Irene Pummels the East Coast

Aug. 28: A flooded basement in Jersey City, N.J. (Fox News)

Aug. 28: A fallen tree in Jersey City, N.J. (Fox News)

Aug. 28: A man pedals through a flooded street in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York. Seawater surged into the streets of Manhattan on Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene slammed into New York, downgraded from a hurricane but still unleashing furious wind and rain. The flooding threatened Wall Street and the heart of the global financial network. (AP)

Aug. 28: Jeny Cuffton carries her belongs from her home after it was flooded by Hurricane Irene Saturday in Columbia, N.C. The storm killed at least 14 people and left 4 million homes and businesses without power. It unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina and spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (AP)

Aug. 28: A flooded road is seen in Hatteras Island, N.C., after Hurricane Irene swept through the area Saturday cutting the roadway in five locations. Irene caused more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast to reportedly lose power over the weekend, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm. (AP)

Aug. 28: Waves crash over the shore during high tide during a storm surge from Hurricane Irene in Bayshore, N.Y., on Long Island. (AP)

Aug. 28: People walk on the beach as an American flag flaps in the wind after Hurricane Irene, in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP)

Aug. 28: A vehicle navigates through water in the road left behind by Hurricane Irene in Nags Head, N.C. The hurricane unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina, spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and left 3 million homes and businesses without power as it moved up the East Coast. (AP)

Aug. 28: A large, fallen tree blocks a road while it rest on some cars in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP)

Aug. 28: People sleep at Penn Station in New York, as Hurricane Irene approaches the region. Public transportation in New York shut down around noon on Saturday. Irene has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage all along a densely populated arc that includes Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and beyond. (AP)

Aug. 28: A downed tree blocks a section of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, with City Hall visible, in Philadelphia, as Hurricane Irene makes its way along the Eastern Seaboard. (AP)

Aug. 28: A New Jersey state trooper removes debris caused by Hurricane Irene on the Garden State Parkway near Stone Harbor, N.J. Hurricane Irene has made landfall along the New Jersey coast near Little Egg Inlet with 75-mph winds, the first hurricane to make landfall in the Garden State in over a century. (AP)

Aug. 28: A man walks in Times Square as Hurricane Irene arrives in New York. (AP)

Aug. 28: Waves crash against a partially damaged pier in Ocean City, Md., after Hurricane Irene churned along the Maryland coast overnight. Authorities in Ocean City said that there were no reports of major damage. (AP)

Aug. 28: A man walks past a damaged store front on a boardwalk in Ocean City, Md., after Hurricane Irene churned along the Maryland coast overnight. Authorities in Ocean City said that there were no reports of major damage. (AP)

Aug. 28: Lower Manhattan is seen amidst dark clouds in New York. (AP)

Aug. 27: The New York City skyline is seen under clouds as Hurricane Irene approaches in New York. (AP)

Hurricane Irene is the first hurricane to make landfall in the continental United States since 2008, and came almost six years to the day after Katrina ravaged New Orleans. Experts guessed that no other hurricane in American history had threatened as many people. <i>In this photo: 45-mph winds blow trees in Ocean City, MD.</i>   (Fox News)

New York city ordered evacuations for low-lying areas, including Battery Park City at the southern edge of Manhattan, Coney Island with its famous amusement park and the beachfront Rockaways in Queens, pictured here. (Fox News)

Atlantic City evacuation leaves Caesar's Palace poker room empty.  The hurricane is forcing the third Atlantic City casino shutdown in 33 years. (Fox News)

Renee Scorcia helps her Howard's Beach, Queens family fill sandbags. New York has seen only a handful of hurricanes in the past 200 years. The Northeast is much more used to snowstorms -- including the blizzard last December, when Bloomberg was criticized for a slow response.

In New York, authorities began the herculean job of bringing the city to a halt. The subway began shutting down at noon, the first time the system was closed because of a natural disaster. It was expected to take as long as eight hours for all the trains to complete their runs and be taken out of service. (Fox News)

The hurricane stirred up 7-foot waves, and forecasters warned of storm-surge danger on the coasts of Virginia and Delaware, along the Jersey Shore and in New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. In the Northeast, drenched by rain this summer, the ground is already saturated, raising the risk of flooding. (Fox News)

Aug. 27: People take refuge at Middle School 4 after evacuations occurred in Jersey City, N.J. The school is one of many shelters open to anyone looking to seek shelter from Hurricane Irene. (AP)

Aug. 27: A tornado as a result of Hurricane Irene touched down in the Old Orchard Road and New Road area west of Lewes, Del. damaging several homes and uprooting trees.  (The Daily Times/AP)

