get slightly weaker as we run the storm over north carolina and then on up into the northeast. and that's good news. i still think because of the size of this storm that that flooding potential in downtown new york, in manhattan, in parts of hoboken and even toward rockaway beach and long beach in new york still there as those waves will be pushing, those winds will be pushing water up against that shore for a very long time. here's what's happened to the storm and what happened earlier today and also during the day yesterday is the turn happened. and during that turn, there was enough wind shear that was pushing the storm from a different direction that the storm didn't like it very much and the storm really disintegrated for awhile. it was very low pressure. it was extremely low pressure. in fact, right now the pressure is low enough to make a category 3 hurricane. it's just not organized enough to get those category 3 winds. we could wake up tomorrow morning -- one of the things the hurricane center will tell you is that the forecast for hurricane wind speed is harder, much hard

see to it we are prepared. >> we do have our reporters out this morning. several in north carolina, like i mentioned, that has been getting battered by this storm. that is where it has officially made landfall. we also have reporters in d.c. and new york where the storm will be heading. let me start in north carolina, kill devil hills, north carolina, where reynolds wolf is now. reynolds, it's official, it's made landfall. what are you noticing there? and we see your picture there reynolds. it seems like it continues to kick up every time we come talk to you. >> reporter: well, t.j., i've got to tell you that i've been lucky enough to cover tropical weather at cnn for about six years now, covered about 17 on the beach. i've been lucky enough to cover them in the pacific ocean, in hawaii, been in the gulf of mexico and now obviously on the atlantic. and each and every one of those storms is a little bit different, but there is one common thread. they each have one key moment in whatever location we happen to be in. that key location, that key moment, right now with irene at kitty hawk, no

low-lying areas. so one of the big concerns, y talk about north carolina, a lot of those are counties inland not right on the coast. that's because of all the rainfall. and it has been raining steadily now for several hours. and as chad myers has been pointing out, we could be in this kind of weather and worse weather through tomorrow, late afternoon and evening because the core of this hurricane is expected to pass right over us at about 7:00 a.m. in the morning when we get the category 1, category 2 hurricane winds. for another 6 or 8 hours the backside of the storm, we're going the get tropical storm force winds and the continuation of the rainfall. so a long time yet to go before we see any clear skies here. anderson. >> that's it for us on "360". more hurricane coverage next. >>> hi there. good morning, everybody, from the cnn center. this is your cnn start morning. coming to you an hour earlier today to cover this storm, hurricane irene that is actually putting about 20% of this country's population under threat of this storm. we're talking about 65 million people are i

slicing through the bahamas, north carolina, expected in washington, new york, new england, more than 50 million people in the potential danger zone. >>> board up and get out. i'm carol costello. hurricane irene expected to deliver its first powerful blow to north carolina, warnings to move out of the way while there is still time on this "american morning." >>> good morning. it is friday, august 26th. welcome to "american morning." it's all about the hurricane today. >> i wish i could say happy friday, happy friday for those not living along the northeast coast. >> and whom it hasn't reached yet. >> exactly. let's talk about hurricane irene. now said to be a massive and powerful category 2 storm sitting just off the east coast. 50 million people could feel its force by this weekend. new hurricane warnings are now up, they stretch from north carolina to new jersey. states of emergency have been declared as far north as new england. >> irene totally hammered the bahamas yesterday with torrential rain, 115-mile-per-hour winds, north carolina like i is next. in atlantic beach a surf shop bo

. we're still forecast to get slightly weaker as we run the storm over north carolina and then on up into the northeast. and that's good news. i still think because of the size of this storm that that flooding potential in downtown new york, in manhattan, in parts of hoboken and even toward rockaway beach and long beach in new york still there as those waves will be pushing, those winds will be pushing water up against that shore for a very long time. here's what's happened to the storm and what happened earlier today and also during the day yesterday is the turn happened. and during that turn, there was enough wind shear that was pushing the storm from a different direction that the storm didn't like it very much and the storm really disintegrated for awhile. it was very low pressure. it was extremely low pressure. in fact, right now the pressure is low enough to make a category 3 hurricane. it's just not organized enough to get those category 3 winds. we could wake up tomorrow morning -- one of the things the hurricane center will tell you is that the forecast for hurricane wind speed i

