Disaster_Accident

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Firefighter Mandy Drake clears a storm drain in front of the fire department in Waterbury, Vt., in the wake of tropical storm Irene on Monday, August 29, 2011. The building was evacuated as high water from the Winooski River flooded downtown Sunday. (AP Photo/Burlington Free Press, Glenn Russell)

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Homeowners clean debris from their property caused by Tropical Storm Irene in the Town of Keene, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. Tropical Storm Irene left stunned upstate New Yorkers shaking their heads Monday at a crippling wallop they never thought possible. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

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Lock 8 in Rotterdam, N.Y. overflows with water, and a metal barge is crashed into the gates, on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 during extensive flooding in the region as a result of Tropical Storm Irene. (AP Photo/The Daily Gazette, Patrick Dodson)

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Josue Juarez (left) and Edgar Cervantes, with Mulheron Tree Experts, remove a tree on Monday that fell during gusts from Hurricane Irene in D.C.'s Capitol Hill neighborhood. An "extraordinary week" saw an earthquake last Tuesday followed by the hurricane over the weekend. (Associated Press)

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BURLINGTON FREE PRESS VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS North Main Street in Waterbury, Vt., was underwater and almost 50,000 Vermont utility customers were without power Monday in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. Hundreds of roads were closed and a number of bridges were destroyed by the storm. Irene dumped 11 inches of rain on the state.

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A State Farm Catastrophe Services vehicle is parked out front as people look over the damage to Sue and Jack Holloway's home on Crab Apple Court in the Nassau Station development in Lewis, Del., on Sunday. A poll found that just 14 percent of homeowners had a flood insurance policy. The lowest coverage was in a region hit by Irene: The Northeast, with 5 percent. The highest coverage rate was in the South, with 19 percent. (Associated Press)

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President Obama participates in a news conference about Hurricane Irene at the White House on Aug. 28, 2011. (Associated Press)

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STANDARD TIMES VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS Chris Swimm on Sunday retrieves planks from a friend's deck in Fairhaven, Mass., that were washed away by Tropical Storm Irene. With sustained winds of 50 mph, Irene was downgraded from hurricane strength by the time it reached New England.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS A car is submerged by floodwater Sunday in Hightstown, N.J., after Hurricane Irene caused Peddie Lake to overflow. Flooding problems erupted across New Jersey as the storm passed and caused multiple road closures.

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A security guard hangs on the door of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's SUV in the middle of a flooded street Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Margaretville, N.Y. Gov. Cuomo was riding in the SUV, and posted some photos of the heavy flooding on his flickr site. (AP Photo/Dick Sanford)

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Kevin Holligan, of the Staten Island borough of New York, kayaks across a flooded section of the borough's Hyland Boulevard after the rain and wind of Tropical Storm Irene subsided, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 on Staten Island, N.Y. (AP Photo/The Staten Island Advance, Anthony DePrimo)