Hurricane Irene leaves flooding and destruction it its wake as ten die and millions without power while storm churns up East Coast

• Five deaths reported in North Carolina, three in Virginia and one in Maryland, including an 11-year-old child
• Surfer dies in Florida after trying to take advantage of high waves
• Residents told to stay indoors as flooding hits North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland
• Maryland warns that dam could fail threatening homes and people
• More than two million people without power as Hurricane Irene pummels North Carolina and Virginia
• Conditions ripe for tornadoes in New York City, warns National Weather Service, as twisters reported touching down in Delaware and Maryland
• Experts say biggest danger are storm surges of up to 11ft that could hit New York City
• Downgraded to category 1 storm as hurricane made landfall near Cape Lookout
• New York governor Andrew Cuomo sends 1,900 National Guard soldiers to New York City

By John Stevens and Jennifer Madison

Last updated at 7:13 AM on 28th August 2011
The destructive power of Hurricane Irene was revealed last night as at least ten people, including two children, were dead as the storm lashed North Carolina and Virginia as it charged up the East Coast toward New York.
More than two million people from South Carolina to Maryland were without power as the giant 580-mile-wide storm brought widespread flooding and high winds that knocked down power lines.
Irene's strength was downgraded to a category 1 hurricane, but as it approached New York, forcasters warned it would hit the city at or near hurricane strength.
The National Weather Service said conditions were ripe for tornadoes in the city, Long Island and southern Connecticut, as twisters were reported touching down in Delaware and Maryland.

Flooding: Two men use a boat to explore a street flooded by Hurricane Irene in Monteo, North Carolina

Washed away: The Albemarle Sound floods vehicles outside a Dairy Queen shortly after Hurricane Irene barreled through the Outer Banks in Nags Head, North Carolina

Storm: Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center rate Irene a category 1 storm with winds in excess of 85 mph (137 kph)

Jarod Wilton looks at the flood waters rising to his doorstep, in Alliance, North Carolina

Around two million people were without power in Virginia as Irene battered the region, reported state governor Bob McDonnell.
Progress Energy, North and South Carolina's utility service, said about 250,000 customers had lost electricity there.

Widespread flooding was caused by Irene pushing a giant storm surge, a wall of water, out of its way as it marched up the Atlantic Coast.
In many places, forecasters warned, the storm surge could be as destructive as the hurricane itself, flooding low-lying areas before the storm even arrives with its winds and pelting rain.
Daniel Brown, the warning coordination meteorologist for NOAA's National Hurricane Centre, said: 'Storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 4 to 8 feet above ground level within the hurricane warning area from the North Carolina/Virginia border northward to Cape Cod.'

He added: 'Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large, destructive, and life-threatening waves.'
In Maryland, authorities warned of a potential dam failure late on Saturday, they they warned 'may cause significant flooding that could threaten people, homes and roads downstream from the St. Mary's Lake Dam'.
St Mary's County Government urged residents in the immediate downstream area to move family and pets upstairs or to a high place with a means of escape.

Deaths blamed on Irene included two children, an 11-year-old boy in Virginia killed when a tree crashed through his roof and a North Carolina child who died in a crash at an intersection where traffic lights were out.

Destruction: The hurricane force winds of Irene rip the siding off of homes on Nags Head, North Carolina

Destructive path: This chart shows the forecast for the hurricane's charge up the East Coast

Warning: Despite the hurricane being downgraded to a Category 1 storm, it is still expected to have locally extreme impacts

Heeling: One of two people rescued from a sailboat, right, uses a line to make their way onto the beach on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk today

Sprawling: Hurricane Irene opened its assault on the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday by lashing the North Carolina coast with wind as strong as 115 mph and pounding shoreline homes with waves

Tragedy: A young boy was killed after a large tree fell onto his apartment in Newport News, Virginia. He was pronounced dead at the scene

Maze of destruction: A vehicle avoids a downed utility pole on Woodlawn St as Hurricane Irene hits Greenville, North Carolina today

A man in Onslow County, North Carolina suffered a heart attack and died while boarding up his windows, according to the Charlotte Observer. A man in Nash County was killed outside his house after he was struck by a tree limb picked up by the strong winds.
Sheriff Dick Jenkins told WRAL.com that the man, who was not identified, went to feed his animals outside his Nashville, North Carolina home, when a tree or branch fell on him.
In Florida, a surfer was killed when he was knocked off his board at New Smyrna Beach, where surfers had flocked to take advantage of 10-foot waves.
'It appears he went over a wave and might have gone head first into the ground,' Tammy Marris, a spokeswoman for the Volusia County Beach Patrol, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Two additional people died in car accidents in North Carolina on Saturday night as a result of the hurricane. Another man died in Chesterfield County, Virginia, after a tree fell on his home.
In Queenstown, Maryland, a woman died after a tree knocked a chimney through the roof of her home, crushing her.
Tornadoes were reported touching down in Delaware and Maryland. In Lewes, Delaware, governor Jack Markell said at least 17 homes had been damaged by a twister. In total, up to 40 houses were damaged in the town because of the storm.
The National Weather Service reported a tornado touching down in Nassau Station, Delaware, and Maryland State Police said there was an apparent tornado on the lower Eastern Shore of the state.

