Hurricane of century approaches to New York

It's just been announced that all five New York City-area airports will close to inbound flights tomorrow at noon. A ferocious, 200-mile-wide storm barreled north toward the Eastern Seaboard on Friday, as President Obama and other officials warned millions of nervous Americans in the nation's most densely populated corridor to prepare for a pummeling by Hurricane Irene, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The president cut his vacation in Martha's Vineyard by a day to return to Washington, airlines announced plans to cancel thousands of flights, stores were emptied of batteries and water, and tourists and residents fled dozens of beach towns and coastal communities that could be savaged by the storm.

New York City officials ordered the first mandatory evacuation in its history, insisting that a quarter-million people leave low-lying neighborhoods before the storm hits Saturday.