, north carolina, that i wanted to show you. that is one of the places in which we've had the most dramatic video this morning. look at that. look at the gushing throughout the streets. i'll tell you, our own people spread out throughout the country are getting us some amazing imagery this morning. i want to encourage everyone, if you are in a position to safely, safely take pictures and video, which our staffer was, then go ahead and share it with us at ireport on our main page at cnn.com. we have a lot more coming up. and we'll show it to you as it comes. >> thanks so much, josh. see you throughout the hour. we're in a new hour right now. 1:00 eastern time. i'm fredricka whitfield at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. hurricane irene is ashore, particularly on the north carolina coast. as many as 65 million people all along the eastern seaboard are going to be impacted in some way, shape or form by irene. and many people are already trying to find shelter where they can. take a look at the size of this storm. eight states from north carolina to massachusetts are under states

decades. from north carolina into new england, bracing for irene. right now, irene is battering north carolina after making landfall a few hours ago near cape lookout. the winds, rain and surf were brutal as irene slammed ashore. and right now, more than 200,000 people in north carolina are without power. two storm-related deaths are reported. one in north carolina, another in virginia. the nation's biggest cities, including new york and boston, are bracing for the worst. >> if you are in an area where your governor or mayor has said there's a mandatory evacuation order, please abide by that order. and even if you're not in an evacuation zone, please know this is a big storm. it covers a lot of territory. be prepared. have some food, flashlight batteries, extra water, the sorts of things that will help you get through in case particularly power is out for some period of time. >> we've got reporters and live crews up and down the u.s. east coast to bring you the very latest on hurricane irene. reynolds wolf, john zarrella, brian todd are in the bull's-eye right now along the nort

for new york city. meantime as we speak, north carolina's outer banks are getting hit. we've got reporters all around the region. in a moment we'll check with correspondent on the ground there. i want to begin with chad myers who just got his hands on a fresh update from the national hurricane center. chad, what have you learned? >> i've learned now that storm has turned to the north-northeast. that is the continuation of the right-hand turn, anderson, that we talked about for so very long. there's the eye on radar. there's our john zarrella right there, our brian todd here. i'll take you to it. this is a very wet storm right now. wind gusts are 45, 47 miles per hour. and that's going to be the story. the winds will stay between 40, 50, and even up to 60 all night long beforehand fall brings it in as a category one hurricane. maybe a slight small category two hurricane as we make our way into atlantic beach for 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. that's where john zarrella is right now. but you have to notice the size of the green. that's the size of the tropical storm rainfall. almost 3

run the storm over north carolina. and then on up into the northeast. and that's good news. i still think because of the size of this storm that that flooding potential in downtown new york, in manhattan, in parts of hoboken and rockaway beach and long beach in new york still there as the waves will be pushing, the winds will be pushing water up against that shore for a very long time. here's what's happened to the storm and what happened earlier today and also during the day yesterday as the turn happened. during that turn there was enough wind shear pushing the storm from a different direction that the storm didn't like it very much. and the storm really disintegrated for a while. extremely low pressure. in fact, right now the pressure is low enough to make a category 3 hurricane. it's just not organized enough to get those category 3 winds. that's not saying it couldn't happen tonight. we could wake up tomorrow morning. one of the things the hurricane center will tell you is that the forecast for hurricane wind speed is harder, much harder than hurricane direction. so we can wake

path. it has been hammering north carolina with heavy rains and fierce winds for past several hours. it was just a couple of hours ago that it officially made landfall in north carolina. more than 200,000 people are without power as we speak, and the path of destruction is spreading as this storm continues to move north. major northeastern cities are in its sights, cities that aren't used to being tested for their hurricane preparedness. talking about washington, d.c., boston, new york city, as well. in fact, in some low-lying areas of new york, there has been an unprecedented mandatory evacuation in several places. that evacuation order is still in place, and some of those evacuations still underway. hospital patients, residents, tourists are getting out while they can. many are remaining behind and they're bracing for the possibility of massive flooding and tanlgs stodangerous storm surges. as well as in about an hour, they're going to shut down the public transit system in new york city. so if you've got somewhere to be and you don't have a car, you need to get on a train or a bus so

