island and the Rockaways.

Bloomberg said the mandatory evacuations are a first.

American Red Cross spokesman Chris Osborne describes the enormity of the storm, "This hurricane stands to possibly affect the entire eastern seaboard. The Red Cross has already prepositioned more than 200 emergency response vehicles and lots of volunteers, dozens, I should even say hundreds of volunteers. And so certainly we are looking at this, monitoring it minute by minute, hour by hour," he said.

Osborne says his organization has warned everyone in the storm's path to get a disaster kit, make a family emergency plan and listen to local officials regarding evacuations.

Hurricane Irene Situation Page

He says the Red Cross is hoping for the best, while expecting the worst, and that it is positioned to respond to any affected areas.

"One of the good things about a hurricane is that we consider it a slow-moving disaster, which means that we have a little lead time to get ready and prep and get people and supplies in the right place. We will be here until the job is done," he said.

Hurricane Irene is the second natural disaster to affect the eastern U.S. within the past week. On Tuesday, the biggest earthquake in more than a century struck the region, shocking many residents who now find themselves in the path of the storm.

Although damage was minimal in the 5.8 magnitude quake, authorities were concerned that high mobile phone usage jammed networks causing service to fail for many in the Washington area.

See video of Irene from the Space Station

Despite this threat, Osborne says his organization still is encouraging people to use its website and mobile phone services for help during the storm.

"We know that cell phone service can sometimes be sketchy, but a lot of times, cell phone service is the quickest thing to get back up and running so that's always a good alternative to communicate with the Red Cross and find out how we can help," he said.

Irene is the first hurricane to seriously threaten the United States in three years.

The head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency predicts the storm will have an impact "well inland," both from flooding and winds, which can topple trees and cause power outages. Authorities also warn that recent heavy rains across much of the east coast could compound the flooding.

8/26/2011 Related Story: Another Red Cross Team Leaves Oklahoma For East Coast

In the meantime, Hurricane Irene has disrupted planned events up-and-down the east coast, including the dedication in Washington of the new memorial to the famed U.S. civil rights leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which had been scheduled for Sunday.