Today in History: Hurricane Irene Hits Brooklyn

By Idy Perl

Today marks 13 years since Tropical Storm Irene hit Brooklyn on August 27, 2011. 

The storm started out near the Caribbean Islands and made a few landfalls, including in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, on the way to the northeast. 

Before the storm hit, many gas stations in New York had shortages due to residents filling up in preparation for the storm, and many families evacuated their homes. Then President Obama issued a state of emergency for New York and freed federal disaster funds, and then Governor Cuomo deployed 2,000 National Guard. 

Around 350,000 homes in NYC were left without power during the storm, and several neighborhoods in NYC, Hudson Valley, and upstate were flooded, resulting in damage to many homes and shutting down some MTA and NJ Transit routes for several months. 

Irene causes lots of destruction and a total of 49 deaths throughout her path from the Caribbean to New York. The damage costs were estimated to be around $13.5 million, making it one of the costliest hurricanes in history.