BLOGGING via TYPEWRITER.: Hurricane Irene, by the numbers, to date (UPDATE 2): 
• Confirmed death toll at nine;
• Storm makes landfall in New York City near Coney Island, winds at 65MPH; gaining speed at 18MPH on a north north-east heading;
• More than half a million people in New Jersey are without power;
• Newsday (no link) reports more than 283,000 customers on Long Island without power — about a quarter of the Island;
• 250,000 Connecticut residents are without power;
• Jersey-bound tube of the Holland Tunnel closed due to flooding;
• CNN reporting both Hudson and East Rivers (the latter being an estuary of the Long Island Sound) have both begun to “overflow” their banks in some parts of Lower Manhattan; CBS Radio News reporting Con Ed may soon decide to shut power down in lower Manhattan;
• Overall, more than two million people have been warned or ordered to evacuate from the path of the storm.