The death toll in the Hurricane Irene that lashed the US East Coast on Saturday has increased to 20 as President Obama warned that the threat is not yet completely over and indicated that the flood situation could get still worse with rivers swelling past their banks.

Meanwhile, people in several towns and cities nearer to east coast went without power and thousands of people have become shelter less. Nearly 50 lakh homes are without power supply because of the natural disaster.

Thousands of trees were uprooted and most of the areas in the east coast were flooded with rain water.

The hurricane has also forced the closure of the New York’s mass public transport system and cancellation of thousands of flights. The damage to property was estimated to be some billions of dollars.