as we run the storm over north carolina and on up into the northeast. that is good news. i still think because of the size of this storm that that flooding po sensual in downtown new york in manhattan in even towards rockaway beach and long beach in new york still there as the waves will be pushing and the winds will be pushing water up against that shore for a very long time. here is what has happened to the storm as the turn happened. it was very low pressure. right now the pressure is low enough to make a category three hurricane. it's just not organized enough to get the category winds it is much harder than hurricane direction. we can wake up tomorrow morning and see something bigger than that. we will see. i don't think that is what is in the forecast and not what anybody else here will do as well. very close to ed who is right there. probably a little bit farther to the east now. just to the west of the cape light. and then back just to the west there. that's about over to the east of virginia beach. the problem is that we will have such a wind field. so just like kind of

currently dealing with recovery in puerto rico. now we repeat that process in north carolina, virginia, and up the coast as flooding is still ongoing. when a disaster comes off the news and nobody's paying attention, we still don't go home. we're still working hard across this country from tornadoes and floods that have already struck this country as well as the new damages. that's part of the mission we have at fema to work with our state and local partners, to work with the private sector, volunteer and faith-based community but most of all as the secretary and president said, the american people who we work for. we're there for the survivors. we'll be there through the length of these disasters. we're not going home just because it won't be on the news. we'll be there to support local communities and states as they begin the recovery. thank you. >> okay. thank you very much, everybody. craig and janet will continue to keep everybody posted throughout the week as we have already said. there are a lot of communities that are still being affected. we are particularly concerned about floodin

looking at, do we know? >> well, we know that when it goes over north carolina right through here, there's not going lot of land there. you have an island. the barrier island and then you have the sound and that's just basically water. now it may travel right over new jersey and if that happens it will lose some steam but if it's just offshore like the computer models are saying, then that wind will pound into new york city at 70, 80 miles per hour for many hours and that's where the storm surge comes from. >> i want to check in with brian todd who is in wrightsville beach, north carolina. >> reporter: a very powerful storm surge here on the beach in wrightsville. we're going to take a walk town. you're looking at johnny's fishing pier. look at these images. this is a very violent storm surge coming up on the beach here. emergency management has directed -- he's worried about these storm surges, over washing the beaches on the dunes. we're not far from the towers. you got about 20 counties in this region that will be impacted by this storm. 3.5 million people. a few brave souls out here wi

may be affecting the storm for us. we happen to be in kitty hawk, north carolina. we might get a slight break before the core is punching the area with the heavy rain and rainfall. the rainfall right now is being blown by the find. cascading over the tip of my cap. orlando, our photographer, may have to wipe the lens from time to time. one thing i want to get to, t.j., please excuse my rough speak. it needs to be said. all americans need to consider this up and down the eastern seaboard. you can be just as dead in a tropical depression as you can in a tropical storm as a category one or category two, three, four or five. just because this is a category one, do not take this lightly. this will be a big rainmaker. the outer banks could get up to a foot of rainfall. we talk about flooding. how that is a tremendous killer of people worldwide. it is a huge danger. you have to keep that in mind. we will get the power outages. the wind is one thing. i'm concerned with that. the waves are coming all the way up to the dunes. i don't think you will get them overtop of them. they went along

hours ago, making landfall near camp lookout, north carolina. there's new video we are getting from nearby, atlantic beach shows you what irene has left behind already in some areas. the hurricane storm surge swamping the town with ocean water. also, irene is spinning its way northward to some of the biggest cities on the eastern coast of the united states. cities like new york, washington, baltimore, boston, cities that aren't used to being prepared for a hurricane. they could all get slammed by this storm this weekend. right now, irene, a category 1 storm, it is pushing sustained winds of about 85 miles an hour. irene has also claimed at least one life in north carolina. we do have special hurricane coverage for you this morning that spans that coastline, from north carolina all the way up the atlantic seaboard. we're live in washington, new york city, both big cities are in the hurricane's potential storm track. but we need to start with where the hurricane made landfall, and that is in north carolina. i spoke with the north carolina governor, bev perdue, about an hour ago about

