Federal officials caution: Irene’s ‘impacts don’t change’ despite downgrade

Federal emergency response officials warned Sunday morning that the effects of Hurricane Irene remain severe despite its downgrade to a tropical storm as it hit New York.

“The impacts don’t change,” National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read told CNN. “The tidal flood event is under way, the huge waves on the beaches [are] under way, the river flooding and rain flooding is under way, the power outages are under way.”

{mosads}The hurricane agency officially downgraded Irene to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. The system lashed New York on Sunday morning, bringing substantial flooding in New York City.

The storm that has moved up the East Coast through the weekend has knocked out power to more than 4 million homes and businesses, according to The Associated Press.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate and other officials urged people to stay indoors.

“Stay inside, stay safe, stay off the roads, let the power crews do their job,” Fugate said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The storm has resulted in at least 18 deaths, according to news reports.

Fugate suggested that authorities were fearing much higher fatalities.

“So far the loss of life has not been as great as we’ve been fearing,” he said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told CNN that more than a half-million people were without power in his state and that rivers were at record levels.

“Our real concern right now is flooding,” he said.

Fugate said Sunday on Fox News that he’s unsure if FEMA will need emergency spending to cover the costs of the storm response.

“We were sitting on over $800 million still in the relief fund that allows us to continue operations,” he said, adding that the agency will make assessments after “looking at the numbers for the rest of this year and the impacts of Irene on next year.”

“It depends on how much damage we see …  and we won’t know that until we get out and start doing some of the damage assessment,” Fugate added.

But such an evaluation will take time, he cautioned.

“Actually, damage assessments will need to wait until the storm moves out of the way.”

As the storm moved through New York City on Sunday, Fugate expressed concern over flooding and for those in high-rise buildings in the city.

“The big concern is how much water we get. … The flood damage itself will be pretty bad,” he said.

Fugate also warned those in skyscrapers that wind speeds at higher altitudes would be more severe. Residents could expect a “20 [percent] to 30 percent increase in wind speeds as [they] move up.”

“Move down lower in the building, and don’t go outside,” he advised.

Fugate held two conference calls with President Obama on Saturday, and the president was expected to confer with emergency response officials again Sunday.

The White House has been aggressive in showing Obama’s oversight of the federal response to the storm. The administration hopes to avoid comparisons to the Bush administration’s flawed 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina.

Obama declared emergencies in states in Irene’s projected path, a decision that helped authorities mobilize federal resources.

This story was updated at 5:34 p.m.