This figure will surely escalate as state and federal officials quantify the losses arising from crop damage, costs of clean-up, road-and-bridge repairs among other expenses.
Irene's damages to the U.S. mainland probably reached $3.4 billion but only 60% of it was covered.
While parts of the East Coast hard-hit by Hurricane Irene manage the damage and despair in Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont another storm is cranking up in the Atlantic -- Tropical Storm Katia is on a path to become Hurricane Katia 2011 later Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The threat of Katia comes just days after Irene battered the Caribbean and the U.S. It's too early to tell if Katia will also hit the U.S.
The costly process of rebuilding after Hurricane Irene promises to be complicated by the fact that much of the damage was caused by flooding and will not be covered by homeowner insurance.
While parts of the East Coast hit hard by Hurricane Irene manage the damage and despair in Connecticut, North Carolina, New Jersey and Vermont another storm is cranking up in the Atlantic -- Tropical Storm Katia, likely to become Hurricane Katia later today, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Brent crude hovered at $114 a barrel Wednesday, after posting six days of gains, on expectations the United States will act again to try and boost growth and increase demand for oil.
Katia could become a major hurricane, forecasters say. The tropical storm is strengthening.
National Guard and firefighters rescued hundreds people from record flooding in New Jersey on Tuesday and Vermont planned to airlift food and water to inland towns cut off by Hurricane Irene after its paralyzing rampage through the U.S. northeast.
The Passaic River in northern New Jersey crested Tuesday morning and forced mandatory evacuations.
Developing Tropical Storm Katia is likely to become major Hurricane Katia -- with potential, albeit slim chance of eventually striking the U.S. as Hurricane Irene did last week.
In the aftermath of devastating Hurricane Irene, while Vermont still battles flood waters and millions along the U.S. East Coast pick up, Tropical Storm Katia has formed and is slowly strengthening as it moves across the Atlantic, expected to soon become Hurricane Katia.
Limbaugh also fired some volleys at the mainstream media for their coverage of the storm.
Extensive flooding remained in parts of New Jersey on Tuesday. Passaic County in the northern part of the state and Mercer and Middlesex Counties in the central part were particularly hard-hit, with water reaching the roofs of some houses.
Two men who ventured out into the storm on Saturday night (and were subsequently reported as missing) were found dead on Monday afternoon.
The recovery from Hurricane Irene in the U.S. has only just begun, but another tropical disturbance, Tropical Storm Katia, is slowly strengthening over the eastern tropical Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The Hurricane Irene death toll continues to rise, including a Holocaust survivor who was found dead in floodwaters on Sunday in a Catskills cottage.
Connecticut's utilities, maintenance, and emergency crews continued to play catch-up Tuesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, reducing the number of customers without power to about 420,000.
The storm arrived just as many farmers were planning to harvest corn, cotton, tobacco and other crops.
By Tuesday, the death toll from Irene had risen to at least 40. The sharp increase from initial reports of 25 casualties came as a number of drowned bodies were recovered and several more people electrocuted by downed power lines.
The federal government will distribute emergency supplies across Vermont to people and communities still feeling the effects of Hurricane Irene, which is threatening to become the state's worst natural disaster since the historic 1927 flood.
Nearly a quarter of Long Islanders are in the dark three days after Irene lashed the island
Massive flooding and widespread power outages continued to bother Vermont on Tuesday after Hurricane Irene hit the small Northern state on Sunday.
