Tropical storm Irene lashed New York on Sunday, shutting down America's largest city but sparing it serious damage after killing 14 people on the US east coast and flooding many parts of the region.
The eye of the storm - downgraded from a hurricane, but still blasting up to 105 km/h winds and near horizontal rain - passed over the Big Apple mid-morning, as millions went without power further down the coast.
Localised flooding occurred in the south and east of Manhattan, with more serious incidents in Brooklyn, where the famed Coney Island amusement park took a battering and outlying beaches were swamped.
There was particularly heavy flooding along the low-lying south shore of Long Island, where TV footage showed the high tide, rain and ocean surge drive waves right up against expensive beach houses.
At least 14 deaths have been blamed on Hurricane Irene, which slammed into North Carolina on Saturday with 140km/h winds and began tracking up the coast.
The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Virginia. The latest were a woman motorist trapped in a New Jersey flash flood and a firefighter fatally injured during a rescue attempt.
Strong winds were expected in New York until nightfall Sunday as the weakening storm continued up towards Boston.
But the first hurricane to hit the Big Apple for a generation so far appeared to have generated more sound and fury than real damage.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, still smarting from criticism over the city's slow response last winter to a big snowstorm, had ordered extreme precautions, including shutting down the entire mass transport system on Saturday and ordering 370,000 people to evacuate their homes.
In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie ordered the evacuation of more than a million residents from beach communities.
New York subway trains, buses and the Staten Island ferry closed, as did all nearby airports, paralysing the area. The Holland Tunnel and part of the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York City to New Jersey, briefly closed on Sunday.
Aviation officials said New York's international airports would start to reopen on Monday afternoon.
American airlines, British Airways, Air France and other carriers have already called off many flights to and from Europe and Asia on Monday.
The eye of the storm - downgraded from a hurricane, but still blasting up to 105 km/h winds and near horizontal rain - passed over the Big Apple mid-morning, as millions went without power further down the coast.
Localised flooding occurred in the south and east of Manhattan, with more serious incidents in Brooklyn, where the famed Coney Island amusement park took a battering and outlying beaches were swamped.
There was particularly heavy flooding along the low-lying south shore of Long Island, where TV footage showed the high tide, rain and ocean surge drive waves right up against expensive beach houses.
At least 14 deaths have been blamed on Hurricane Irene, which slammed into North Carolina on Saturday with 140km/h winds and began tracking up the coast.
The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Virginia. The latest were a woman motorist trapped in a New Jersey flash flood and a firefighter fatally injured during a rescue attempt.
Strong winds were expected in New York until nightfall Sunday as the weakening storm continued up towards Boston.
But the first hurricane to hit the Big Apple for a generation so far appeared to have generated more sound and fury than real damage.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, still smarting from criticism over the city's slow response last winter to a big snowstorm, had ordered extreme precautions, including shutting down the entire mass transport system on Saturday and ordering 370,000 people to evacuate their homes.
In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie ordered the evacuation of more than a million residents from beach communities.
New York subway trains, buses and the Staten Island ferry closed, as did all nearby airports, paralysing the area. The Holland Tunnel and part of the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York City to New Jersey, briefly closed on Sunday.
Aviation officials said New York's international airports would start to reopen on Monday afternoon.
American airlines, British Airways, Air France and other carriers have already called off many flights to and from Europe and Asia on Monday.
