- Irene has roared up the east coast, dumping heavy rain from North Carolina to New York City.
- New York's transport system is closed down, and the city is mopping up after a morning storm.
- Along the eastern seaboard, about 3 million people have been left without power.
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Welcome to our live page following Hurricane Irene as it marauds up the east coast of the United States. Stay with us for the latest updates, reports from our correspondents on the (wet) ground and your reaction. Send us your emails, texts and tweets, and we'll publish what we can.
Here's the previous live page, which ended at midnight GMT.
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AFP news agency has raised the death toll from the storm so far to seven, including a 55-year-old surfer who couldn't resist the treacherously high surf off the Florida coast.
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The rain-drenched streets of midtown Manhattan are virtually deserted, apart from a few tourists with waterproofs and cameras. Yellow cabs cruise the empty roads, their for-hire lights on, but customers - for once on a Saturday night - are hard to come by.
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Flood waters on a street in Maryland:
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writes: This is my first hurricane since moving to the United states from East Ham, London. I have just finished securing our home. I am already exhausted, too tired to get stressed - yet still in for a long night as the storm is just hours away.
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New Yorkers in the crosshairs of Irene have shrugged off the potential natural disaster with their habitual sang-froid. There are a number of tweets about hot-tub parties and general indoor get-togethers to ride out the hurricane.
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New York City officials warn that Irene's winds could shatter skyscraper windows, while any storm surge in Lower Manhattan could short-circuit underground electrical cables and pipes, bringing widespread power cuts.
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In New York's Times Square, dubbed the world's crossroads, Broadway shows are cancelled, and even Starbucks and McDonald's are shut. Here's a taxi hydroplaning on 42nd Street:
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writes: Enjoying a melodramatic holiday visiting friends in Manhattan. Most people seem to be stocking up for the apocalypse. We bought a case of wine and some candles. We're going to bunker down tonight.
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Mayor Corey Booker of Newark, New Jersey, tells CNN that he's been going door to door warning residents to flee the storm.
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This is what Irene did to parts of North Carolina earlier - two men use a boat to navigate a street in the coastal town of Manteo:
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writes: My girlfriend and I just moved to Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. We've had to settle for candles in lanterns. We now have a mattress on the floor. Surrounding areas evacuated. We live in a loft where one entire wall is windows. Looks like we're going to have to sleep in the small bathroom.
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Death toll so far is at least six or seven: a 55-year-old surfer off Florida; three deaths in North Carolina - a man in Nash County after a tree branch fell on him outside his home; a 15-year-old girl in Goldsboro after the car she was in crashed at a junction where the storm had cut power to traffic lights; another man in North Carolina had a fatal heart attack while boarding up his house; up to three deaths in Virginia - an 11-year-old boy in Newport News when a tree crashed through the roof of a house; a 67-year-old man when a tree fell on a car in Brodnax; there's also reports of a man dying in Chesterfield County after a tree fell on his home.
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Oh, and a 66-year-old man is in a serious condition in hospital after falling from a ladder while trying to board up windows in Queens, New York.
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Not everyone took the official warnings seriously. Two men enjoy the rough surf at the beach in Nags Head, North Carolina:
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I have just landed at Dulles airport in Washington DC. As you would expect, a very bumpy landing, but passengers cheered. The aircrew said this was one of the few planes to land this evening on the east coast. Rain very heavy now.
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At a news conference, NYC Mayor Bloomberg says time for evacuation is over, everyone should now stay indoors.
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Mayor Bloomberg warns that flying debris could smash windows, move to a room with as few windows as possible. He's now recapping in halting Spanish.
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Mayor Bloomberg says the electrical utility may have to shut down parts of the grid if flooding is severe.
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Mayor Bloomberg says it's better to use torches rather than candles because of the fire hazard.
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Mayor Bloomberg: "New York is the greatest city in the world and we will weather this storm."
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Mayor Bloomberg says when New Yorkers wake up they should stay indoors because of the risk of flying debris or falling branches.
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Mayor Bloomberg complains that NYPD officers had to put their lives on the line to rescue two people who thought it was a good time to go kayaking.
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Mayor Bloomberg says there's certain to be a tidal surge at 0800 local time and that's one of the times they're most worried about.
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Not everyone has heeded the NYC mayor's evacuation order. "Oh, forget Bloomberg," Evelyn Burrus, 60, tells AP news agency in Brooklyn. "We ain't going anywhere. Go to some shelter with a bunch of strangers and bedbugs? No way."
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A woman tastes the rain in a nearly deserted Times Square:
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It's surprising that the Irene death toll hasn't been higher, given that ABC News reports Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell as saying there have been 152 car crashes in the state.
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the streets in Brooklyn are now mostly empty. I did see a couple carrying a 12-pack of beer, though.
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We were given orders to evacuate by noon today. Ironically, the shelter that was picked for us sits on an area that is prone to flooding as well. So we figured we would be better off at home. We still have electricity.
