Hurricane Irene on Monday had hit Puerto Rico and was aiming for the Dominican Republic and may hit the U.S. by the end of the week. The storm flooded streets, knocked down trees throughout the island, caused several rivers to overflow their banks and left more than a million Puerto Ricans without power. But there were no immediate reports of any deaths. Remnants of Irene were expected to continue hitting the island most of Monday, said Jose Alamo, a U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist in San Juan. Forecasters earlier said Irene was likely to pass south of Puerto Rico, but the storm shifted north and was passed directly over the U.S. island territory overnight. In the U.S., Irene, the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season, was expected to affect Florida later in the week and could hit Georgia and North and South Carolina.
