Tropical Storm Hanna landed on the U.S. east coast early Saturday and is moving northeast, and no major damage has been reported so far.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm made landfall near the border of South Carolina and North Carolina around 3:20 a.m. (720 GMT) in the morning and its maximum sustained winds decreased to 80.5 kilometers per hour.
About 10,000 South Carolina homes were without power due to the storm, while 444 South Carolina residents were staying in 15 shelters. In North Carolina, nearly 12,000 homes had no electricity, mostly in the counties near the site where Hanna touched down. However, No deaths were reported, flooding was limited and no highways were closed.
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley has declared a state of emergency in preparation for Hanna as well as Hurricane Ike, which may hit the coast within days. The state's Department of Crime Control and Public Safety advised people to store up to five days' worth of food and water and to stay off the roads during the storm.
Hanna is moving across eastern North Carolina and the mid-Atlantic coast Saturday, and along the coast of the U.S. northeast and southeastern Canada Sunday, said the NHC. Before it hit the U.S. soil, Hanna devastated Haiti, leaving some 500 dead.
Several southern U.S. states have endured a series of storms in recent weeks, including Tropical Storm Fay late last month and Hurricane Gustav this past week.
Another storm, Hurricane Ike is on the track to hit the United States. At present, it is about 1,200 km east-southeast of Palm Beach, Florida.
Source: Xinhua
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