Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to leave North Carolina's barrier islands as powerful Hurricane Earl approaches the U.S.
East Coast.
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland have declared states of emergency.
Forecasters are warning of damaging winds and rains from the category four storm with winds of 230 kilometers per hour.
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings and watches are in effect along the Mid-Atlantic coast and as far north as Massachusetts.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was moving north-northwest and will approach the North Carolina coast late Thursday into early Friday. It is expected to shift to the north and gradually weaken as it nears the eastern seaboard states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Forecasters are also watching Tropical Storm Fiona, which is expected to pass near Bermuda by early Saturday. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the island, as the storm approaches with winds of 85 kilometers per hour.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, says people should heed evacuation orders. He said the agency has emergency supplies on standby at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in case people lose power or access to supplies.
Earl has already skirted parts of the eastern Caribbean, flooding parts of Antigua and ripping out trees and blowing down power lines on St. Martin. Officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico say they are working to restore electricity to more than 200,000 people who were affected by the storm.
A third system, Tropical Storm Gaston, is moving slowly towards the Lesser Antilles and it not expected to impact any land until at least the middle of next week.