In the Wake of Irene..... Fema Aid

New Jersey and Vermont are still grappling with record flooding, two days after Irene passed overhead Rescue efforts are intensifying in flood-hit parts of the north-eastern US, as the death toll continues to rise two days after a fierce storm. Tropical Storm Irene killed 40 people in the US and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

In Vermont on Tuesday, soldiers were airlifting supplies to towns isolated by washed-away roads. President Obama pledged stricken areas would have "the support they need as people recover".
"A lot of our fellow citizens are still reeling from Hurricane Irene and its aftermath," he told military veterans in Minneapolis.  "Folks are surveying the damage and some are dealing with tremendous flooding. As a government, we're going to make sure that states and communities have the support they need so that folks can recover."

Mr Obama's remarks came a day after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) warned of shortfalls in a disaster relief fund. The agency's director, Craig Fugate, is due to visit Vermont later, after warning that some projects to rebuild areas of the Midwest struck by tornados earlier in the year could be postponed. Senior administration officials were to travel to other stricken states to survey recovery efforts.
At the White House on Monday, Mr Fugate warned that Fema funds were to be directed towards "immediate needs".

The mountain town of Keene, New York, was effectively isolated by damaged roads "We are not taking any money away from survivors," Mr Fugate said, denying that the agency was diverting funds from previous disaster survivors to fund the Irene recovery. In Vermont, a small, mostly rural and mountainous state, 13 small towns and villages remained isolated on Tuesday after roads and bridges were washed away.
Vermont National Guard troops were airlifting and trucking food, water and other emergency supplies. More than 200 roads across the state were impassable, and authorities warned Vermonters to stay clear of damaged areas. "We've got a long slog ahead," Governor Peter Shumlin told MSNBC television. "Irene really whacked us hard." The state is reeling from the worst floods since 1927, and officials warned some rivers and creeks there had yet to crest.

Driving rains and flood tides damaged homes and cut power to more than three million people in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York alone. Celena Sylvestri, 20, drowned when her car filled with water on a flooded New Jersey road. She had called her boyfriend and 911 for help. A New York man was electrocuted when he tried to rescue a child on a street with downed power lines. Two men in Florida drowned as they tried to swim or surf rough waves. Seven people were crushed by falling trees in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Meanwhile, nearly 100 people remained stranded in mountain towns in New York State due to washed out roads and bridges. The storm dumped 13in of rain on the state. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said dozens of bridges and roadways would need to be repaired and that some of the state's rivers had yet to crest from flooding. "You're going see more damage before it starts to get better," he told reporters on Monday.