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It's very quiet on the streets of Washington DC this evening. A colleague trying to get a cab had to wait for 20 minutes.
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Floodwaters swirl around a pickup truck in New Bern, North Carolina:
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Just some of the slogans sprayed on plywood boarding up homes and businesses: "Good night Irene" "Come on Irene" "Irene is a lush" "All welcome, except Irene!" "Don't be mean Irene" and, bizarrely, "More beer".
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A tornado spawned by Irene did this to a house in the town of Lewes, Delaware:
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The flash-flood warning has been extended to 0230 local time for most of the Washington DC area.
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Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has made headlines recently for his crusade against flash mobs. Now he's facing flash floods. The city's Schuylkill river is to crest at 15ft, its highest level since 1869,
he warns.
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You can keep an eye on Times Square in New York on this
webcam. It's almost completely deserted - though earlier we spotted two people trying to re-enact Singin' in the Rain.
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NYC subway, the nation's biggest, is expected to remain closed until at least Monday if they have to pump any floodwater from tunnels:
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Here's the latest satellite image showing the 500-mile-wide
spiral of doom monstering the east coast (via @usnoaagov).
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writes: My home is on a slant and the rain is relentless. Our basement is filling up with water as I type this, and it is only the edge of the storm. Sadly the only thing my family and I can do is wait for this to pass.
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In New Jersey and New York, more than 10,000 people are in shelters. Others, though, are riding out the storm in style. AP news agency reports there's no vacancy for the next few days at New York's five-star Ritz Carlton hotel, along Central Park. A double room costs $695 per night.
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A Hasidic Jew cuts a lone figure as he braves the drenched streets of Brooklyn:
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writes: The wind and rain is strong. We still have power for the moment. The eye of the hurricane is on track to go right over me. I'm going to try to stay up for it.
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The 55-year-old surfer who died at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, was reportedly a local teacher.
And according to the Orlando Sentinel, another 55-year-old man, a tourist from New Jersey, drowned in rough surf while at the same beach with his family.
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Nearly 8,000 customers in New York - mostly in Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Bronx - have no power, the Con Edison utility says. There are also reports of air conditioning and lifts in some hotels shutting down.
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Forecasters are predicting the strongest gusts around Washington DC over the next couple of hours. Emergency services say there's been a partial roof collapse at a Georgetown University building.
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writes: Terrified. Already we've had torrential rain - my yard is flooded. We just got out of the basement sheltering from a tornado that was headed towards us. I heard a thud, which means a tree is down somewhere, but I can't see where. So far this week - earthquake, tornado, flood and now a hurricane. All I'm missing are locusts and frogs.
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Maryland officials have issued a Code Red notification warning a dam at St Mary's Lake near Callaway could burst, causing major floods threatening homes and roads downstream.
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At least 7,500 National Guard troops have been deployed to help states affected by the storm. Here's the Virginia contingent getting ready to do their duty:
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A storm shelter in Hoboken, New Jersey, has had to be evacuated because of flooding, says the city's Mayor Dawn Zimmer. Not a good situation when even storm shelters aren't safe.
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CNN has just raised its tally of the Irene death toll to 10 people, from nine.
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Washington DC emergency services say they've handled more than 550 - mostly weather-related - calls in the past 15 hours. They typically handle 450 calls in a 24-hour period.
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Firefighters investigate a gas leak in the flooded town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina:
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National Hurricane Center has just issued its latest advisory: Irene's maximum winds are unchanged at 80mph (130km/h).
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The NHC warns that water levels are rising rapidly from Maryland to New York. Irene remains a category one hurricane and is about 15 miles south-south-east of Ocean City, Maryland.
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The NHC further warns Irene will dump up to 20in (50cm) of water in places, bringing life-threatening flash floods and significant uprooting of trees due to rain-softened ground. It also says an extremely dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 4-8ft (1.2m-2.4m) above ground level in the hurricane-warning area. Its next update is at 0900 GMT.
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Tom Marshall takes a picture of his flooded home in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina:
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CNN reports that authorities in Ocean City, Maryland, are no longer sending vehicles to respond to 911 calls because of high winds.
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CNN is reporting that Maryland nuclear reactor automatically went offline on Saturday due to the wind gusts. Officials say the power station is safe.
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People sleep at Penn Station in New York early on Sunday as public transport was closed across the city.
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With all the focus on New York, it's worth pointing out that other major cities - including Philadelphia and Boston - are in the line of the storm too.
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Pennsylvania's governor Tom Corbett is warning people that the state will not necessarily be out of danger once the storm has passed.
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Mr Corbett says: "The rivers may not crest until Tuesday or Wednesday. This isn't just a 24-hour event."
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I live on 33rd floor so gusts are powerful up here. The rain is coming down consistently hard. I won't be surprised at flooding in the subway system. Low ceiling cloud cover so you can't even see the top of the metlife building.
