Irene Officially Downgraded to Tropical Storm

She may have felt like a hurricane and looked like a hurricane and caused hurricane-like destruction, but by the time blew through New Jersey on Aug. 28, she was just a Tropical Storm.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Irene, officials overestimated the storm's wind power, saying it was 75 miles per hour when it hit the Jersey Shore, but now say it was actually 69 mph.

At the time, weather officials had predicted that by time she hit Newark, Irene would be a Tropical Storm although she’d been wreaking havoc along the Atlantic coast as a hurricane, and it was hard for officials in its path to think of it as anything other than a hurricane.

The definitive information is part of a 45-page report on hurricane season  released Thursday detailing the storm which ravaged the Northeast and left millions without power for up to a week, and some folks in Millburn and Short Hills without power for nine days and entire town without water most of the week as well.

While 69 mph is still a dangerous speed, it falls below the 74 mph classification for a hurricane.  Despite the lower wind speed, the report states that the biggest impact caused by Irene was the rainfall -- nine inches in a 24-hour period in a week where the ground was already completely saturated by several inches of rain.

New Jersey was among the states hardest hit by the storm. Seven deaths were reported as caused by the storm, almost a million homes were left powerless and the damage cost the state almost $190 million in damage.  New Jersey was and to personally examine the damage.

In preparation for the storm, towns like Millburn declared an emergency as did the state, and Governor Chris Christie even that Hurricane Irene is "not like anything you’ve seen before." He urged residents to take the threat of injury or death seriously and get "the hell off the beach."

When the storm hit, the Rahway River overflowed its banks and destroyed many in Millburn as it raged through downtown and flooded homes in the . , which is situated next to the river, is still working to re-open.

Many residents in the neighborhood had eight feet of water in their basements and yards and experience flooding from the sewage system as well.

All in all, Tropical Storm Irene packed as big a punch, or bigger, in Millburn as did 12 years earlier.

The town is still in recovery mode and the township is working with other towns along the Rahway to mitigate flood damage and prevent more flooding in the future.

Scott Egelberg contributed to this report.