Gloria, the last big storm to hit the New York area, caused about $900 million in economic losses along the East Coast in 1985, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"It's not like we can all run down to Home Depot and pick up these two-by-fours to board up windows," said John Koch, lead forecaster at the NWS forecast office in New York. "What we want people to do is know what they are going to do with their family and their pets."

Koch urged residents to familiarize themselves with the location of evacuation zones and make plans to have extra dry clothes, medicines, batteries, water and copies of valuable documents.

Although evacuation orders might be limited to low-lying areas, Koch said high winds could put tall buildings throughout the city at risk.

"Winds increase with height, so you're going to see much stronger wind on the 30th floor or the 50th floor of a building than you do at the surface," Koch said.

Wyllie said he expects the hurricane season, which starts June 1 and lasts until November 30, to be similar to last year, which saw an unprecedented 28 storms including Katrina.

"If there are more storms out there, odds are you have a higher chance of being hit," Koch said. "It could be this year, it could be five years from now, it could be 10 years from now."

The dead included an elderly couple and a teenager, but their identities have not been released, Nicolay said.

Six people were transported to area hospitals, she said. Their conditions were not available.

The storm destroyed at least six houses, Nicolay said, although full assessment of damage to the area was limited by darkness.

"I'm sure that there are numerous other ones that have less severe damage," she said.

More than 100 rescue and utility workers had responded to the area to assess the damage and work on restoring power to about 300 homes.

The American Red Cross has opened a shelter at Anna High School.

The quake's epicenter was about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the small town of Khailino in the sparsely-populated Koryak Autonomous Area. The vice-governor of the autonomous area, Zhanna Saksina, told ITAR-TASS that the quake had not brought damage even to the Khailino where it measured as high as 7 points according to preliminary reports. No casualties have been reported.

A series of major earthquakes have rocked Kamchatka and Koryakia in the last three weeks. The first 7.8-magnitude quake on April 21, with an epicenter about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Khailino, the strongest since 1900 in the Koryak area, injured 31 people and damaged about 380 houses and 25 public buildings in the towns of Tilichiki, Korf, Ossora, and Khailino.

The scientists analyzed satellite data from coastal areas near the epicenters of four recent earthquakes and determined chlorophyll blooms might provide early warning concerning an impending earthquake.

The researchers theorize the movement of plate tectonics creates conditions in which plankton thrive in proximity to an impending earthquake, the BBC said.