飓风艾琳袭美:洪水与断电警报

As Irene travelled north to the Canadian border, she continued to inflict damage, leaving destruction in her wake. Heavy rains falling on already sodden ground, led to widespread flooding and damage in the northeast. It will be a long time before these communities return to normal life.

"Around the State, there has been very significant damage. I understand that more than 260 roads are closed. There are numerous bridges that have been knocked out. There's one confirmed fatality and there's a search going on for four people in the southern part of the State."

Up and down America's east coast, people assess the damage. Irene has been a deadly storm, destroying property and infrastructure and leaving millions without power. But the predicted catastrophe never fully materialized. New York, one of those cities, that escaped the worst. despite a total public transport shut-down and evacuations, an inconvenient Monday commute and the ongoing cleanup, now the real concerns as America's most populous city recovers from a near miss.

"It's going to take time to recover from a storm of this magnitude. The effects are still being felt across much of the country, including in New England and States like Vermont where there's been an enormous amount of flooding."

The damage caused by this storm will cost billions to put right. Irene may not have been as devastating as feared but her impact will be felt for some time to come.

Hannah Thomas-Peter, Sky News, New York.