The damage from Hurricane Irene to the already battered US economy could reach tens of billions of dollars, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warned Sunday.

Christie gave his assessment, speaking on NBC news, as Irene caused widespread flooding and structural damage across a vast swath of the eastern US seaboard, from North Carolina to New York.

"I've got to imagine the damage estimates will be in the billions of dollars if not the tens of billions of dollars," said Christie, whose state has a long ocean coastline and was particularly badly hit.

Irene weakened to tropical storm status Sunday as it crashed into New York City, the National Hurricane Center said, but the still powerful storm was flooding parts of lower Manhattan.

Experts said the financial toll would be much higher if, as transpired, there was a direct hit on New York, the US financial capital and largest city with nearly 19 million people living in its metropolitan area.

Kinetic Analysis Corp., a company that does computer modeling of predicted storm damage, predicted Friday that Irene would cause $5-10 billion in damages, based on the latest available weather data.

Losses could include damage to flooded buildings, business interruptions and cleanup costs picked by the government, said Chuck Watson, the company's director of research and development.

Reporting on Sunday, the company said losses in North and South Carolina, the first states hit as Irene made landfall on Friday, are expected to range between $200 million and $400 million.

The costliest hurricane in US history was Katrina, which flooded New Orleans in 2005 and is estimated to have caused more than $100 billion in losses.

Hurricane Irene toll rises to 12: US officials
Washington (AFP) Aug 28, 2011 - The death toll from Irene has risen to 12 across five eastern US states, emergency officials said Sunday, as the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm, passing New York City.

Half of the deaths were in North Carolina, where Irene made landfall early Saturday morning with 85 mile (140 kilometer) per hour winds, before heading up the eastern seaboard and scoring a rare direct hit on New York.

The toll rose from eight overnight with new fatalities including a man hit by a falling tree in North Carolina, a woman in Maryland hit by a falling chimney, and a man killed by a storm-related electrical fire in Connecticut.

The breakdown of fatalities was: six in North Carolina, three in Virginia, and one each in Connecticut, Florida in Maryland.

The youngest fatalities were a boy killed by a falling tree in his apartment in Newport News, a city on a coastal peninsula in Virginia, and a girl who died in North Carolina.

"A 15-year-old girl was killed in a car accident on her way back from the beach after vacationing in North Carolina," explained emergency official Patty McQuillan. "The traffic light at the intersection was not working, the power was out."

North Carolina emergency management spokesman Brad Deen said one of the six victims in his state was a man who had a heart attack on Friday while nailing plywood over his windows in preparation for the hurricane.

Two people were also killed in the state in separate driving accidents. Another North Carolina fatality was a man struck by a falling tree limb while outside feeding his animals.

One storm-related death was a 55-year-old surfer who took to his board in treacherously high waves off the Florida coast on Friday.

"We had sent out an advisory recommending everyone check beach reports and use an abundance of caution before entering the water," state emergency official William Booher told AFP.

Irene is on track to continue up the east coast Sunday into the densely populated northeastern states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Officials warned that flood damage from Irene's heavy rains may be felt for days, and millions of people are without power.

Tweet

Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest