AKI Man
Legend
<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>New York City is being hit by heavy rains and powerful winds, which have knocked out electricity lines and flooded some of Lower Manhattan's deserted streets even as the powerful weather system lost some of its strength.
Forecasters downgraded Hurricane Irene to a tropical storm on Sunday, but it had already left a trail of destruction along the US east coast, leaving at least eight people dead in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
New York's normally bustling streets emptied out overnight and public transport came to a halt after Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, ordered the first mandatory evacuation ever in the city.
There was about a foot of water in the streets in Lower Manhattan and the tide seemed to be rising, although there was less damage than many had feared.
Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from New York, said "the storm did not cause the level of damage expected in New York, but in some parts of the east coast there has been some severe damage".
"But for the time being New York has dodged the bullet," he said.
Capital spared
Washington had braced for the onslaught, too, as did Philadelphia, the New Jersey shore and, further north, the Boston metropolitan area.
The storm dumped up to eight inches of rain on the Washington region, but the capital appeared to have avoided major damage.
Click here for Al Jazeera's live blog on Irene
Some bridges were closed but airports remained open and transit operated on a normal schedule.
As Irene hit the New Jersey shore earlier, where it made its second landfall after North Carolina on Saturday, its wind strength diminished substantially, dropping to just 100km an hour, but it still remained a massive storm.
More than 370,000 people were told to leave low-lying areas of New York, mostly in Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, by 5pm on Saturday.
But late on Saturday, Bloomberg said the time to leave the city had passed.
Times Square in New York, was almost empty as Irene rolled into the city with full force.
Forecasters said Irene still posed a serious threat of storm surge that could raise water levels in coastal areas from Virginia to Massachusetts, with the risk of isolated tornadoes.
Storm surge risk
The fear is the storm surge could affect New York's Hudson River, which could potentially flood the defences of Lower Manhattan and cause flooding in the financial district there.
Officials said there was an outside chance that a storm surge could send seawater streaming into the maze of underground vaults that hold the city's cables and pipes, knocking out power to thousands and crippling the nation's financial capital.
Already ocean water has streamed into streets in New York's Queens district, while streets in Brooklyn's Coney Island were also under water, the Associated Press news agency reported.
On Wall Street, sandbags were placed around subway grates, while construction work has been halted across the city.
Al Jazeera's Anand Naidoo reports from New York's Times Square about Hurricane Irene
The storm has already knocked out power to at least 1.8 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and forced the cancellation of more than 10,000 flights.
Tens of millions of air travellers, train passengers and subway and bus riders scrambled to adjust their routines, work commutes and summer holiday plans as transport networks gradually scaled back operations.
US officials, mindful of the much criticised slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which killed hundreds in New Orleans in 2005, have been out in full force urging residents in the path of the hurricane to prepare and take heed of local warnings.
US President Barack Obama stopped by an emergency co-ordination centre where federal officials were monitoring the hurricane on large screens and said: "You guys are doing a great job."
Obama was again briefed on the storm's track, its impact and response efforts during an evening conference call with senior officials including Joe Biden, the vice-president, Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary, and Steven Chu, the energy secretary[/quote]
Forecasters downgraded Hurricane Irene to a tropical storm on Sunday, but it had already left a trail of destruction along the US east coast, leaving at least eight people dead in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
New York's normally bustling streets emptied out overnight and public transport came to a halt after Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, ordered the first mandatory evacuation ever in the city.
There was about a foot of water in the streets in Lower Manhattan and the tide seemed to be rising, although there was less damage than many had feared.
Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from New York, said "the storm did not cause the level of damage expected in New York, but in some parts of the east coast there has been some severe damage".
"But for the time being New York has dodged the bullet," he said.
Capital spared
Washington had braced for the onslaught, too, as did Philadelphia, the New Jersey shore and, further north, the Boston metropolitan area.
The storm dumped up to eight inches of rain on the Washington region, but the capital appeared to have avoided major damage.
Click here for Al Jazeera's live blog on Irene
Some bridges were closed but airports remained open and transit operated on a normal schedule.
As Irene hit the New Jersey shore earlier, where it made its second landfall after North Carolina on Saturday, its wind strength diminished substantially, dropping to just 100km an hour, but it still remained a massive storm.
More than 370,000 people were told to leave low-lying areas of New York, mostly in Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, by 5pm on Saturday.
But late on Saturday, Bloomberg said the time to leave the city had passed.
Times Square in New York, was almost empty as Irene rolled into the city with full force.
Forecasters said Irene still posed a serious threat of storm surge that could raise water levels in coastal areas from Virginia to Massachusetts, with the risk of isolated tornadoes.
Storm surge risk
The fear is the storm surge could affect New York's Hudson River, which could potentially flood the defences of Lower Manhattan and cause flooding in the financial district there.
Officials said there was an outside chance that a storm surge could send seawater streaming into the maze of underground vaults that hold the city's cables and pipes, knocking out power to thousands and crippling the nation's financial capital.
Already ocean water has streamed into streets in New York's Queens district, while streets in Brooklyn's Coney Island were also under water, the Associated Press news agency reported.
On Wall Street, sandbags were placed around subway grates, while construction work has been halted across the city.
Al Jazeera's Anand Naidoo reports from New York's Times Square about Hurricane Irene
The storm has already knocked out power to at least 1.8 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and forced the cancellation of more than 10,000 flights.
Tens of millions of air travellers, train passengers and subway and bus riders scrambled to adjust their routines, work commutes and summer holiday plans as transport networks gradually scaled back operations.
US officials, mindful of the much criticised slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which killed hundreds in New Orleans in 2005, have been out in full force urging residents in the path of the hurricane to prepare and take heed of local warnings.
US President Barack Obama stopped by an emergency co-ordination centre where federal officials were monitoring the hurricane on large screens and said: "You guys are doing a great job."
Obama was again briefed on the storm's track, its impact and response efforts during an evening conference call with senior officials including Joe Biden, the vice-president, Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary, and Steven Chu, the energy secretary[/quote]
Hope everyone is ok.