US battens down hatches

Boston: Businesses blocked doors with sandbags and officials warned residents of waterfront homes to be ready to evacuate yesterday as the northeastern United States braced for a powerful storm that threatened to flood coasts from Maine to North Carolina.

Oceanfacing homes could be destroyed by storm surges and waves, while people who live in neighbourhoods reached by lowlying roads could be cut off for days, officials and government forecasters warned.

Meanwhile, residents of coastal Southern California neighbourhoods are under evacuation orders ahead of a powerful winter storm sweeping in after bringing heavy snow and whiteout conditions to northern mountains.

As many as 30,000 people are under orders to leave foothill communities of Santa Barbara County and a blizzard warning is in effect for parts of the Sierra Nevada. — Reuters/AP