I
Merpati preparing three extra planes for travelers
N
T
E
R
N
A
T
I
O
Monday, August 29, 2011
N
A
L
16 Pages Number 178 3st Year Price: Rp 3.000,-
e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.
PAGE 8
Police out in force at London carnival PAGE 6
Hurricane Irene flooded towns
PAGE 15
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Wozniacki wins 4th consecutive New Haven tourney
WEATHER FORECAST CITY
TEMPERATURE OC
DENPASAR
21 - 30
JAKARTA
24 - 32
BANDUNG
17 - 25
YOGYAKARTA
19 - 31
SURABAYA
19 - 31
SUNNY
BRIGHT/CLOUDY
RAIN
HOTLINE For placing advertisment, please contact: Eka Wahyuni
0361-225764
2 millions homes powerless Associated Press
NEW YORK — Barely a hurricane Sunday but massive and packed with rain, Irene flooded towns, killed at least eight people and knocked out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses as it plodded up the East Coast, saving the strongest winds it had left for New York. The streets of the nation’s largest city were eerily quiet, its transit system shut down because of weather for the first time in history. Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned late Saturday that no matter whether residents of low-lying areas heeded his calls to evacuate, “The time for evacuation is over. Everyone should now go inside and stay inside.” The National Hurricane Center said that although tropical-stormforce winds covered a vast area of the mid-Atlantic states early Sunday morning, the only hurricane-force winds — 74 mph or above — covered a relatively small area over the Atlantic Ocean, east of the storm’s center. Those winds were expected to retain hurricane strength until they finally reached land around midday Sunday over New York’s Long Island. Tornadoes were reported in Maryland and Delaware, and several warnings were issued elsewhere, including New York and Philadelphia. Irene caused flooding from North
Carolina to Delaware, both from the seven-foot waves it pushed into the coast and from heavy rain. Eastern North Carolina got 10 to 14 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Virginia’s Hampton Roads area was drenched with at least nine inches, with 16 reported in some spots. More than 1 million homes and businesses lost power in Virginia alone, where three people were killed by falling trees, at least one tornado touched down and about 100 roads were closed. Emergency crews around the region prepared to head out at daybreak to assess the damage, though with some roads impassable and rivers still rising, it could take days. Some held out optimism that their communities had suffered less damage than they had feared. “I think it’s a little strong to say we dodged a bullet. However, it certainly could have turned out worse for the Hampton Roads area,” said National Weather Service meteo-
rologist Mike Montefusco. In North Carolina, where at least two people were killed, Gov. Beverly Perdue said Irene inflicted significant damage along the North Carolina coast and some areas were unreachable. “Folks are cut off in parts of North Carolina, and obviously we’re not going to get anybody to do an assessment until it’s safe,” she said. Television coverage showed evidence of damage across eastern North Carolina with downed trees and toppled power lines. A falling tree also killed one person in Maryland. A surfer and another beachgoer in Florida were killed in heavy waves caused by the storm. The storm arrived in Washington just days after an earthquake damaged some of the capital’s most famous structures, including the Washington Monument. Irene could test Washington’s ability to protect its national treasures and its poor. A nuclear reactor at Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs went offline automatically when winds knocked off a large piece of aluminum siding that came into contact with the facility’s main transformer late Saturday night. An “unusual event” was declared; the lowest of four emergency classifications by the Nuclear Regulatory
Floodwaters rise at dusk from the Albemarle Sound on the Outer Banks in Nags Head, N.C., Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 as Hurricane Irene leaves the North Carolina coast. Hurricane Irene knocked out power and piers in North Carolina, clobbered Virginia with wind and churned up the coast Saturday to confront cities more accustomed to snowstorms than tropical storms. Commission, but Constellation Energy Nuclear Group spokesman Mark Sullivan said the facility and all employees were safe. Near Callway, Md., about 30 families were warned that a dam could spill over, causing significant flooding, and that they should either leave their homes or stay upstairs. St. Mary’s County spokeswoman Sue Sabo said the dam was not in danger of breaching. Irene made its official landfall just after first light near Cape Lookout, N.C., at the southern end of the Outer Banks, the ribbon of land that bows out into the Atlantic Ocean. Shorefront hotels and houses were lashed with waves, two piers were destroyed and at least one hospital was forced to run on generator power. Continued on page 6