Live updates: Hurricane Irene belts the East Coast

Irene, a tropical storm as of 9 a.m. ET, continues to churn across the upper Northeast. Yahoo! News is updating the latest developments through staff reports and social media in the live blog below. Let us know what's happening your area by commenting in the chat player below. Share your storm pictures with our Flickr breaking news group. Thanks for joining the conversation.

Update: The live chat ended at noon ET Sunday, but you can continue to get the latest developments on Yahoo! News' special page dedicated to Irene coverage. Many thanks to the hundreds of thousands of readers who helped keep the blog coverage lively and informative.