Weather, East Coast | featured news

The Washington area began to return to normal Monday after a lashing by the former hurricane Irene, but hundreds of thousands of residents remained without power, and several local school systems were closed

"The Help" remained Hollywood's top draw with $14.3 million on a slow late-summer weekend whose business was even more sluggish as many East Coast theaters closed to ride out the storm there....

Hurricane Irene knocked out power to nearly 1 million customers in Virginia; it was being restored in some areas today. Dominion Virginia Power said on its website early Sunday that more than 973,000 of its more than 2.4 million customers were without power Sunday morning.

Main stock exchanges Nasdaq, NYSE and BATS expect to open trading on Monday as usual despite Hurricane Irene, although a final decision, especially on opening the Big Board floor, is yet to come.

From North Carolina to Pennsylvania, Hurricane Irene appeared to have fallen short of the doomsday predictions. But with rivers still rising, and roads impassable because of high water and fallen trees, it could be days before the full extent of the damage is known. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the coast lost power, and at least 14 deaths were blamed on the storm.

Airlines are scrapping more than 9,000 flights this weekend from North Carolina to Boston.

After pounding the Carolinas Saturday morning, Hurricane Irene churned up the Eastern Seaboard Saturday night with a fury that left at least eight people dead and 1.4 million homes and businesses without power.

New York became the latest state to declare a state of emergency in a scramble to get ahead of Hurricane Irene as the storm prepares to make a potentially deadly drive up the East Coast. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's declaration Thursday follows those of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue - whose state is projected to take the first hit Saturday when Hurricane Irene makes landfall in the U.S. - limited her declaration to counties east of Interstate 95.

Virginia officials warned residents on Thursday to prepare for massive power outages, flooding and damage from Hurricane Irene comparable to that of Hurricane Isabel, which knocked out power to about 2 million people as it tore through the state in 2003.

Don't play the hero. That's the message from FEMA as officials warn that Hurricane Irene could prompt widespread evacuation orders up and down the East Coast. Residents have been urged to heed those orders, for their safety and the safety of emergency workers.