The 11-state death toll from Hurricane Irene, later downgraded to a tropical storm, rose dramatically Monday. As the cleanup and recovery effort began, authorities tracing Irene's destructive path raised the number of dead to at least 30..

While floods and falling trees were the main hazards, some people made the deadly decision to venture into the storm. Here are some of the casualties:

• Police in Hockessin, Del., found the bodies of two men who had sent a text message to a friend saying that they were running at the height of the storm.

• In separate Florida incidents, two 55-year-old men died in rough surf.

• A 20-year-old woman called her boyfriend and then 911 for help getting out of her car, which was flooding in Pilesgrove, N.J. Her body was found in the vehicle about eight hours later, about 150 feet off the road.

• A Long Island, N.Y., man drowned while windsurfing.

• In Virginia, four people — including an 11-year-old boy — were killed by falling trees.

• A man in Southbridge, Mass., was electrocuted when he touched a railing on his front porch that had become electrified by downed power lines.

• A man in his 50s was electrocuted by downed wires in Spring Valley, N.Y., when he tried to help a child who had gone into a flooded street.

• In Queen Anne's County, Md., an 85-year-old woman was killed when a tree knocked a chimney through the glass roof of the sunroom where she was sitting.