James Long hops on a subway with his dog, Pebbles, as they evacuate Coney Island Saturday. (Photo: AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The newly weakened storm made landfall over Coney Island in New York on Sunday morning, bringing with it 65-mph winds and rain and not the 100-mph hurricane that had battered the South.

Irene is expected to continue to weaken as it passes over New England, and it should move over Eastern Canada by Sunday night. It remains a massive storm, however, with powerful winds extending more than 300 miles from the center.