Irene: Vermont in flood as US counts storm cost

The US east coast has begun clearing up after the devastation of tropical storm Irene, which killed at least 21 people.



The storm is now soaking Canada's north-east, while the north-eastern US is battling historic floods; five million US homes have lost power.



In New York, which escaped a major disaster, transport resumed on Monday.



The small state of Vermont was reeling from the worst flooding in nearly a century, which washed away bridges and swamped the town of Brattleboro.



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



"We have extraordinary infrastructure damage."

Vermont lashed



Hundreds of people have been told to leave the state capital, Montpelier, which could faces two inundations: firstly from Irene, and again if the local water company decides to release water to save the Marshal Reservoir, a local dam where waters are reaching record levels.A woman was swept away by an overflowing river in the Vermont town of Wilmington.



Authorities asked people to avoid travelling in the state, and warned of significant flooding, damaged roads and downed power lines.



State office buildings, schools and universities were shut on Monday.



"It's very serious for us at the moment in Vermont. The top two-thirds of the state are inundated with rapidly rising waters, which we anticipate will be an issue for the next 24 hours," said Robert Stirewalt, a spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management Agency.



Authorities said the hurricane was the worst natural disaster since a terrible flood in 1927.



President Barack Obama has warned that the impact of the storm will be felt for some time and that the recovery effort along the east coast will last for weeks.Flooding and power cuts are still a risk as swollen rivers could burst their banks, he said on Sunday.



The brunt of Irene's impact was felt by towns and suburbs from New Jersey to Vermont. Driving rains and flood tides damaged homes and cut power to more than three million people in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York alone.



The BBC's Steve Kingstone in New York said insurance and rebuilding costs would run into billions of dollars.



As it moved north-east, Irene was earlier downgraded to a tropical and then a post-tropical cyclone.



In its last major update, at 03:00 GMT (23:00 EDT on Sunday night), Irene was moving north-north-east at a speed of 26mph (43km/h), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.



An increase in speed is expected over the next couple of days, with the centre of the storm moving over eastern Canada on Monday. A tropical storm warning for Canada was likely to be lifted on Monday, it added.

Back to work



The storm, downgraded from a hurricane, passed New York on Sunday.



More than 300,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas in New York City are heading home.



New Yorkers were attempting to return to work on Monday, with the city's subway network resuming at 06:00 (10:00 GMT) and its three main airports all due to reopen by the middle of the day.



Subway service would be limited while the tracks were inspected, said the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York. Most of the commuter rail services feeding the city were out indefinitely, reports said.



The New York Stock Exchange said it would be open for business on Monday and officials at the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center site said they had not lost a single tree.



Airlines said about 9,000 flights had been cancelled, but services into New York and Boston were due to resume on Monday.



In Philadelphia, officials lifted the city's first state of emergency since 1986. Several buildings were destroyed by the storm, but there were no deaths or injuries.