million customers are without power in virginia, and north carolina right now. president obama has declared a state of emergency in nine states, along the eastern seaboard. new york city has ordered an unprecedented evacuation, of 370,000 people. some of america's biggest cities are now bracing for the worst. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." we want to start with chris lawrence, he's joining us from maryland, the chesapeake beach, right now, chris, this powerful storm is moving in your direction, what are you seeing and what are you feeling? >> reporter: i feel very wet, and i can feel a tremendous amount of wind, that kicked up in the last few hours. where i'm standing now and a lot of the areas right around it, earlier this morning when we were here at 11:00 in the morning or noon, this was sand and very quickly over the past few hours, we have seen the tide start to rise and the winds get more and more intense here. it really says something, when you consider how far we still are from the

effect from coastal north carolina to south of new york city. gusty winds and choppy seas already are being felt on the outer banks, and worse is on the way, much worse. president obama is watching irene from martha's vineyard, but not for long because he is heading back to washington, d.c. a day ahead of schedule. earlier he called irene a historic storm. >> i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of the hurricane, you have to take precautions now. don't wait. don't delay. we all hope for the best but have to be prepared for the worst. >> irene is on track to follow the northeast corridor right up to new england and beyond. cnn is there. reynold wolf is in new jersey, and athena jones is in annapolis, maryland. we will start here in the weather center with cnn meteorologist, chad meyers. chad, give us an idea of where irene is now. >> not too much changed overnight. the storm did get a little stronger, and as it got stronger, you could see the eye. at 2:00 in the morning, you could truly see the eye. now we don't see it anymore. that tells me the stor

ashore earlier today on the outer banks of north carolina. we know of four storm-related deaths. more than half a million people are without power in north carolina and virginia now. hundreds of thousands are evacuating as irene heads up the eastern seaboard. it is down to a category 1 hurricane now, but make no mistake, it is powerful and dangerous. nine states from north carolina to massachusetts are under a state of emergency. the latest to be added now maryland. president barack obama stopped by the headquarters of the federal emergency management agency, fema, he says the government is ready to handle whatever comes. but it is going to be touch and go for many people throughout the weekend and into next week. >> it is going to be a long 72 hours and obviously a lot of families will be affected. the biggest concern now has to do with flooding and power. to sounds like that will be an enormous strain on a lot of states and that may take days or longer in some cases. we're going to have to stay on top of the recovery -- the response and recovery. >> cnn has news crews to bring you t

hours away from the city. it's battering north carolina right now. but new york, it doesn't have a lot of practice with this quite frankly. and the mayor admitted as such. so people right now, even this morning the sun was out a little bit, and certainly it was yesterday. people not thinking bad weather or bad storm is coming. don't wait until the storm gets bad, until the weather gets bad and then think, oh, maybe i should get out of here now. he's saying now is the time to do it. it's 40 minutes past the hour. we'll be talking to our jacqui jeras, our meteorologist and also our reporters up and down the coast today, including in north carolina. we have extensive coverage for you of hurricane irene, which made landfall just over an hour or so ago in north carolina. stay with me. >>> all right. 43 minutes past the hour. let's say hello wuonce again to brian todd. he's in wilmington, north carolina, for us this morning. brian, can you hear me? >> reporter: i can hear you fine and give you a quick update what's going on here. the rain and wind hasn't let us since irene came ashore. t

carolina have the declarations. the storm is smacking north carolina as we speak. sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. it is a category one storm. it was a category two yesterday. don't let that fool you. that it seems to have downgraded. i should not use the word downgrade. this is a serious storm. a big storm as well. storm bands are hundreds of miles wide right now. the radar suggesting it may be losing organization. sloppy is the word that our jacqui jeras was using earlier. >> and john zarrella. >> you want to contribute it to john? >> yes, he is the one who said sloppy. >> i went along with sloppy. what is the word? >> it is not an organized storm. that is a better term to talk about. we had a lot of wind shear on the southwest side of the storm. we had a lot of dry air which has been moving into it. all of these factors have been weakening the system overall. i like that you said, t.j., that we don't want to downplay it and say it is downgraded to a category one. this is a monster. look at how big this thing is. we have cloud shield over into tennessee. that is hundreds of mil

