New York gets off lightly but Hurricane Irene leave U.S. facing a £27bn repair bill

Route 12 on Hatteras Island, North Carolina yesterday after Irene swept through the area, cutting the roadway in five locations

- 21 killed by hurricane in U.S. and 370,000 New Yorkers ordered to leave their homes 

- 11-year-old boy among dead as tree split in half and fell on roof of his house 

- Sea surge of 8ft had been expected in New York... but just 1ft of water lapped over the banks 

- Winds of 90mph and up to 12INCHES of rain in some parts of U.S. 

- Road in North Carolina broken in five places as floodwater spreads

Hurricane Irene killed 21 people and left a £27billion trail of destruction in it's wake - but there was relief in New York as the city escaped the worst of the storm. Parts of downtown Manhattan were flooded, including several apartment blocks, but the damage was nowhere near as widespread as had been feared. A flood surge of up to 8ft had been predicted, but in the end just 1ft washed over the banks of the surrounding rivers and onto the streets. 
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Within an hour of Irene passing, the sun had come out and New York began to resume normal life - with joggers taking to the streets which minutes before were underwater.
Weathermen also downgraded Irene to a Tropical Storm just as she passed above the city.
But outside of New York the damage had earlier been far more severe and the hurricane was blamed for at least 21 deaths - including two children - as she rampaged up the East coast of the U.S.

Streets of Asbury Park, New Jersey, are flooded after Hurricane Irene moved through the area on Sunday

An 11-year-old boy in Virginia was killed when a tree split in half and fell through the roof of his house. Neighbours who rushed to help forced their way in and found the dead child’s mother leaning over his body screaming: ‘My baby! My baby!’ Another child died in a car crash at an intersection in North Carolina where traffic lights were out, while a firefighter lost his life whilst attempting a rescue in Princeton, New Jersey.

Up to 12 inches of rain fell in the worst affected areas with winds gusting up to 90mph, uprooting buildings and leaving around four million people without power. Thousands of British holidaymakers stranded on the East Coast may have to wait several days as airlines clear the backlog that built up as several major airports were closed. New York had issued an unprecedented evacuation notice ordering 370,000 residents in at risk areas to leave their homes. The city was put into lock down as the entire transit system was closed, the National Guard patrolled the streets and shoppers cleared supermarkets of food and emergency supplies.

A man kayaks down West Broadway in Manhattan as flood waters ripple through Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighbourhood

 Initially the disaster everyone had feared seemed to be unfolding - roads turned into rivers as storm drains were unable to cope with the all-night torrential downpour. Times Square, known as the Crossroads of the World, was emptied out and large parts of the city looked like a ghost town. But as the high tide and flood surge did not materialise as predicted, leaving Wall St and most of Manhattan intact. In parts of the other four boroughs the floods briefly got up to thigh level and residents used kayaks to get around, although the waters receded as the surge waned.A few dozen people had to be rescued from their homes but there were no reports of deaths.

A Fairfield Beach Road home is submerged in Pine Creek in Fairfield, Connecticut as treacherous weather caused by Tropical Storm Irene came through the area on Sunday

As Irene worked up the East coast it was downgraded to a Tropical Storm, which meant it had winds between 39 and 73 miles per hour. A hurricane has winds of at least 74 miles per hour. Battling to maintain their credibility amid inevitable recriminations, weather forecasters and officials insisted the drastic precautions had been justified due to the hurricane’s unpredictability. In Florida, a surfer and another beachgoer were killed by heavy waves.

Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano said that President Barack Obama had been briefed on the progress of the storm throughout the weekend. She added that the operation to deal with it was now in the ‘response’ phase, which would soon be followed by the ‘recovery’ phase where assessments would be made about the damage.
‘We are not out of the woods yet,’ she said. 

‘Irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. Hazards still persist in communities where the storm has passed. ‘Unfortunately we have seen some loss of life but by and large with evacuations and other precautions we have dramatically decreased the risk to life over the course of the storm. ‘We have a way to go but it’s safe to say the worst of the storm, at least up to an including New York and New Jersey, has passed.’