Hurricane Irene kills 18, impacts millions in US

ne Irene petered out leaving 18 dead across seven states and impacting millions with strong winds and drenching rains, authorities prepared to fight dangerous, damaging flood waters along the East Coast.

By 8 p.m., Tropical Storm Irene had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was nearing the US-Canadian border, according to the National Hurricane Centre.

The cost from wind damage alone is expected to top $1 billion, with downed power lines leaving more than four million people without electricity, according to US government estimates.

'I want people to understand that this is not over,' President Barack Obama said Sunday evening from Washington. 'The impacts of this storm will be felt for some time, and the recovery effort will last for weeks or longer.'

Flood warnings and watches were in effect Sunday night for much of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, eastern New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Also hard-hit was New Jersey, where initial fears about coastal flooding -- which had prompted the evacuation of more than 1 million people from the shore -- had given way to fresh concerns about inland flooding.

In New York City, officials worked Sunday night to return the city to normal. Hours earlier, the Hudson River overflowed in lower Manhattan, receding only after massive amounts of water spilled over jogging paths and into at least one nearby apartment building.

Area's three major airports -- Newark Liberty in northern New Jersey and LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy in the New York City boroughs of Queens -- will reopen Monday, two days after they shut down.

New Jersey Transit rail service is suspended 'until further notice,' except for the Atlantic City rail line, but light rail and bus service will resume Monday.

A tropical storm in China: Heavy loss

Early Tuesday the storm was further north in Jilin province and moving northeastward with winds of 29 mph (47 kph). It says Muifa should continue to weaken though winds could gust up to 39 mph (62 kph) along the coast.

A tropical storm caused losses of about 3.1 billion yuan ($480 million), destroying hundreds of homes as it battered the country's east coast before slamming into North Korea on Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Muifa hit the North Korean coast overnight with winds gusting up to 52 miles per hour (83 kilometers per hour).


The National Disaster Reduction Committee said 1.35 million people were evacuated, 600 houses destroyed and another 4,800 damaged as Muifa skirted China's eastern coast.

There were no confirmed deaths in China, but one person was missing after a boat sank, and four people were killed in neighbouring South Korea.

In Shanghai, hundreds of flights had to be cancelled and thousands of fishing boats were called back to port over the weekend.

US oil giant ConocoPhillips said the storm had forced it to suspend clean-up operations on a two-month-old oil spill off the coast of Shandong province.

Authorities had expressed concern that Muifa could cause destruction similar to that unleashed by Typhoon Saomai in 2006, which was the worst to hit China in 50 years and killed at least 450 people.