Destination New York

A terrifying hurricane is heading for America's East Coast with New York in its path.

Hurricane Isabel has been labelled Category 5 - the highest rating weather experts can give a storm.

Only three have struck the U.S. in the last 100 years, including Camille which hit Mississippi in 1969 killing 256 people.

Barring an unlikely change of course, the hurricane is expected to pound ashore late tomorrow or Thursday in either the Carolinas or New Jersey, before heading north to the Big Apple and southern New England.

In the states likely to be hit first, evacuation routes were being planned and residents were advised to store essentials including nonperishable foods and batterypowered radios.

New Yorkers were also being urged to prepare for the worst while late season holidaymakers, including hundreds of Britons, have been advised to pack their bags and head inland.

However, experts say Isabel is so strong that 156mph winds could reach 150 miles beyond the point where it first touches land.

Forecasters warn that major floods are likely because much of the East Coast region is already saturated after a summer of heavy rains.

Isabel is several hundred miles across. It has an unusually large 50-mile-wide eye in the centre of the maelstrom - leading one expert to call it 'a malevolent Cyclops'.