Hurricane Irene, the first major hurricane of the 2011 season, made landfall in the United States East Coast over the weekend causing at least 15 deaths, severe flooding, and widespread destruction in several U.S. states, with financial losses estimated to reach around $5-10 billion.
Hurricane Irene first made landfall over Eastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia on August 27 destroying buildings and leaving millions without power. It made its second landfall in New Jersey on August 28, the first hurricane to make a landfall in the Garden State in more than century. Its third landfall was in New York, where more than 370,000 residents were told to evacuate in anticipation of the hurricane.