Aug. 27: Floodwaters rise at dusk from the Albemarle Sound on the Outer Banks in Nags Head, N.C., as Hurricane Irene leaves the North Carolina coast. Hurricane Irene knocked out power and piers in North Carolina, clobbered Virginia with wind and churned up the coast Saturday to confront cities more accustomed to snowstorms than tropical storms. (AP)

Aug. 27: Two men use a boat to explore a street flooded by Hurricane Irene in Monteo, N.C. (AP)

Aug. 27: A group of people pose for photos on Fifth Avenue while vehicle traffic is light in advance of Hurricane Irene in New York. (AP)

Aug. 27: Kayla Mejia of Annapolis, Md. laughs as her umbrella turns inside out from the winds from Hurricane Irene as she visits City Dock in Annapolis, Md. (AP)

Aug. 27: Blowing sand and rain are seen on the beach as the effects of Hurricane Irene are felt in Nags Head, N.C. (AP2011)

Aug. 27: One of two people rescued from a sailboat, right, uses a line to make their way onto the beach on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk, Va., after they and another person were rescued from the boat that foundered in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. A rescuer, left, waits for a second person to exit the boat. (AP )

Aug. 27: Ann and Ted Odell look outside their front door during a break in the storm Saturday in Morehead City, N.C.  (AP)

Aug. 27: Donessa Arapi who lives in the Colonial Place neighborhood of Norfolk, Va., walks through the water at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Colonial Avenue looking at the flood waters from the Lafayette River early Saturday morning. She was walking through a light rain before the heavy rains and wind began later in the morning. (AP)

Aug. 27, 2011: Virginia Beach visitors point out the waves as Hurricane Irene approaches the region in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP)

Aug. 27, 2011: Residents fill bags of sand as they prepare for Hurricane Irene in Annapolis, Md. (AP2011)

Aug. 27, 2011: An Ocean City Police Department vehicle makes its way down Philadelphia Avenue in Ocean City, Md. (AP2011)

Aug. 27, 2011: Antoine White walks in the effects of Hurricane Irene in Elizabeth City, N.C., as the storm moves up the North Carolina coast.

Aug. 27, 2011: Summer resident Jody Bowers braces himself from a blast of sand and driving rain as he makes his way to the beach in Kill Devil Hills, Outer Banks, N.C.

Aug. 27, 2011: Abandoned beach front houses are surrounded by rising water as the effects of Hurricane Irene are felt in Nags Head, N.C. (AP2011)

Aug. 25: A man walks along the waterfront as Hurricane Irene passes to the east of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. (AP)

Aug. 24: Palm trees blow on an empty beach as bands of rain and wind from Hurricane Irene hit Nassau, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. (AP)

Aug. 26: Kia Head carries Christian Searcy in her arms while protecting their faces from wind and sand blown in from Hurricane Irene in Tybee Island, Ga. (AP)

Aug. 26: People buy generators and plywood boards as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Irene in Kitty Hawk, N.C. on North Carolina's Outer Banks. (AP)

Aug. 26: Sandbridge resident Sonny Latulipe fills sandbags in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP)

Aug. 26: Clouds gather over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington. The memorial's dedication ceremony has been postponed due to the impending arrival of Hurrican Irene. (AP)

Aug. 26: People take sandbags off of a truck as residents prepare for Hurricane Irene in Annapolis, Md. (AP)

Aug. 24: Roxani Palacios of Nassau takes a photograph of approaching stor clouds as the wind blows from the effects of Hurricane Irene in Nassau, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. (AP)

Aug. 24: Residents watch the water outside their home in the Moscu neighborhood of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic of an overflowed river after the passing of Hurricane Irene. (AP)

Aug. 24: Storm clouds are seen off the coast of Nassau, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. (AP)

Aug. 25: Even though the center of Hurricane Irene is more than 230 miles away, clouds associated with extreme outer bands of the tropical cyclone swirl above calm waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami. (AP)

Aug. 22: A man wades through a flooded street in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, after hurricane Irene hit the area. (AP)

Aug. 22: A fisherman casts his line into the sea at Havana's bay in Cuba, Monday. Hurricane Irene left behind a mess of downed trees and flooded streets in Puerto Rico as the storm headed out over warm ocean water on a path that could take it to Cuba by Wednesday and to the U.S. mainland by the end of the week. (AP)

Aug. 22: A resident walks along Los Yayales beach as strong waves crash due to the approach of Hurricane Irene to Nagua, in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. (AP)