Powerful Hurricane Irene battered the Bahamas on a track to the North Carolina coast that forecasters say could threaten the densely populated US Northeast, including New York, starting on Sunday.
Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic cyclone that threatens to be one of the worst storms to hit the US Northeast in decades, slogged slowly northward on Friday after killing at least 41 people in the Caribbean.
New York City prepared to evacuate coastal areas and rescue stranded New Yorkers with a fleet of police boats in case the city gets socked by Hurricane Irene this weekend.