Irene damage in North Carolina at least $71 million

Hurricane Irene destroyed or severely damaged at least 1,100 homes and caused more than $71 million in damage in North Carolina’s seven hardest-hit counties, Governor Beverly Perdue said on Tuesday. The governor, who scouted the damage by air with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said the financial hit would rise by millions of dollars once agricultural losses were factored in.