Even though much of New York was spared the full fury of tropical storm Irene, other areas in the northeastern US are counting the cost.

Over 4 million people are without power and just over a metre of water has submerged some areas.
A total of 15 deaths have been recorded throughout the whole event since the storm made landfall over the weekend as a hurricane in the United States.

Some areas basically dodged a bullet, such as New York city, but others were vulnerable to the impact of Irene with flooding and high winds resulting in some damage although generally minimal as many people had prepared themselves.

Hurricane and storm warnings were sent out well in advance.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell had initially warned that Irene could be a “catastrophic” monster with record storm surges of up to almost 3 metres.

But in Virginia Beach, the city posted on Twitter that initial reports were promising, with the resort area suffering minimal damage. And in Ocean City, Mayor Rick Meehan reported: “Scattered power outages. No reports of major damage!”

Rain is still falling over parts of New York with some heavy falls and gusty winds but nothing to the extent that was predicted.