Thousands of people fled the US East Coast Thursday as it braced for a rare hurricane hit after Irene battered the Bahamas, leaving a trail of destruction and at least five dead.

Authorities from North Carolina to New York declared states of emergency and thousands of people were ordered to higher ground as Irene packed winds of 105 miles (170 kilometers) per hour in its race toward the US mainland.

"There's hardly any excuse for people not to know that there's a hurricane out there," said Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"People need to understand that their time will be running out to be prepared and be ready," he told reporters on a conference call.

The hurricane is set to slam into North Carolina early Saturday before roaring toward New York City, accompanied by an "extremely dangerous" storm surge that could raise water levels by as much as 11 feet (3.4 meters), the National Weather Service said.

While Caribbean and Atlantic islands are accustomed to hurricanes, the northeastern United States usually experiences only the remnants of storms. Gloria in 1985 was the last major hurricane to hit the New York area.

It would be the second unusual scare in a week for the East Coast after a rare 5.8-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday rattled major cities including Washington.

Rail operator Amtrak suspended all service south of Washington, likely disappointing people who planned to visit the capital Sunday for the dedication of a memorial to civil rights icon Martin Luther King.

Federal authorities said they had stored millions of meals and bottles of water for people who wind up in shelters as a growing number of counties ordered all residents to head inland.

In North Carolina's coastal Dare County, where up to 180,000 people are believed to be present including summer vacationers, authorities warned that emergency personnel would not be able to reach anyone who defied the mandatory evacuation by Friday morning.

"If you choose to stay, we can't issue a criminal citation, but you are leaving yourself wide open to extreme conditions," county official Kelly Davis said.

US military officers said that up to 98,000 members of the National Guard were available if needed. The Navy's Second Fleet ordered all its ships away from its major port at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in anticipation of the storm.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told residents that skyscrapers would be safe but warned residents to prepare to move to higher ground.

"If you have a car and live in a low lying area, park it on a hill," Bloomberg told a press conference. "Move stuff upstairs."

Bloomberg authorized the evacuation of hospitals and other vulnerable institutions in the most low-lying areas of New York City, while neighboring New Jersey ordered 750,000 people out of the remote Cape May area.

Irene previously smashed through the Caribbean before Wednesday when it hit the Bahamas, where authorities said 90 percent of homes on the Lovely Bay settlement were destroyed.

Roads were flooded, power was cut off and utility poles were knocked down in parts of the Bahamas, but no casualties were initially reported after authorities put the country on guard.

Haiti, while not directly under Irene's eye, suffered from heavy rains dumped by the hurricane. Civil defense authorities said that two people died when they were swept away by raging waters in a ravine.

Another 1,000 people were displaced by flooding caused by Irene, officials said, leading to fears of a new outbreak of cholera. The water-borne disease killed some 5,000 people in Haiti in the wake of last year's major earthquake.

The Dominican Republic reported two deaths including that of an 18-year-old pregnant woman, Miguelina Perez, who was washed away in a river.

One person was killed in Puerto Rico, where the storm became a hurricane on Monday. Puerto Rican authorities estimated damage at more than $500 million.