Obama declares floods ‘disaster’

31 August 2011 Last updated at 06:53 ET

US President Barack Obama has officially declared the floods caused by Tropical Storm Irene in North Carolina and New York a disaster.

The move allows the two states to tap federal funds for relief efforts.

However, the declaration does not include Vermont, which suffered its worst flooding in decades.

About 40 people in the US were killed by the storm, which also caused damage estimated at more than $10bn (£6.5bn) and forced a shutdown of New York City.

Millions of people on the US east coast are still without power after Irene, which made landfall in the US on Saturday.

It swept up the heavily populated eastern seaboard from North Carolina. By the time it reached New York, it had been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm.

Nonetheless, the New York subway system was closed for the first time in its history because of a natural disaster, while 370,000 people living in low-lying areas were ordered to leave their homes.

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