UPDATE 6-New York orders evacuations as hurricane nears US Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:58pm EDT
* Residents of low-lying NYK areas told to leave homes
* Obama warns Irene may be "extremely dangerous, costly"
* Broad hurricane to hit N. Carolina Saturday, move north * Hundreds of thousands already starting to evacuate (Recasts with New York evacuation orders)
By Jim Brumm
WILMINGTON, N.C., Aug 26 (Reuters) - New York on Friday ordered residents in low-lying areas to evacuate before the onslaught this weekend of massive Hurricane Irene, which churned northward along the U.S. East Coast.
The United States' biggest city of more than eight million people took the unprecedented step as 55 million Americans on the eastern seaboard braced for the broad, menacing hurricane that President Barack Obama called "extremely dangerous".
Hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers were already evacuating from Irene's path, starting in eastern North Carolina where Irene is expected to make landfall on Saturday, packing winds of 100 miles per hour (155 km/hour).
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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