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Irene: Maybe Not The Storm Of The Century, But Lots Of Damage

Flooding Sunday in Waitsfield, Vt.
Sandy Macys
/
AP
Flooding Sunday in Waitsfield, Vt.

Hurricane Irene is gone, but she won't be forgotten anytime soon.

As NPR's Larry Abramson said today on Morning Edition, "Irene did not turn out to be the storm of the century" and many beach towns "were stunned by how lucky they were."

But Irene also led to more than 20 deaths, cut the power to more than 5 million homes and businesses (many are still without electricity), forced the cancellation of about 11,000 flights and caused an estimated $7 billion in damages, according to the consulting firm Kinetic Analysis Corp.

Among the places where it's going to be days, or longer, before things are back to normal: Vermont. Though well inland, Irene's heavy rains caused extensive flooding across the state. On Morning Edition, Vermont Public Radio's Ross Sneyd said "when the storm came to Vermont and settled over the mountains, it just dropped buckets and buckets of rain" — 4 to 7 inches in just a few hours.

There's much more about what's happening in Vermont at VPR's website.

To the west in northern New York State and down the Hudson Valley, there's also been flooding and extensive power outages, as North Country Public Radio reports.

Other post-hurricane headlines this morning:

-- In North Carolina, "Irene Could Leave Many Without Power For Weeks." (Raleigh's News & Observer)

-- "Hatteras Island Cut Off When N.C. 12 Is Washed Out." (The Virginian-Pilot)

-- In New Jersey, "Many ... Roads Remain Closed By Flooding." (The Star-Ledger)

-- "Storm Damage Largely Spares" New York City. (The New York Times)

-- Around Albany, N.Y., "Massive Flooding Left In Irene's Wake." (Albany Times Union)

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.