Irene toll rises to 18 in US: officials

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WASHINGTON: The death toll in the United States from Hurricane Irene has risen to 18, with four new fatalities reported in the state of Pennsylvania, US officials said Sunday.

Six deaths have been recorded in North Carolina, where Irene made landfall early Saturday morning with 85-mile (140-kilometer) per hour winds, before heading up the eastern seaboard and scoring a rare hit on New York.

Four more deaths were recorded in Pennsylvania, including two men -- one in a tent and another in a camper -- who were crushed by falling trees.

The toll rose from eight overnight with new fatalities including men hit by falling trees in North Carolina and Virginia, a woman in Maryland struck by a falling chimney, as well as one victim in New Jersey.

The breakdown of fatalities was: six in North Carolina, four in Virginia, four in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey, and one each in Connecticut, Florida in Maryland.

The youngest fatalities were a boy killed by a falling tree in his apartment in Newport News, a city on a coastal peninsula in Virginia, and a girl who died in North Carolina.

"A 15-year-old girl was killed in a car accident on her way back from the beach after vacationing in North Carolina," explained emergency official Patty McQuillan.

"The traffic light at the intersection was not working, the power was out."

North Carolina emergency management spokesman Brad Deen said one of the six victims in his state was a man who had a heart attack on Friday while nailing plywood over his windows in preparation for the hurricane.

Two people were also killed in the state in separate driving accidents. Another North Carolina fatality was a man struck by a falling tree limb while outside feeding his animals.

Ruth Miller, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, told AFP that four fatalities had so far been confirmed in her state.

In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie initially said two people had been killed -- a woman trapped in her car by rising floodwaters and a firefighter who succumbed to his injuries during a rescue attempt.

But only the woman's death was confirmed -- the firefighter was still alive in a critical condition in hospital and Christie had spoken out of turn after being given inaccurate information by his staff.

One man was killed by a storm-related electrical fire in Connecticut, while another storm-related death was a 55-year-old surfer who took to his board in treacherously high waves off the Florida coast on Friday.

"We had sent out an advisory recommending everyone check beach reports and use an abundance of caution before entering the water," state emergency official William Booher told AFP.

Irene barreled up the east coast Sunday into the densely populated northeastern states of Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

In Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin told CNN that a woman was feared dead after being swept into a rushing river, but a spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Agency, Mark Bosma, said her death was not confirmed.

Millions of people are without power and officials warned that flood damage from Irene's heavy rains may be felt for days.

Irene earlier left at least five people dead in the Caribbean, including one in the US territory of Puerto Rico. (AFP)

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