AP PHOTOS: A look back at Hurricane Irene
By The Associated Press?
?By The Associated PressFILE - In this Aug. 27, 2011, file photo, waves crash against the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. as Hurricane Irene approached the northeast. Two years before Irene, 100 scientists and engineers met to sketch out a bold defense: Massive, moveable barriers to shield New York City from a storm-stirred sea. One strategy entailed an estimated $9.1 billion set of barriers at three critical points around the city's waterways. The network would protect Manhattan and parts of the four outer boroughs and New Jersey, but not some vulnerable swaths of Brooklyn and Queens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2011, file photo, waves crash against the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. as Hurricane Irene approached the northeast. Two years before Irene, 100 scientists and engineers met to sketch out a bold defense: Massive, moveable barriers to shield New York City from a storm-stirred sea. One strategy entailed an estimated $9.1 billion set of barriers at three critical points around the city's waterways. The network would protect Manhattan and parts of the four outer boroughs and New Jersey, but not some vulnerable swaths of Brooklyn and Queens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2011, file photo, people near New York's Brooklyn Bridge wade through floodwaters brought on by Hurricane Irene, which weakened to a tropical storm just before hitting New York's Coney Island. Two years prior to Irene, 100 scientists and engineers met to sketch out a bold defense: massive, moveable barriers to shield New York City from a storm-stirred sea. The network would protect Manhattan and parts of the four outer boroughs and New Jersey, but not some vulnerable swaths of Brooklyn and Queens. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2011, file photo, waves crash into the pier at Brooklyn's Coney Island as Hurricane Irene, downgraded to a tropical storm, approaches New York. Irene proved not to be the catastrophe forecasters feared in the city, but in the wake of last year's near-miss, elected officials and community groups are pressing for an evaluation of whether sea barriers make sense for New York, and the city has been gathering information, while stressing that the barriers represent only one of many ideas under study.(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2011, file photo, a biker makes his way around a taxi stranded in floodwaters of Hurricane Irene, downgraded to a tropical storm, in New York. Two years before Irene created the prospect of a flooding nightmare in New York City, 100 scientists and engineers met to sketch out a bold defense: massive, moveable barriers to shield the city from a storm-stirred sea.(AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE-In this Aug. 30, 2011, file photo, farmer's fields are flooded from Tropical Storm Irene in this aerial view on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 in Rutland, Vt. A year after Hurricane Irene tore through farms from North Carolina to Vermont, some farmers are still grappling with the aftermath. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)
One year ago, Hurricane Irene sent cars bobbing down rivers, swept away covered bridges, put millions in the dark and killed dozens of people along the East Coast.
As Irene made landfall in North Carolina and roared north along a densely populated corridor loaded with high-rises, suburban sprawl and pricey beach homes, fears of storm surges and heavy winds lead to evacuations of low-lying coastal areas and the shuttering of one of the world's largest subway systems.
The storm made a direct hit on New York City, but the lashing rains saved their most dramatic damage for 100 miles or more inland. Irene knocked out power to thousands, flooded miles of roads and became the costliest Category 1 U.S. hurricane on record since at least 1980, with estimated total damage of $15.8 billion.
Here's a gallery of photos of the storm and its aftermath.
Associated Press
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