US repairs while Canada still fears Irene

Further north millions of Americans were left in the dark battling historic floods caused by Hurricane Irene, which was yesterday downgraded to a Tropical Storm and is now moving into Canada.

The storm killed at least 20 people in the United States and cut power to 5 million homes and businesses.

New York subways and major airports were due to slowly regain service in early morning but people were hit by expected delays and overcrowding while others in parts of upstate New York were still experiencing severe flooding.

There were no more sandbags on the doors of the New York Stock Exchange this morning, although the volume traded on the financial markets was expected to be reduced.

Paul Orlando, 45, who works at a private bank, stood outside two blocks from Wall Street, smoking a cigarette and laughed that, in anticipation of a hellish commute, he had gotten to work two hours early.

But suburban New Jersey’s commuter rails were still suspended until further notice and rural small state of Vermont was hit by the worst flooding in nearly a century, which washed away bridges, swamped the town of Brattleboro and killed another victim.

“We prepared for the worst and we got the worst in central and southern Vermont,” Governor Peter Shumlin said on Monday.

Further delays for Britons

British tourists are still stranded in the United States and have been warned it could still be some time before they are able to return home. Air travel at major airports slowly started to resume service but travellers on the US coast toward Canada were warned of furthers delays because flights bound for Britain are already full.

Authorities have urged people to stay home from work as the state recovered and pieced together its battered transit system.

State office buildings, schools and universities were shut on Monday. Officials said 50,000 were experiencing blackouts and at least of the Vermont’s historic covered bridges was washed away.

While Americans are still mourning their victims, questions over the insurance policies and the capacity of the government’s flood programme to handle all the claims of this new natural disaster are raising.

This year has been the most extreme for weather in U.S. history, with $35 billion in losses so far from floods, tornadoes and heat waves.

In pictures: click on the image above for more pictures of Hurricane Irene