Full force winds: A row of beachfront houses, some condemned before the arrival of Hurricane Irene, get lashed by wind, rain, and the rising Atlantic Ocean

Danger: Homes that sit on the sand of North Carolina's beaches are in danger of collapse as strong waves from Hurricane Irene strike the coast

Under water: Waves lap at the foundation of a house along Calico Creek today in Morehead City, North Carolina

Rising: High water floods the waterfront of the downtown area as Hurricane Irene comes ashore near Morehead City, North Carolina

Running from the storm: A pedestrian crosses an open area as Hurricane Irene passes through Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina this morning

Destruction: Wayne Lanier, proprietor of the Atlantic Food Mart, carries ice into his store next to a gas canopy that was knocked over from the winds by Hurricane Irene in Surf City, North Carolina today

GLENN BECK: HURRICANE IRENE IS A 'BLESSING FROM GOD'

Controversial talk show host Glenn Beck called Hurricane Irene a 'blessing from God' on Friday, arguing the fatal storm would teach people to be better prepared for natural disasters. 
Speaking on his radio programme, he said he has been urging his audience to prepare for a 'global disruption in food'.
Beck said while some have laughed at him, the storm will prove it is vital Americans stockpile supplies in the even of a disaster.
'How many warnings do you think you're going to get and how many warnings do you deserve?' he asked.
'This hurricane that is coming thorough in the East Coast, for anyone who's in the East Coast and has been listening to me say "Food storage!" "Be prepared!" "Be somebody that can help others," you've heard me say this for years.'
'Don't be in a panic situation. If you've waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you - as was the earthquake last week - it's God reminding you you're not in control. Things can happen. Be prepared and be someone who can help others so when disaster strikes, God forbid, you're not panicking,' he said.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo doubled the number of National Guard soldiers deployed to New York City to 1,900.
The troops, who have been mobilised from across the state, will assist with traffic control on bridges and tunnels, sandbagging operations at the World Trade Center site, evacuation shelter operations in New York, the construction of barriers for railway yards and train tunnels, and other hurricane emergency efforts.
Irene came ashore near North Carolina's Cape Lookout around 7:30am EDT, and then chugged up the coast on a north-northeast track.
The hurricane stirred up seven-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.
Across the Northeast, drenched by rain this summer, the ground is already saturated, raising the risk of flooding as well as the danger of trees falling onto homes and power lines.
Eastern North Carolina got 10 to 14 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Virginia's Hampton Roads area was drenched with at least nine inches, with 16 reported in some spots.
By late Saturday night, the storm had sustained winds of 80 mph, down from 100 mph on Friday.
That made it a Category 1, the least threatening on a 1-to-5 scale, and barely stronger than a tropical storm.
Nevertheless, it was still considered highly dangerous, capable of causing ruinous flooding across much of the East Coast with a combination of storm surge, high tides and 6 to 12 inches of rain.
Irene was moving north-northeast at 16 mph, slightly faster than it had been earlier in the day, giving it somewhat less opportunity to dump on any particular area. But a typical hurricane would be moving much faster, 25 to 30 mph, said senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart of the National Hurricane Center.
Moving slowly over the relatively colder water could weaken the storm, but Stewart said Irene will still likely be a hurricane when it makes landfall in the New York area around noon on Sunday.
Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett warned that the state will not necessarily be out of danger once the storm has passed: 'The rivers may not crest until Tuesday or Wednesday. This isn't just a 24-hour event.'
As of Saturday evening, Irene was hugging the U.S. coastline on a path that could scrape every state along the Eastern Seaboard. Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida, said it would be a 'low-end hurricane, high-end tropical storm' by the time it crossed the New York City area late Sunday morning.
The storm is so large that areas far from Irene's center are going to be feeling strong winds and getting large amounts of rain, he said.
'It is a big, windy, rainy event,' he said.
It was 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 on August 29 2005.

Briefing: President Barack Obama (2nd R) listens as FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (R) updates representatives from various U.S. safety agencies, including U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (3rdR) on Hurricane Irene

Urgency: Charlene Tyler picks up sandbags in a cart during a sandbag distribution to Washington, DC residents

Helping hand: Workers load sandbags into vehicles during a sandbag distribution to Washington, DC residents in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Irene near R.F.K. Stadium today

Taking cover: Charles Foster of Long Neck, Delaware, relaxes with a book as he joins over 275 other people who checked into the Red Cross center at Indian River High School to ride out Hurricane Irene in Dagsboro

Barriers: Pedestrians walk past sandbags laid down at downtown Manhattan, which will be used to control possible floods

Full defence: Sandbags are used to surround a basement entrance as New Yorkers brace themselves for Irene.

Experts guessed that no other hurricane in American history had threatened as many people.
North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue said Irene inflicted significant damage along her state's coast, but that some areas were unreachable because of high water or downed power lines.
'Folks are cut off in parts of North Carolina, and obviously we're not going to get anybody to do an assessment until it's safe,' she said.At least 2.3 million people were under orders to move to somewhere safer, though it was unclear how many obeyed or, in some cases, how they could.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told 6,500 troops from all branches of the military to get ready to pitch in on relief work, and President Barack Obama visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency's command centre in Washington and offered moral support.

'It's going to be a long 72 hours,' he said, 'and obviously a lot of families are going to be affected.'

In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter declared a state of emergency, the first for the city since 1986, when racial tensions were running high.

'We are trying to save lives and don't have time for silliness,' he said.

The storm arrived in Washington just days after an earthquake damaged some of the capital's most famous structures, including the Washington Monument.

Irene could test Washington's ability to protect its national treasures and its poor.

In New Jersey, the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, just a few miles from the coast, shut down as a precaution as Irene closed in. And Boston's transit authority said all bus, subway and commuter rail service would be suspended all day Sunday.
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