all day heavy rains from tropical storm irene overwhelmed creeks and rivers across new england. quaint main streets became muddy torrens. this is a little village north of new york city in the catskills. just look at the force of this water at woodstock, vermont. those are propane tanks picked up and carried away. nothing can escape the current once it falls in. not even cars. trapped in the raging waters this sedan was batted around like driftwood. fortunately no one was in the vehicle. whoa! get out of here. grab the mic. that s a reporter with wcbs at ashbury park, new jersey. she and the crew thought they were far enough away from the water, but they were wrong. on long island large sand berms to protect the life guard station worked for a while. but in the end the building smashed into the pier. hello. thanks for joining us. i m martin as a savidge. don lemon is off tonight. irene may have lost hurricane status but as a tropical storm it s been just as menacing. it m
we begin this morning, talking about the aftermath of irene, the massive storm that paralyzed and pummeled much of the east coast. today, it s blamed for at least 21 deaths in nine states from florida to vermont. and at last count, about 3 million homes and businesses are still without power. more than a billion dollars in damages is blamed on the storms winds. flooding damage will be much more costly. three navy ships should be positioned in relief efforts from new york to new england. cnn crews are in place, measuring the storm s impact and the struggle for the millions of americans trying to move on now. we ll take you from north carolina to new york to new england and give you the big picture from the cnn weather center, right here in atlanta. let s go ahead and begin in vermont, a state reeling from some of its worst flooding in decades. gary tuchman there in brat tleboro. reporter: they don t deal with hurricanes, at least not until yesterday when tropical storm ire
who may be in need of damage control after irene? plus graphic new evidence of brutality by moammar gadhafi and his inner circle. this just as we re hearing his wife and several children have now escaped libya. the pressure now growing to make sure gadhafi himself doesn t get away. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. raging water in the northeast so powerful it can sweep away cars and swallow up homes. right now vermont is devastated by the worst flooding in decades. cnn s amber lyon joins us from brattleboro in vermont. set the scene a little bit, amber, for what s going on. what are you seeing? what are you hearing? reporter: well, out here, wolf, had i been standing out here earlier yesterday, i would be completely under water. i want to come here and show you this brook right here, this is pretty much representative of what s across this state. this is wet stone brook, flowing more like a river now. it s about four feet wider than usual and look over her
tropical storm irene overwhelmed creeks and rivers across new england. quaint main streets became muddy torrents. this is a little village north of new york city in the catskills. just look at the force of this water at woodstock, vermont. those are propane tanks picked up and carried away. nothing can escape the current once it falls in. not even cars. trapped in the raging waters this sedan was batted around like driftwood. fortunately no one was in the vehicle. whoa! get out of here. grab the mic. that s a reporter with wcbs at asbury park, new jersey. she and the crew thought they were far enough away from the water, but they were wrong. on long island large sand berms were piled up to protect the lifeguard station. it worked for a while. but in the end the building smashed into the pier. hello. thanks for joining us. i m martin savidge. don lemon is off tonight. irene may have lost hurricane status but as a tropical storm it s been just as menacing. it made landfall
island in new york. on long island irene s storm surge flooded downtown long beach. some streets in manhattan also flooding but the water started to recede and new york s evacuation order is being lifted this hour. in its sweep up the coast irene has killed 15 people across six states. more than 4 million people overall without power and these amazing pictures show some of the damage when irene made landfall as a hurricane. for place like new york city, the storm wasn t as bad as many feared but as janet napolitano said earlier today, it s not over yet. no matter where you are from north carolina to maine, we encourage you to stay off the roads as much as possible so that we can keep them clear for first responders and for vehicles who are working on power restoration. we also encourage everyone to continue listening to the instruction of their state and local officials and to advice the ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe after the storm. we want to show you more of