http://www.lbnelert.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Irene.jpgIRENE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 40: Two days after the storm blew through, the death toll of Hurricane Irene continues to rise as rivers flood upstate New York and Vermont. Forty people are now said to have died as a result of the storm, including an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who drowned at a cabin in the Catskills. Three of those deaths occurred in Vermont, where many towns are cut off by the flooding. “It’s just devastating,” said Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin.