Ports along the US East Coast are preparing for the expected landfall of category three Hurricane Irene on Saturday 27 August.
The Captain of the Port for the Delaware Bay has set Hurricane Condition Whiskey due to the potential for Irene to impact the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware tri-state area.
“The possibility exists that the Port of Philadelphia and surrounding areas will experience high winds, severe thunderstorms and increased seas, surf and tidal surge,” Captain Meredith Austin explained in a statement.
“All members of the port community to include vessel owners and operators, vessel agents, pilots and facility owners and operators are to take adequate precautions and to follow the Port Hurricane Contingency Plan.”
Further south, the Ports of Morehead City and Wilmington in North Carolina also closed their gates to commercial truck traffic at 5pm on Thursday 25 August in preparation for the threat of Hurricane Irene, according to the North Carolina ports website.
The port of Philadelphia is the main entry point for South African citrus arriving into the US, as well as receiving fruit from Chile and bananas from Colombia.
The Port of Wilmington, Delaware, is also a major hub for bananas, Chilean fruit, Brazilian grapes and Moroccan clementines, among other items.
US weather forecasters say they expect Hurricane Irene to affect some 65m people along the East Coast in the coming days, after already battering the Caribbean.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina, with states of emergency declared in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.
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