Hurricane Irene churned northward toward Canada. By late Sunday evening, at least 19 deaths in six states were blamed on Irene since it made landfall early Saturday. Officials warned that the heavy rain dumped along the 1,200-kilometre Atlantic coast was swelling rivers, breaking dams and threatening flash floods over the coming days. The state of Vermont, the last target on Irene's list before departing to Canada, carried out a last minute evacuation of its capital, Montpelier, as water flooded its streets and swamped vehicles. New York City breathed a sigh of relief as Irene had been downgraded to a tropical storm. US President Barack Obama expressed condolences for those "who lost loved ones and those whose lives have been affected by the storm." He noted that while the storm had weakened, "many Americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding." An estimated 4 million people were without electricity, CNN reported. New York's major airports - Newark, JFK and LaGuardia - were to reopen Monday morning for service. Initial damage estimates ranged from 7 to 20 billion dollars as of Sunday, according to the Consumer Federation of America and Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland. -- SPA
