Thousands in Connecticut urged to flee ‘Sandy’

High winds blow sea foam onto Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 as wind and rain from Hurricane Sandy move into the area. Governors from North Carolina, where steady rains were whipped by gusting winds Saturday night, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Sunday. AP /Gerry Broome

NEW YORK — The governor of the US state of Connecticut late Monday urged thousands of residents of coastal areas to flee immediately, saying that mega-storm Sandy had catastrophic potential.

Governor Dan Malloy said that mayors of towns on a populous coastal stretch from Greenwich to Bridgeport east of New York City needed to exercise their authority to order mandatory evacuations.

“I told those municipal leaders that these people need to be evacuated, and they need to be evacuated now,” Malloy said in a statement.

Malloy called the situation “dire,” saying: “I was concerned all along about the potential destructive impact of this last high tide, and unfortunately the best information we have confirms my worst fears.”

The governor voiced annoyance that some shoreline towns either did not urge evacuations or that residents did not heed calls to evacuate.

Malloy said that residents whose homes were already surrounded by water should remain at home and head for the highest level rather than trying to flee.

“If you are in a house that is surrounded by water, get to a higher floor. Do not be near a window because there’s a lot of wind,” he wrote on Twitter.