Hurricane Irene, which was downgraded by the U.S. forecasters to a tropical storm, is lashing New York City with wind gusts and torrential rains, CNN said, quoting emergency officials.
Earlier on Sunday the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Irene had weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, but the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg urged the citizens to stay indoors.
Irene, which has killed at least 10 people on the East Coast cities, has also caused mass power outages and the closure of the New York City area's five major airports.
The storm could cause $56.7 billion damage to the U.S. weakened economy, the USA Today cited a research by CoreLogic, an analytics firm. The company estimates that Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Providence as well as New York City and Long Island could carry such economic losses if Irene turns out as the Category 1 storm.
Meanwhile, another tropical storm Jose had formed near Bermuda, the NHC reported on Sunday.
Jose, which has become the 10th named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, is heading towards the East Coast at the speed of 15 miles per hour.
