Hurricane Irma has pummelled Florida, packing winds up to 130mph, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions and toppling massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.

Thick black smoke and towering orange flames shot up once again from a flooded Houston-area chemical plant where highly unstable compounds blew up after losing refrigeration.

A travel ban for the New York area was lifted but Washington was still at a standstill after a blizzard paralysed the north-eastern United States, killing at least 24 people.

Report finds agency handling disasters lacks co-ordination

New York’s biggest underground terminus has opened in lower Manhattan – a vital link between the new World Trade Centre and the rest of the city.

Utility crews were working feverishly to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the eastern US after an ice storm knocked out electricity to more than a million customers, damage one official likened to that from a hurricane.

Investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2m (€1.5m) in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, a politician has said.

Defending champion Geoffrey Mutai and Priscah Jeptoo won the men’s and women’s races at the New York City Marathon yesterday for a Kenyan sweep in chilly, windy conditions through the city’s five boroughs.

The Statue of Liberty has reopened to the public after New York state agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site during the US federal government shutdown.

Word of warning: this is a column about the media and the people charged with keeping them at bay.

Barack Obama visited tornado-devastated Oklahoma, consoling people staggered by the loss of life and property and promising that the US government would be behind them “every step of the way”.

After Hurricane Irene in 2011, a couple of Bruce Springsteen fans were visiting the New Jersey Shore town of Belmar, a defining district of the so-called Irish Riviera.

Areas on the US east coast are racing to remove untold tons of debris from waters hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy before the summer swimming and boating seasons begin.

Snow began to fall as a massive blizzard headed for the US north-east today, sending residents hurrying to stock up on food and supplies.

A majority of the five-man Cork hurling management team favoured the retention of Donal Óg Cusack on the Rebel’s League panel, the Irish Examiner has learned.

A midweek Lotto jackpot of €10.6m was collected yesterday as the Tipperary hurler Lar Corbett denied, through Twitter, he was the lucky winner.

He’s been a part of two All-Ireland winning teams but rumours abounded last night that Lar Corbett was part of a two-man team that scooped the €10.6m top prize in the lottery.

Asian stock markets headed lower today as investors turned cautious before US earnings season kicks off this week.

An ailing, endangered finback whale has been found washed ashore in a coastal enclave of New York City that was hard hit by Superstorm Sandy.

US stocks dipped, recording their first loss of the week as President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress sniped at each other and a deadline to avoid sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts drew closer.

Insurance company Zurich estimates damage claims relating to Superstorm Sandy will hit its fourth quarter earnings by $700m.

It was the question Barbara Walters called the elephant in the room: Is Chris Christie too fat to be president?

Musicians were so intent upon helping victims of Superstorm Sandy that they did not seem to want their benefit concert in New York to end.

Stocks edged higher today on Wall Street after a strong sales report from McDonald's offset concerns about the surprise resignation announcement of Italy's Prime Minister.

New York came to sunny West Cork as Clonakilty got its bite of the Big Apple’s Hurricane Sandy mop-up and 2,500 athletes worked up a pre-Christmas appetite at the town’s third Waterfront Marathon series of races.

The US economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008, with the government saying Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.

The most high profile rebranding of a US sports team of the past decade needs all the help it can get and the Brooklyn Nets ticked two important boxes this week: they beat the New York Knicks on Monday night and got into a fight in Boston on Wednesday.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appealed to congressional leaders for quick action on providing tens of billions of dollars in new federal aid to help his city and state and others recover from Superstorm Sandy but was told it might be some time before it is forthcoming – and it likely will not be all at once.

Extreme weather events such as superstorm Sandy and this summer’s drought in the US will become more frequent as the climate changes.

Asian stock markets mostly struggled to advance today after data showed Europe slipped back into recession and several big US retailers disappointed investors with weak forecasts.

Stock indexes closed lower today, a third straight decline, after US retailers issued weak forecasts for earnings and more people filed claims for unemployment benefits.

Petrol rationing imposed in 12 counties in New Jersey following Superstorm Sandy has ended, officials said.

Almost 600 mourners gathered in Brooklyn yesterday for the funeral Mass of the two young sons of Donegal man Damien Moore who were swept away by flood waters during Superstorm Sandy last week.

New York has imposed a petrol rationing plan that allows motorists to fill up every other day as the city continued to feel the effects of Superstorm Sandy.

International Airlines Group today announced plans to axe 4,500 jobs as it attempts to stem losses at its Spanish airline Iberia.

A memorial service will be held today in Donegal for two small boys killed in Superstorm Sandy in New York.

ONE of the first and easily the most upsetting of sights to confront Eddie Travers and his wife Derbhla was that of a dead man being put into a body bag.

New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the rationing of fuel due to a severe shortage caused by Superstorm Sandy.

Rihanna rocked the lingerie look at Victoria’s Secret fashion show in New York, providing the highlight of the live-music soundtrack and holding her own on the catwalk with some of the world’s top models.

The New York-New Jersey region woke up to a layer of wet snow and more power cuts after a new storm pushed back efforts to recover from a superstorm had left millions powerless and dozens dead last week.

We warmly welcome the re-election of Barack Obama as president of the US.

Lady Gaga is donating US $1million to the Red Cross to aid those affected by Superstorm Sandy.

Coastal residents of New York and New Jersey faced fresh warnings to evacuate their homes today as a new storm took aim, a week after Superstorm Sandy left dozens dead and millions without power.

With more than 130m Americans heading out to vote and some queuing for hours, reports of polling problems in key battleground states as well as the flood effected areas of post-Sandy New York and New Jersey caused some concern for both parties.

Impatient New Jersey voters queued up amid rubble and rubbish left by Superstorm Sandy as election officials scrambled to open makeshift polling stations on time.

Major stock market indexes have climbed as investors waited for the finish of a closely fought US presidential election.

Voting was the latest challenge for the hundreds of thousands of people in the New York-New Jersey area still affected by Superstorm Sandy.

Election day turnout is high in several storm-ravaged areas in New York and New Jersey, with many voters expressing relief and even elation at being able to vote at all, considering the devastation.

A priest has condemned New York residents who refused to open their doors to a mother of two Irish boys who were swept away by Superstorm Sandy in the US.

The parish priest of Portnoo in Co Donegal has expressed shock at the deaths of two young boys during Superstorm Sandy on Staten Island in New York.