WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Sunday that he expects damages from Hurricane Irene to run into the billions of dollars along the state's Atlantic coast and from inland river flooding.

"I've got to imagine that the damage estimates are going to be in the billions of dollars, if not in the tens of billions of dollars," Christie said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

He said state damage assessments along the coast would begin Sunday afternoon but that inland damage may not become obvious until river flooding subsides as late as Tuesday.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Bill Trott)