Hurricane Irene by the numbers: state by state damage reports
Federal officials began to survey the damage caused by hurricane Irene – from continued power outages to communities still stranded by floodwaters.
A home destroyed by tropical storm Irene rests on the beach in East Haven, Conn., Monday.
Jessica Hill/AP
Boston
From North Carolina to Vermont, federal officials fanned out along the storm-stricken East Coast Tuesday inspecting damage hurricane Irene inflicted over the weekend.
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Some 42 deaths have been attributed directly or indirectly to the storm, which struck North Carolina's Outer Banks as a category 1 hurricane last Saturday morning. It made its final landfall Sunday morning at New York City as a tropical storm, then worked its way into New England finally to lose its tropical-storm status over central Maine on Monday.
Along the way high winds, storm surge, and especially the storms torrential rains caused damage initially estimated at between $7 billion and $10 billion.
IN PICTURES: Hurricane Irene
In Vermont, Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, joined the state's governor, Peter Shumlin (D), along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) Monday to survey some of the damaged areas.
In an interview with the New England Cable Network prior to the survey trip, Governor Shumlin cited three confirmed deaths from the storm. In addition he noted "a huge loss of homes and businesses ... it seems like there's no end to the extraordinary destruction – not to mention the roads, bridges, and infrastructure."
All along Irene's path, some of the most welcome progress has come as utility crews have restored electricity to homes and businesses throughout the region.
Power outages
By midday Monday, some estimates put the number of utility customers without power in the 12 states Irene affected at about 2.5 million, down substantially from the 5 million estimated the day before.
In Maryland, for example, Irene initially cut power to some 800,000 customers as of Sunday night, according to Ed McDonough, a spokesman for Maryland's Emergency Management Agency. Since a typical customer account provides electricity for more than one person, those 800,000 customers represent roughly 2 million people.
Today, about 250,000 customers are still waiting to reconnect to the grid.
In New York, power has been restored to about 530,000 customers of the 950,000 initially affected by Irene, according to Dennis Michalski, a spokesman for the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
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