Bush joins flight as mighty Isabel hits the US

President George Bush today led hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from the path of hurricane Isabel as it bore down on America’s east coast.

The President moved to his Camp David retreat, in the shelter of the hills, while most of the capital Washington closed down.

Air Force One, the presidential jumbo jet, was flown out of Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to Georgia as 105mph winds closed in.

Congress cancelled votes so members could return home and White House staff were lashing down flags and awnings which could be torn loose.

The White House, like millions of other American homes, secured all moveable objects against storm damage, said spokesman Scott McClellan.

Federal and local offices and schools were closed and transport services suspended.

The states of North Carolina and Virginia were set to bear the brunt of Isabel’s might, and were first to experience the winds and rain of the 350-mile wide storm system.

States of emergency have been declared in both states as waves up to 40ft battered the coastline. Homes on most islands off the coast were boarded up and abandoned.

Up to 200,000 homes along the coast were reported to be without power.

Speaking from Camp David, in Maryland, Mr Bush said he had been in contact with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Mike Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Mr Bush said: “We are very well prepared for hurricane Isabel.

“We have got pre-positioned equipment in place, proper warnings have gone out and the communication systems are up and running.

“So when the storm hits, the response from the citizens will be an effective response.

“I will be monitoring the situation. I will be in close contact with the emergency management people.”

Mr Bush was speaking after a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, which had been brought forward a day because of the storm.

The President joked to reporters: “We wanted to get this over with so that you didn’t have to float down the hill.”

A hurricane warning was in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina to the Virginia-Maryland border.

A tropical storm warning extended north to New York’s Long Island, including parts of New York City.

More than 300,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia have been urged to move to higher ground, despite the fact that the storm has weakened from a category five, 160mph-wind storm, to category two.

Some 100,000 of those people have been ordered out of North Carolina and another 100,000 in Virginia are under mandatory evacuation.

Those who ignore the warning have been told help will not be sent to them if they are in distress.

Virginia Beach police suggested they write their names in permanent marker on their forearms so they can be identified if they are injured or killed

“This is probably going to ram right into the coast head-on. It’s not a case of a glancing blow,” said Kerry Schwindenhammer, a meteorologist for forecasting firm AccuWeather.

More than 9in of rain was forecast for parts of Pennsylvania, and the National Hurricane Centre said heavy rain could extend all the way to the New England states.

At Jamestown, Virginia, archaeologists covered a dig site of the first permanent English settlement in America. A tarpaulin anchored it with sandbags.