Power Outage, Flood | featured news

Electrons work for free, except, of course in major storms -- as several prominent websites discovered... Lost sites beginning [Monday] night included the Huffington Post, Gawker and the blog Mediaite. Huffington Post was back by Tuesday morning, but the site was a bit skimpier. According to a statement posted on a website of the more traditional kind, CBS News, the problem seemed to be flooding.

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.

Workers clean up after Hurricane Igor battered Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province causing flooding and power outages.