Barack Obama, US president, and Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, have altered their plans in the final days of campaigning for the US presidency to avoid a hurricane along the US Atlantic coast.

Romney met running mate Paul Ryan in the midwestern state of Ohio after cancelling a Virginia appearance.

Obama headed to the gulf state of Florida on Sunday evening to avoid Hurricane Sandy, which was forecast to hit the Washington area.

The president also planned a Monday stop in Youngstown, Ohio, before returning to Washington to monitor the storm.

The Obama campaign said he was being briefed regularly on the hurricane and preparations for the federal government "to bring all available resources to bear" to ameliorate the effects of the monstrous, late-season storm.

The president's campaign said he was cancelling camapign events in the battleground states of Virginia and Colorado on Monday and Tuesday.