will know a monster storm is out there. tonight about 65 million people from north carolina to new england are in the path of hurricane irene. ten governors declared states of emerge system new york city officials ordered the first mandatory evacuations in city history, but along the jersey shore, drivers can testify trying to get out of harm's way is a slow nerve-racking process. the hurricane isn't waiting. right now, the storm, a category 2 with 100 mile-an-hour sustained winds is heading for the north carolina coast. our coverage starts with john in north carolina. we probably don't need to ask you to set the scene for us. what does it feel like there? >> reporter: we are getting the winds as you see right now gusting and picking up a little bit. the rain has been constant. periodically heavy and then it lightens up a little bit. the past couple of hours or so here on atlantic beach, a mandatory evacuation, obviously, this is an island. the atlantic ocean is that way. that's actually south the way this beach faces. irene is coming straight up from the south. it's very likely a

up in the air in north carolina a day or two ago because the wind speed was over 35 miles per hour. it was unsafe for aircraft to get up to do the low flying necessary. but they're up there, doing the damage assessments. we're working with the governors and the other states. we're still in response in a number of states. as you've noted, the record flooding we're seeing in places like new jersey, in new england, that's still ongoing. some of those won't crest for a day or two. right now, with the size of the storm, we have -- as well as now recovery and damage assessments for places where the hurricane hit first. >> i know i have you for a limited time. let me get one more question in. fema admits that yes, it's been victimized by fraud and waste. my question is how is the government getting a handle on those problems? how and when will the government begin to get their money ba being? >> well, i think a lot of those older problems have long been rectified and dealt with. we want to make sure that the taxpayers are getting their money's worth. we want to be good steward of the taxp

landfall? >> i think moorehead city is a good bet. the low country of north carolina is going to get hit hard. what surprising when you look back at hurricane history, it's been over ten years since north carolina got hit by a major storm. and it's been almost six years since we have seen a major storm hit the u.s. and this is not a major storm technical right now. it's got winds of 110. we need winds of 111. talking about splitting hairs right there. don't worry about that and don't so much worry about the track because it's close enough to the coatline once it gets past north carolina everybody across the chesapeake and new jersey and new england coastline will be affected and a large storm with a big circulation and surge on top of high tides as well. exactly how much surge you get in your neighborhood will determine by the track and where you exactly live. not necessarily the elevation. it's going to be interesting and it will be historic. just try to prepare as best you can and we will hope for the best as mom likes to say. >> we will be covering this very, very closely. as

category 1 storm as it hit landfall in north carolina and is heading up the coast, you know, decreasing the wind speeds by 10, 15 miles an hour will make little difference to when is going to cause harm to the folks here in new jersey. we're still looking at anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of rain throughout the state. high winds throughout the state. and extraordinary damage to the barrier islands in terms of both private property and public infrastructure. and flooding issues that will be happening throughout the state. none of that will change even with a minor weakening from a category 2 to a category 1. we still don't fwlknow whether will pick up speed, but people should take no comfort if you're watching the weather channel or any other news coverage that there has been a slight weakening of the storm. it is not changing the fundamentals of what makes this storm so dangerous for new jersey. so, please, don't think that means, okay, we can go out to dinner tonight, we should be on the roads. i want to thank the owners of the giants and the jets for exceeding to my request to reschedul

come ashore two different times. north carolina first gets hit on saturday, and then somewhere in new england after that, even in areas that don't get a direct hit though, there's the flooding damage, wind damage and power outages, a major pain. you're looking at live pictures from folly beach in south carolina. residents keeping an eye on irene. it could pass by though. they haven't been told to leave though. they are urged to take precautions. evacuations are under way though in the north carolina outer banks. the governor declaring a state of emergency ahead of the hurricane. many areas are accessible only by ferry so voluntary evacuations have now become mandatory. residents and tourists told to get out today. >> we have the website posted with where there are shelters. there are sheltering options and several counties. wilson is one. we have those on our website and the local emergency management have them published in that data, and then obviously on sunday you'll hear an immediate response from the local emergency people and the state emergency folks talking about the metho

caused a transformer to blow in north carolina. 4 million left in the dark all the way up the east coast. many don't have power yet. as christine said, several towns in new jersey and new hampshire are under water. in vermont, these pictures are dramatic, raging water, washed away bridges, knocked some of their homes off of their foundations. search crews are saying they are afraid of what they could find when the water starts to go down. right now, seven families say they are trapped in upstate new york's catskill mountains after bridges crumbled around them. 23 include two pregnant women, seven toddlers and three infants. no power either. win dam upstate is also in danger, upstate new york, is in danger of breaking. >>> for the latest forecast on the flooding and vermont -- because they didn't order those evacuations, they didn't think anything would happen. let's go to rob marciano. what is happening in vermont? what should they expect? >> not going to get any more rain but their riskers in most cases are still rising, most of them will crest this afternoon or tonight, and that

