Six states at US declared emergency situation

Hurricane Irene was in open water north of the Bahamas early Friday with its eye clearly set on the U.S. East Coast after rampaging along the 500-mile island chain, the CNN reports.

Six states along the east coast of the US, from North Carolina to New York, have declared emergencies ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irene, the BBC reports.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Irene, now leaving the Bahamas, has already caused havoc in the Caribbean.

States of emergency have been declared in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and New York, the sources report.

Irene, packing 115 mph winds, must now churn through hundreds of miles of the Atlantic before an expected landfall in North Carolina on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said, the CNN reports.

Amtrak and major U.S. airlines began canceling routes and flights or putting them on a watch list. American Airlines canceled 126 flights Thursday, mostly out of Miami and the Bahamas, an airline spokesman said.

Airlines are expected to cancel more flights Friday.

Sunday's dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington was postponed until at least next month, officials announced Thursday night.

According to the CNN, the Hurricane Irene is expected to bear down on North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday, bristling with 115 mph winds, according to the hurricane center.

The last major hurricane to strike the United States was Wilma in 2005, which was a Category 3 at landfall in southwest Florida, the source reported.