Healthcare providers in North Carolina and Virginia began dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene as the storm, now downgraded to tropical-storm status, continued north toward New England.

Carteret General Hospital, Morehead City, N.C., was still operating on generators after losing power earlier in the weekend, though its phone service had returned after getting knocked out on Saturday.

Also, a lockdown was lifted at all three hospitals of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, N.C., according to the hospitals' website. The lockdown had been initiated on Friday.

Sentara Healthcare, Norfok, Va., which had evacuated 93 residents from a nursing home in Barco, N.C., per a county evacuation order, closed three urgent-care facilities because of a lack of power, according to its Facebook page. All other facilities were operating, Sentara said.

As a hurricane, Irene already had unloaded more than a foot of water in North Carolina, spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and left 4 million homes and businesses without power. At least 11 people were killed.

Meanwhile, Irene was predicted to reach northern New England by Sunday night. As a result of the storm, seawater surged into the streets of Manhattan. The flooding threatened Wall Street and the heart of the global financial network.

Salty water from New York Harbor submerged parts of a promenade at the base of the island. A foot of water rushed over the wall of a marina in front of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

As the center of the storm passed over Central Park at midmorning, floodwater reached the wheel wells of some stranded cars in Manhattan, and more streamed into the streets of Queens, lapping at the doors of boarded-up shops.

Irene weakened to winds of 65 mph, below the 74 mph dividing line between a hurricane and tropical storm. The system was still massive and powerful, though, forming a figure six that covered the Northeast. It was moving twice as fast as the day before, at 25 mph.