increasing the flooding. up next, a tour of the storm damage in north carolina's outer banks where about 2500 people tonight are cut off from the mainland. later, a disturbing story from libya that reveals cruelties by moammar gadhafi's family. that's a cnn exclusive. ♪ [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. that's not going to satisfy you. come on. it's time for a better snack. try this. it's yoplait greek. it has two times the protein of regular yogurt. you'll feel satisfied. [ female announcer ] yoplait greek. it is so good. oh, and there's a smile. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to sa

irene, north carolina and virginia are being pounded right now by the category 1 storm, and millions of people up and down the eastern seaboard are already taking precautions as the storm heads their way, irene made landfall this morning in the outer banks of north carolina, take a look at how big it is. some calculate that this is about equivalent to the side of europe. so far we know of four storm related deaths as a result of irene. nearly a million people in north carolina and virginia are without power. irene is expected to arrive in new york city sometime tomorrow morning. the big concern there, flooding from this storm surge. president barack obama visited fema headquarters just a short time ago, earlier today and he said the government is ready to deal with whatever happens. the president has already declared state of emergencies in nine states, they are north carolina, virginia, maryland, new jersey, new york, connecticut, massachusetts, rhode island and new hampshire, these states now can get federal aid to help them recover from any hurricane damage. all right, let's head

not out of the woods yet. >> no matter where you are this morning, from north carolina to maine, we encourage you to stay off the roads as much as possible so that we can keep them clear for first responders and for vehicles who are working on power restoration. we also encourage everyone to continue listening to the instructions of their state and local officials and to visit ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe at the storm. >> we know irene made her way up the coast all the way from north carolina now up to maine and left quite a trail of destruction in its path. a lot of people in harm's way. even with all the events, planning or warnings, some people were caught in very dangerous situations like this family here. this is video. it shows rescue crews in these boats essentially helping these folks who live in that home get out safely. they had to be rescued by boat here in elmsford, new york, when the floodwaters came rushing in. this irene storm surge sent this life guard station, watch this, tumbling along the waters. this is long beach, new york. it's we're told a small buil

, governor, have lost power in virginia and in north carolina. you say what 30,000 so far in maryland. but you know it's going to go into hundreds of thousands very, very quickly, right? >> well it probably will. i mean given the saturation of the ground, and the wind knocking over trees, there will be lots of people without power tonight in my state and fortunately we have a lot more crews on hand ahead of this that have been working with the utility companies for two to three times as many out of state crews are here right now than were here on the advent of sn snowmageddon. >> governor, a lot of people are worried about those beaches. this was supposed to be one of those weekends where tourism would bring a lot of revenue for people who live in maryland. unfortunately, that is not happening right now. are you getting the support from fema, from the federal government that you need? >> i'll tell you what, wolf. fema has never been better. we had a conference call with all of the states, secretary napolitano was there, director fugate and president obama. our federal governm

anywhere. right now, the outer bands are already on to north carolina with tropical storm force winds. so from there to the eye, a couple hundred miles and then it continues to go up to the north from there. here's what i built for us. for forecast wind speeds, tropical storm in the green, hurricane in the yellow. hurricane force winds around the center of the eye. and atlantic beach by 7:00 tomorrow morning. that is 7:00 a.m. saturday. you need to be obviously out of there before that if you're going to do that. virginia beach, 7:00 p.m. or so tomorrow night, with the closest approach to the eye right there. that will push water from hampton roads into chesapeake. a little bit of a surge possible and flooding into virginia beach. if you're flooded with a small tropical storm, it's now forecast to be a very minimal hurricane. a very strong tropical storm as it moves into new york city. that comes in on sunday, sunday morning. 10:00 a.m., right over long island. and then one more stop for you. the closest approach to boston will be 3:00 p.m. we do know -- almost 46 million people, joe, wil

