Washington, Sept 20: Hurricane Isabel left at least 21 people dead, millions without power and an insurance bill of several billion dollars in its devastating wake across the eastern United States. The storm also caused widespread transport havoc and kept the federal government closed for a second day. Downgraded to a tropical storm late Thursday, Isabel toppled thousands of trees and power lines in north Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington after landfall Thursday, packing 160-kilometer-an-hour winds at its peak.
The storm moved north into Canada yesterday as a massive clean-up operation got underway, but dozens of flights remained cancelled after an estimated 1,500 were called off the day Isabel hit.

Most of the 21 deaths were caused by traffic accidents as trees and electricity poles were felled by the storm.

Virginia was the worst-hit state, with fourteen fatalities reported by the state's department of emergency management.

One power worker in north Carolina was electrocuted as he tried to reconnect supplies at a power substation in driving rain, a woman was crushed to death in her car by a tree and two people died in Maryland as a result of the storm.
A man in Maryland was killed when his car was struck by a falling power pole.
In Pennsylvania, a man was killed when his car was blown off the road in the strong winds and a man drowned off the coast of Rhode island after being swept from the shore by high waves.
Bureau Report