New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has lifted the unprecedented evacuation order in place for Hurricane Irene, allowing 370,000 people to return to their homes Sunday afternoon in low-lying areas of New York after the storm hit the city Sunday.

Also, the New York Stock Exchange will open Monday under a normal schedule, a spokesman said.

New York's transportation systems, including subways that transport some eight million people each weekday, are still shut down. Officials have not yet said when the transit system will be back in operation. Officials said they needed to assess the damage before determining when the buses and subways could start running again.

The Metro North commuter rail serving the suburbs north of the city was the most affected with three lines flooded, MTA Chairman Jay Walder told a news conference attended by Bloomberg and other city officials who assessed the hurricane damage.

There has been some question as to whether the New York Stock Exchange would open Monday, but after the storm a spokesman said its building and systems are in working order after the storm passed over the city as a tropical storm. He said the NYSE will open Monday, as normal.

The NASDAQ stock and the CME Group, owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, will also open normally on Monday.

New York took a direct hit from Irene but by the time the storm reached lower Manhattan early Sunday morning it was no longer at hurricane strength. Thus, flooding and damage in lower Manhattan, where the NYSE is located, was not as severe as officials feared.

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