As Irene Lifts From New York, The Worst Appears Over -Part 1 | WPN World People News

Hurricane Irene made its second landfall near Little Egg Inlet, N.J. and then as it weakened into a tropical storm, the eye hit Coney Island in Brooklyn. That means New Yorkers woke up to howling winds and pounding rain, but by noon after a bit of flooding in lower Manhattan, the worst appeared over.

Water sits onteh streets of Brooklyn's Red Hook Neighborhood on Sunday.

Irene first made U.S. landfall on Saturday morning in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Through the day and night it hugged the East Coast, as it trudged through Virginia and Maryland.

The AP reports that 14 people have died and about four million are without power.

Local television coverage of the storm has shown a great deal of wind damage, including blown off roofs, downed trees and power lines and a couple of washed out piers in North Carolina. As the Virginian-Pilot reports, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell had said the storm had the potential to be "catastrophic." But in a lot of areas, reports the paper, the storm has fallen short of the worst predictions.

"I think it's a little strong to say we dodged a bullet, however it certainly could have turned out worse for the Hampton Roads area," weather service meteorologist Mike Montefusco told the AP.

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue told the AP Irene had inflicted significant damage and some people were stranded and unreachable.

As the storm moves north, the bigger problem will be flooding, meteorologists said.

We've been following the news about Irene all week and will continue to do that through the weekend. We began this post at 7 a.m. ET and will keep it updated through the day. Be sure to hit your refresh button to see our latest updates.

Source: NPR