bracing for this storm. this is live pictures. wrightsville beach, in north carolina. one of the danger zone and the first to feel this hurricane on u.s. soil. irene is on track to come ashore around north carolina's outer banks either late tonight or tomorrow morning. chad will zero in on that in a second. dozens of states could be inundated with high winds, heavy rain and storm surge. hurricane warnings in effect from north carolina to new york city. irene expected to target the northeast by sunday. that's where the major population centers are at risk. in fact, new york's mayor, michael bloomberg, issuing the first ever mandatory evacuation order. >> also adding a full evacuation of all people living in private homes or apartments in the rockaways. in addition, you should know that mta service, including subways, buses and railroads will begin to shut down tomorrow at noon. we'll discuss that and other measures in a moment depending on the effect of the storm, let me caution you in regards to the mta that service may or may not be restored in time for rush hour monday morning.

americans trying to move on now. we'll take you from north carolina to new york to new england and give you the big picture from the cnn "weather center," right here in atlanta. let's go ahead and begin in vermont, a state reeling from some of its worst flooding in decades. gary tuchman there in brat tleboro. >> reporter: they don't deal with hurricanes, at least not until yesterday when tropical storm irene came through. we are standing in southern vermont, next to what was yesterday. for generations, a peaceful brook called the when thestotst brook. it was ten feet wide before yesterday. it's now about 90 feet wide. the powers of the waters, more than 260 straights under water in the state of vermont. basically they exploded this brook into four or five times its normal width. this is an art studio, three-story art studio. the land under the right side of the art studio disappeared when the waters started flowing through, now hanging precariously and could collapse at any time. the saddest news here in the state of vermont, one woman fell into these brooks yesterday, up in burlington, ver

the outer banks of north carolina. evacuation orders are under way right now. >> if you wait until the last minute, you may not get everybody off. >> this is part of the risk. it is hurricane season. we will be back. this is a bump in the road. we hope everything turns out fine. >> then after north carolina, irene could hit new york and new england late this weekend. keep watching for latest turns in the hurricane's track. >>> right now, a firefight is under way outside a cluster of buildings in tripoli. libyan rebels believe they have moammar gadhafi pinned down. they believe he is hiding in apartments in his compound. rebels have put $1.5 million bounty on gadhafi. he is wanted by the international criminal court for alleged war crimes. moammar gadhafi's son, wants a cease-fire to stop the bloodshed in tripoli. saadi contacted nic robertson by e-mail. >> reporter: he said he wants to negotiate a cease-fire. he doesn't want it to be syria. he wants help in the negotiations. he says he has reached out to washington and reached out to nato. he wants help in doing this. >> rebels cla

is back. it will be a category 3, and it will stay a 3 until it makes landfall in north carolina. now, there's a chance it misses but not that big of a chance. then it rolls on up all the way to jersey shore into potentially new york. and in fact, probably even shut down the transit. they'll shut down the subways if this happens. this is a big deal. piers. >> it certainly is. chad myers, thank you very much. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360" with anderson cooper starts right now. >>> piers, thanks. it's 10:00 p.m. here on the east coast. breaking news right now on hurricane irene. north carolina will be next to encounter it. the warnings went up this afternoon, then after that more than 50 million people, the entire northeast seaboard right in the storm's projected path. chad myers joins us with the latest. >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there's hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now. it did not find any increased wind speed yet. so sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but t

storm that we expected in new york. it did lose a lot of energy over north carolina. it truly did. but now as it spins around tonight, i believe there's a new threat developing, tornado watch was issued, all the way up to new york city. now i have four tornado warnings, the latest one out of this mt. hawley, new jersey, area. it's for the surf city area. now, surf city kind of a big area at toms river, about 20 miles south of there. but the issue is you're not going to be able to see these storms coming. i want you to just stay in a safe place. everybody sleeps in a safe place away from windows tonight. maybe you just camp out in if your house somewhere. camp out in the bathroom. you said it earlier, five houses were demolished by this it small tornado. so it's not a tuscaloosa-sized tornado or birmingham or joplin, missouri. but it only takes one house if it's yours. >> right. so very true. thanks, chad. >> you were talking about how it lost energy there over north carolina, but it did cause a lot of damage, including deaths. we're going to take you live to both spots, coming up

