Six dead as Irene rakes up U.S. East Coast, shuts down New York

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C.,  (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene  charged up the U.S. East Coast today towards New York,  shutting down the city, and millions of Americans sought  shelter from a huge storm that halted transport and caused  massive power blackouts.
“The storm is coming,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg  told the more than 8 million people who live in the United  States’ most populous city that includes Wall Street, one of  the world’s major financial centers.
From the Carolinas to Maine, tens of millions of people  were in the path of the giant 580-mile (930-km)-wide storm that  howled ashore in eastern North Carolina at daybreak on  Saturday, dumping torrential rain, felling trees and knocking  out power.
At least six deaths were reported in North Carolina,  Virginia and Florida. Several million people were under  evacuation orders on the U.S. East Coast.
New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and shut  down its airports and subways, part of a huge public transit  system that moves 8.5 million people a day on weekdays.  Commuters were left to flag down yellow taxis and livery cabs  that were patrolling largely deserted streets.
Irene caused transport chaos in the eastern United States,  as airline, rail and transit systems in New York and other  cities started sweeping weekend shutdowns.
The Coast Guard closed the port of Philadelphia.
“We are trying to get to Boston and that is not going to  happen. We’re just stuck here,” Rachel Karten said from the  near-empty Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. “We didn’t  think they would shut down everything.”
Irene left nearly 1 million people without power in North  Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware on Saturday and  energy firms prepared for wider disruptions.
With winds of 8O miles per hour (130 km per hour), Irene  had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step  Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.
But it was expected to approach New York Saturday night at  or near hurricane strength, the U.S. National Hurricane Center  said.
Irene came ashore near North Carolina’s Cape Lookout around  7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT), and then chugged up the coast on a  north-northeast track. By 5 p.m. (2100 GMT), the center was 50  miles (80 km) south southeast of Norfolk, Virginia, and 340  miles (545 km) south southwest of New York City.
Irene could slacken to a tropical storm by the time it hits  New England today, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center  said that would make little difference in the impact from its  damaging winds, flooding rains and dangerous storm surge.
“I would advise people not to focus that much on Category  1, 2 or 3 … if you’re in a hurricane, it’s a big deal,” U.S.  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a conference  call. “This remains a large and dangerous storm,” she said.
“DANGEROUS OUT THERE”
Bloomberg told New Yorkers Irene was a life-threatening  hurricane and urged them to heed evacuation orders.
“This is a storm which if you’re in the wrong place at the  wrong time, could be fatal … It is dangerous out there,” the  mayor said in one of several public appeals. He urged New  Yorkers to stay indoors to avoid flying debris, flooding or the  risk of being electrocuted by downed power lines.
Some 370,000 city residents were ordered to leave their  homes in low-lying areas, many of them in parts of the boroughs  of Brooklyn and Queens and in downtown Manhattan.