Tropical Storm Irene

2. WILMINGTON NC, United States — This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image, taken and released on August 26, 2011, shows Hurricane Irene approaching the Outer Banks of North Carolina as it tracks northward along the U.S. Eastern coastline. The United States urged 55 million people on its eastern seaboard to prepare for Hurricane Irene as the powerful storm packing high winds and heavy rain bore down on the North Carolina coast. REUTERS /NOAA/Handout

3. A surfer in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, tries to position himself to ride between the pillars of a pier as Hurricane Irene moves up the eastern coast, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. - PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jon M. Fletcher / The Florida Times-Union

4. A surfer braves the wind and waves at The Washout at Folly Beach created by Hurricane Irene, on August 26, 2011 in Folly Beach, South Carolina. (AP Photo/The Post And Courier, Sarah Bates)

5. A NASA Goddard Space Flight Center handout photo taken by an Expedition 28 crew member aboard the International Space Station shows an image of Hurricane Irene off the east coast of the United States around 4:30 p.m. EDT, on August 26, 2011. (Reuters/NASA/Expedition 28 - ISS/Goddard Space Flight Center/Handout)

6. A shopper passes by empty shelves while looking for bottled water at a Stop and Shop at Rockaway Beach in New York, on August 26, 2011. (Reuters/Allison Joyce)

7. Elijah Gothard, left, and Amanda Tanguay, right, interns at the Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Island, help move turtles out of the center before the worst of Hurricane Irene hits the island, on August 26, 2011, in Surf City, North Carolina. (AP Photo/The Wilmington Star-News, Matt Born)

8. Washington — Sailors attached to a cermonial guard unit run through the streets of the nation's capital during a pouring rain as Hurricane Irene approached. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Win McNamee / Getty Images

9. Boynton Beach FL, United States — Isabella Lugli braces herself as a wave bursts onto a pier at Florida's Boynton Beach inlet, as Hurricane Irene approaches the United States. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

10. A surfer takes advantage of the storm surge kicked up by Hurricane Irene in Montauk, New York August 27, 2011. Hurricane Irene charged up the U.S. East Coast on Saturday towards New York, shutting down the city, and millions of Americans sought shelter from a huge storm that halted transport and caused massive power blackouts. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

11. Tourists walk by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial as the wind and rain from Hurricane Irene reaches Washington, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. The dedication of the memorial scheduled from Sunday has been postponed because of the approaching hurricane. (AP Photo/J. David Ake) 

12. Boats sit in an almost empty channel as Hurricane Irene pushes the water out in to Albemarle Sound, on August 27, 2011 in Nags Head, North Carolina, (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Shawn Rocco)

13. A Cape May police officer, second from left, talks with a group of surfers on the boardwalk early Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011, in Cape May, N.J. The surfers came to ride waves in a stormy Atlantic, as Hurricane Irene approaches. Hurricane warnings were issued from North Carolina to New York, and evacuation orders covered about 2.3 million people, including 1 million in New Jersey, 315,000 in Maryland, 300,000 in North Carolina, 200,000 in Virginia and 100,000 in Delaware. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) 

14. Pawleys Island, S.C. — The sun breaks through as surfers hit the ocean Saturday morning off of Pawleys Island, S.C., after Hurricane Irene moved through the area and traveled north along the eastern Atlantic coast. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Steve Jessmore / The Sun-News

15. People stand at the end of a street Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011, in Cape May, N.J., looking at a stormy Atlantic as Hurricane Irene arrives. Hurricane-force winds and drenching rains from Irene battered the North Carolina coast early Saturday as the storm began its potentially catastrophic run up the Eastern Seaboard. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) 

16. Asbury Park, N.J. — Brian Grant and Bob Bianchini, engineers from the public works department out for a safety inspection, are slammed by waves and storm surge pounding the seashore at first light Sunday. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Chip East / Reuters

17. An employee in boards up the windows of a store in Amagansett, August 27, 2011. New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns as states from the Carolinas to Maine declared emergencies due to hurricane Irene, whose 520 mile width guaranteed a stormy weekend for tens of millions of people. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

18. A sign on the boarded up windows of a home near the beach reads Come on Irene, as Hurricane Irene approaches, in Asbury Park, N.J., August 27, 2011. Hurricane Irene charged up the U.S. East Coast on Saturday towards New York, shutting down the city, and millions of Americans sought shelter from a huge storm that halted transport and caused massive power blackouts. REUTERS/Chip East

19. U.S. President Barack Obama listens to a video teleconference about Hurricane Irene during a visit to the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA Headquarters in Washington August 27, 2011. Obama held a conference call on Saturday with emergency officials to discuss Hurricane Irene, which was targeting the U.S. East Coast, the White House said. Flanking Obama are Homeland Security Secretary Jan Napolitano (L) and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

20. Washington DC — President Obama gets an update on the status of Hurricane Irene at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington Saturday. PHOTOGRAPH BY: J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

21. NEW YORK — Workers place sandbags in front of the New York Stock Exchange in preparation for the storm. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

22. Waves crash over the shore during high tide during a storm surge from Hurricane Irene in Bayshore, New York, on Long Island, on August 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

23. KITTY HAWK, N.C. — Contractor Denis Hromin, who recently did construction work on Avalon Pier, inspects the structure during the onslaught of Hurricane Irene. PHOTOGRAPH BY: JIM LO SCALZO / European Pressphoto Agency

24. New York — With the Manhattan Bridge and the lower Manhattan skyline in the background, a U-Haul truck makes its way north on FDR Drive in the torrential rain. Hurricane Irene opened its assault on the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday by lashing the North Carolina coast with winds as strong as 115 mph and pounding shoreline homes with waves. Farther north, Philadelphia and New York City-area authorities readied a massive shutdown of trains and airports, with 2 million people ordered out of the way. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

