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Read the press release here.

Hurricane Irene May Cost New York $1 Billion

By Ben Fractenberg | August 31, 2011 7:57pm

MANHATTAN — Manhattan will get federal aid after New York State suffered an estimated $1 billion dollars in damage from Hurricane Irene.

“On the numbers, on the damage, which we’re just putting together, we believe at the end of the day, the total damage will be close to $1 billion,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, according to the Daily News.

“Over 600 homes destroyed, six towns inundated, 150 major highways have been damaged, 22 state bridges closed. In the area of agriculture, over $45 million in damage, 140,000 acres and still climbing.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials and Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke about the need to prioritize the money with some areas of the state suffering worse damage than others.

A tree fell into the back of a car on DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn after Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011.
A tree fell into the back of a car on DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn after Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

"There are two realities to what Irene did to New York. And one reality was that New York City and on Long Island, in some ways, we celebrated that the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been downstate. That's one reality," said Cuomo while touring damaged areas upstate Wednesday.

"There's an exact opposite reality in upstate New York, the mid-Hudson, the Catskills, the North Country that paid a terrible, terrible price for this storm and is going to need our time and our attention and our resources to restore."

It is not clear how much aid Manhattan will be getting or how much damage it suffered.  Brooklyn will be the only borough that does not get federal cleanup money, NY1 reported Wednesday.

The city will be reimbursed money for repairs and cleanup, but Brooklyn will reportedly have to shell out millions.

"I am baffled how Brooklyn could be left off the FEMA list when the Bronx is included, Manhattan is included, and believe me, we sustained in Brooklyn more than $25 million worth of damage, a lot more than Manhattan, so I have no clue how we're not on the list,” Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz told NY1.