World News 19-09-2003 Hurricane Shuts Down Washington who: George W Bush what: Declares state of emergency as hurricane bears down on capital where: Washington DC when: Yesterday snippet: "Hurricane Isabel has struck the U.S. mid-Atlantic region," says The Financial Times, "with furious winds and torrential rains that cut power, blew roofs off houses, grounded more than 2,000 flights and paralysed the nation`s capital, shutting down the federal government in Washington." "It is big, it is ugly," said Washington`s mayor, Anthony Williams, quoted in The Scotsman as the category five storm headed towards the south-east coast. "It is a bad storm and it is heading our way." It was later downgraded to category two on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. "Isabel was blamed for at least four traffic deaths," says The Independent, "along with two deaths from falling trees, and the electrocution of a utility employee. Around 2.5 million people were without electricity." "President Bush has declared parts of Virginia and North Carolina major disaster zones, a move that will release federal funds to aid recovery efforts," says the BBC. "A state of emergency has been declared across much of the region, while many schools, businesses and offices - including the federal government in Washington DC - are closed for the day." [... more]

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