25. A truck drives through flooded road as Hurricane Irene hits Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Salvo, North Carolina August 27, 2011. Hurricane Irene howled ashore in North Carolina with heavy winds, rain and surf on Saturday on a path threatening the densely populated U.S. East Coast with flooding and power outages. REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana

26. Flood waters caused by Hurricane Irene raise on a residential street in Ocean City, Maryland, August 27, 2011. Irene, packing winds of near 80 miles per hour, was a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale and was churning north-northeast at 16 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. REUTERS/Molly Riley

27. Nags Head, N.C. — A row of beachfront houses, some condemned before the arrival of Hurricane Irene, get lashed by wind, rain and the rising ocean. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

28. A travel trailer tipped over into a flooded area on Hwy 55 Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 in New Bern, N.C. Hurricane Irene knocked out power and piers in North Carolina, clobbered Virginia with wind and churned up the coast Saturday to confront cities more accustomed to snowstorms than tropical storms. New York City emptied its streets and subways and waited with an eerie quiet. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Chris Seward) 

29. Jarod Wilton looks at the flood waters rising to his doorstep, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011, in Alliance, N.C., as Hurricane Irene hits the North Carolina coast. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) 

30. One of two people rescued from a sailboat, right, uses a line to make their way onto the beach on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk Saturday morning, Aug. 27, 2011 after they and another person were rescued from the boat that foundered in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. A rescuer, left, waits for s second person to exit the boat. (AP Photo/TheVirginian-Pilot, Bill Tiernan) 

31. Waves crash along a seawall as Tropical Storm Irene, downgraded from a hurricane, slammed into Fairhaven , Mass. Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. From North Carolina to New Jersey, Hurricane Irene appeared to have fallen short of the doomsday predictions, but more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast reportedly lost power, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson) 

32. Morehead City, N.C. — Waters lap at the foundation of a house along Calico Creek. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Travis Long / NEWS & OBSERVER

33. Waves sweep over a beached sailboat in Bogue Sound as the backside of Hurricane Irene comes ashore near Morehead City, North Carolina, on August 27, 2011. (Reuters/Steve Nesius)

34. Jackie Sparnackel has to abandon her van and her belongings near the Frisco Pier after she drove up to see how the storm-battered structure was doing on August 27, 2011 in Frisco, North Carolina. Friends tried to tow her out but she was caught in an overwash. Hurricane force winds from Irene were battering the island where power has been knocked out. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Chuck Liddy)

35. Two men use a boat to explore a street flooded by Hurricane Irene Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 in Manteo, N.C. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) 

36. In this photo provided by the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority, two men push a cart through a deserted Grand Central Terminal in New York, on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. Metro North suspended service and Amtrak is running on a reduced schedule due to Hurricane Irene. (AP Photo/NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Marjorie Anders)

37. A group of people pose for photos on Fifth Avenue while vehicle traffic is light in advance of Hurricane Irene in New York, on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. Irene has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage all along a densely populated arc that includes Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and beyond. At least 65 million people could be affected. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) 

38. New York — A man stands in the center of a nearly deserted 7th Avenue in Manhattan. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mike Segar / Reuters

39. New York — A road sign warns of inclement weather as a pedestrian crosses Canal St. in front of the Manhattan bridge in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

40. Dagsboro, Del. — More than 275 people and 75 pets ride out the storm at this American Red Cross shelter at Indian River High School. PHOTOGRAPH BY: SUCHAT PEDERSON / The News Journal

41. The looming threat of Hurricane Irene did not dissuade tourists from visiting Manhattan's Times Square. PHOTOGRAPH BY: John Minchillo / Associated Press

42. A taxi speeds by on 7th Avenue at Times Square in New York as rains fall before Hurricane Irene hits August 27, 2011. Hurricane Irene charged up the U.S. East Coast on Saturday toward New York, shutting down the city, and millions of Americans sought shelter from a huge storm that halted transport and caused massive power blackouts. REUTERS/Peter Jones

43. Two men paddle a boat down a street flooded by Hurricane Irene on August 27, 2011 in Manteo, N.C. (John Bazemore/AP)

44. A rainbow appears over a building as sand is blown down Long Beach Park as the sun sets and the sky clears from Hurricane Irene in Long Beach, New York, on August 28, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

45. Lower Manhattan is seen amidst dark clouds in New York, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. Hurricane Irene bore down on a dark and quiet New York early Sunday, bringing winds and rapidly rising seawater that threatened parts of the city. The rumble of the subway system was silenced for the first time in years, the city all but shut down for the strongest tropical lashing since the 1980s. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) 

46. Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge are hit by Hurricane Irene, in New York, on August 28, 2011. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

47. A man stands in the middle of a deserted Broadway in Lower Manhattan, New York, early on August 28, 2011 as Hurricane Irene hits the city with rain and high winds. New York City resembled a ghost town after 370,000 people were told to evacuate flood-prone regions, including areas near Wall Street and at Coney Island. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

48. New York, NY — A man walks in Times Square as Hurricane Irene arrives in New York, on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mike Groll / AP

49. Lenard Sanders, a homeless man, pushes his cart toward a subway station to seek shelter as Hurricane Irene makes its way along the Eastern Seaboard, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Philadelphia. The National Hurricane Center says a hurricane warning remains in effect from coastal Virginia northward to Sagamore Beach, Mass. The storm remained a Category 1 hurricane and forecasters expect little change in strength before an expected landfall later Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

50. A crayfish walks along a gas station parking lot in Millsboro, Delaware, early Sunday, August 28, 2011. The hurricane unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina, spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and left 3 million homes and businesses without power as it moved up the East Coast. (AP Photo/The Wilmington News-Journal, Suchat Pederson)