New York City appears to escape Irene's worst

Tropical Storm Irene unleashed furious wind and rain on New York on Sunday and sent seawater surging into the Manhattan streets. However the city appeared to escape the worst fears of urban disaster - vast power outages, hurricane-shattered skyscraper windows and severe flooding.

The storm killed for the time being 14 people

The storm killed for the time being 14 people and left 4 million homes and businesses without power. It unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina and spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Under its first hurricane warning in a quarter-century, the nation's largest city had taken extensive precautions. There were sandbags on Wall Street, tarps over subway grates and plywood on storefront windows. The subway stopped rolling. Broadway and baseball were canceled.

More than 1 million homes and businesses lost power in Virginia alone. Emergency crews around the region prepared to head out at daybreak to assess the damage, although with some roads impassable and rivers on the whole rising, it could take days.