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Irene has weakened slightly in recent hours to a category-one hurricane. For more detail on how hurricanes work, have a look at our
animated guide.
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Reuters news agency is reporting that a nuclear reactor in Maryland automatically shut down late on Saturday as a result of the hurricane.
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A spokesman for the CENG power firm told Reuters the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Lusby is safe.
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More detail on the nuclear power plant. A CENG spokesman tells Reuters: "It appears as if due to heavy gusts of winds caused by Hurricane Irene, a large piece of aluminium siding dislodged from a building. The siding came in contact with our main transformer. The Unit 1 reactor automatically went off-line."
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This is my first time witnessing anything like this. The street was blanketed with a sheet of water. It's tense. It's amazing. We have to worry about downed power lines. It could be as much as three weeks that power may be down.
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It's a bit past four AM and it's been raining steadily. So far it doesn't feel ominous, but the manifests show it is something different. My hope is we're far enough away. But hurricanes are unpredictable. At least I haven't heard thunder in the last five minutes.
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To get an idea of how big a deal Hurricane Irene is, here's an image of the storm taken from the International Space Station:
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One of the big worries for officials is that resident will simply ignore warnings to leave their homes. Pennsylvania resident Annette Burton, 72, tells AP she plans to stay in her home despite the danger of rising water from a nearby creek.
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But Ms Burton adds that she'll be keeping an eye on the local park, which frequently floods: "I'm not a fool; if it starts coming up from the park, I'm leaving. It's the wind I'm more concerned about than anything."
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Reuters reports that the US Coast Guard has increased its alert level for New York Harbor from "Yankee" to "Zulu" indicating gale force winds are expected.
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The heightened alert level indicates that vessel traffic in the harbour will be severely restricted and delayed until winds die down enough to allow shipping traffic to resume.
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emails: I am stuck at home from the storm and will be stuck for several days, as the tree in front of my house fell down blocking my driveway.
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Forecasters are saying the hurricane is likely to be downgraded to a tropical storm soon, as the winds dip below 75mph. But the sheer size of the storm and the surge it will cause are still likely to cause major problems.
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emails: 4am and Irene is here in NJ! My basement is flooding so a long nite and day still ahead to keep us dry!
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emails: We've been caught in the tail-end of storms before but this is just ridiculous. Last week we had the power out several times, then the earthquake and now this. The road outside is just mud. Twelve hours straight of rain.
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Hurricane Irene has now hit land on the New Jersey coast after veering out to sea. The most intense part of the storm is expected in New York City within hours.
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In southern Manhattan, the rain is falling heavily and the wind is picking up. In Battery Park City, where residents have been told to evacuate, sand bags line the rows of shops by the waterfront. High tide is due at 8 am, at approximately the same time as the storm surge. I just walked to the water's edge and the waves are already lapping over the walkway.
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Some people in New Jersey have fled almost 100 miles from their homes to seek shelter. Jimmy Farrell, from Atlantic City, tells AFP news agency he's grateful for the shelter at a New Brunswick gymnasium.
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But Mr Farrell reflects the concerns of many, telling AFP: "We've got to find out what happened when we back home. It's a big worry. My house might not be there."
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The Statue of Liberty has disappeared from view. Emma Lazarus's classic poem about the Statue of Liberty seems as apt as ever as the waters rise: "Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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emails: I work on a summer camp in Long Island. We have had to evacuate the camp of staff and we're holed up in a house generously donated by friends of the camp. It's a pretty surreal experience knowing that you're going to be hit with the full force of mother nature and there's not a lot you can do about it. Being a Brit, I'm not used to this sort of thing.
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The picture agencies are filled with poignant pictures, including this one of homeless Lenard Sanders pushing his cart towards a subway station in Philadelphia as the storm approaches:
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For more striking images of the hurricane, have a look at our
latest gallery.
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Putting Irene in perspective, such storms are a once-in-a-generation event in north-eastern United States. The last hurricane to hit the area was Gloria in 1985; before that was Agnes in 1972.
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An update on the statistics of the storm: Eight people have died as a result of accidents caused by the hurricane; the storm is packing winds of 75mph, making it a category-one hurricane; more than two million people have had their power knocked out.
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A reminder to anyone due to fly to New York - all three main airports (
JFK,
Newark,
LaGuardia) are still closed. Experts say more than 8,000 flights are likely to be cancelled.
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emails: I live in a converted 1840 farmhouse on the edge of the Hudson River, so the basement is pumping out water almost non-stop. Locals here are buying up drinking water, batteries & canned food, putting away garden furniture, moving cars away from trees, filling bathtubs with water.
0012: Laura Trevelyan BBC News, New YorkThe rain-drenched streets of midtown Manhattan are virtually deserted, apart from a few tourists with waterproofs and cameras. Yellow cabs cruise the empty roads, their for-hire lights on, but customers - for once on a Saturday night - are hard to come by.
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