Many states in the path of Irene declared disasters. Governors in several states activated over four thousand National Guard members to help in rescue and relief efforts.

In North Carolina, some communities near the ocean were flooded and cut off from the mainland. And the small northeastern state of Vermont was especially hard hit. Emergency workers have had to airlift food and supplies to thousands of people trapped by flood waters. Officials said it was the worst flooding in Vermont in almost one hundred years. This man describes what he saw in the community of Woodstock.

MICHAEL RICCI: “The water in the yard was almost up to the house, which is another ten feet above this level, which is probably fifteen or twenty feet above the normal river level. So the water was really, really up very high. And the force of it was beyond our comprehension.”

President Obama has made major disaster declarations for North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Vermont and Puerto Rico. Emergency declarations were made for all coastal states from North Carolina to Maine. These declarations release federal aid through FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Roger Pielke is a professor in environmental studies at the University of Colorado. He says the economic costs of hurricanes have grown many times over the years. This is because millions of people in the United States have crowded coastal areas that are often affected by storms.