Hurricane Irene Hits Northeastern United States

02 September 2011

Two men use a boat to get down the street in Manteo, North Carolina Saturday, August 27.

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Emergency crews in the eastern United States are still working to help people affected by Hurricane Irene. The hurricane struck the coast of North Carolina with winds of up to one hundred twenty kilometers an hour last Saturday. The storm weakened as it moved north. But Irene brought heavy rains and destructive winds to the densely populated east coast.

Hundreds of thousands of people were told to leave areas likely to suffer flooding. That included parts of New York City where Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered over two hundred fifty thousand people to evacuate.

Irene is blamed for more than forty deaths in the United States. Five deaths were reported in the Caribbean.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo estimated his state suffered one billion dollars in damage. Estimates place the total damage from the storm at about seven billion dollars. Insurance companies are expected to pay forty to fifty percent of these costs. But costs of lost trade for the travel industry, especially in North Carolina, will be high at a time when the nation’s economy is struggling. The government reported Friday that the national unemployment rate held at nine point one percent in August.

High winds and flooding from Irene brought down electrical lines, causing about four million people to lose power. Days after the storm, hundreds of thousands were still without electricity.