has been issued from the virginia/north carolina state line down to surf city. tropical storm watch has been issued from surf city down to the beach. this means hurricane and tropical storm conditions are expected in about 48 hours. we are talking saturday morning when you start to feel the impact from this storm. now, jim spelman certainly feeling it now. center. right near the island. it has not gotten the worst conditions yet up towards nassau or even into freeport. 700 miles away, say, from north carolina. but the u.s. impacts are going to be felt already today. yes. across the state of florida. rip currents expected, beach erosion here and wind advisorys into the interior as the storm stays maybe some 200 to 250 miles offshore. so floor will feel it but you are not going to get the worst of the storm for sure. some changes in intensity can be expected. this could go back up to a 4. probably down to a 3. . we go through eye wall replacement cycles. those changes can be expected. now, timing for the carolinas, probably late in the day on saturday or saturday night. after that, we

the north carolina coast saturday. cnn meteorologist chad myers is here to fill in more of the details. chad, you and i have talked for a couple of nights now, and i keep asking you where is the storm going to go, and now i think the answer is everywhere. >> it is. it will be an approach of the north carolina coast, anywhere from wilmington, although that's far on the left side, to cape hatteras, although that's far on the right side. somewhere down the middle of that cone will be morehead city, atlantic beach. all day long this storm just ran through the bahamas and it wasn't very organized. it was a 100-mile-per-hour storm. it just didn't have its act together. well, now, on the very last couple of images, candy, the eye is back. and when the eye comes back, the storm begins to generate itself again. this storm is not going to be the potential category 4 according to the hurricane center that it once was due to today. it just didn't generate anything today. now, we do have some rain. we have some showers on the florida coast and we even had some airport, some cancellations ou

to be pretty. it's been 40 hours since hurricane irene made land fall in cape lookout, north carolina. how did the states do in their preparation? could they have done more? retired general russell honore joins us now. what did they do right? >> the communication was excellent. governors, mayors throughout the threatened region came on television, put their reputation on the line and said evacuate. this is what it looked like based on science, based on the weather report. every time they brought in the national hurricane center to give their best estimate. that was excellent. for the people in the affected area. the other thing is all the government working together. that was a beautiful thing to see. hopefully it will work that way every day. and taking it into consideration we have people in hospitals that could be flooded. get them out early. easy to get them out and you will save more lives if you get them out before the flood as opposed to taking a risk, hoping it doesn't happen. >> that's good news. where is the area that needs improvement? >> we have four million people without elec

precautions now. >> 65 million people in danger. >> to all the people in eastern north carolina, good luck and our prayers are with you. >> mandatory evacuations, time to get out right now. >> you have to get out. >> we've never done a mandatory evacuation before and we wouldn't be doing it now if we didn't think this storm had the potential to be very serious. >> we're tracking this monster minute by minute and going live into the storm zone. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening, we're covering every angle of hurricane irene tonight from north carolina, with landfalls expected in a matter of hours to new york city where unprecedented mandatory evacuations are under way. thousands of flights are cancelled on the east coast. jfk is closing to international arrivals tomorrow at noon. major highways are closing down as i speak. there are unprecedented shutdowns, transit system in new york and philadelphia. atlantic casinos and hotels are shuttered. broadway is going dark for the weekend. will this storm be the big one that millions of people now fear? i want to begin in north carolina

south even harder when it first struck taking lives in north carolina, virginia and florida, the extent of property damage is anyone's guess and it's not over yet. jonathan mann, cnn. >>> hello, again, everyone, i'm fredericka whitfield. >> and i'm brook baldwin. here we go at the world headquarters in atlanta cover s tropical storm irene. let's talk new york city after lashing manhattan irene is barreling through new england where it is dumping heavy rain. the storm made landfall twice overnight, both cases -- actually the first case is a hurricane in new jersey and then as a tropical storm at coney island in new york. >> on long island irene's storm surge flooded downtown long beach. some streets in manhattan also flooding but the water started to recede and new york's evacuation order is being lifted this hour. in its sweep up the coast irene has killed 15 people across six states. more than 4 million people overall without power and these amazing pictures show some of the damage when irene made landfall as a hurricane. for place like new york city, the storm wasn't as bad as

>>> north carolina will be next when warnings went out this afternoon. after that, more than 50 million people, the entire northeast seaboard, right in the storm's projected path. just moments ago, the national hurricane center issued a new bulletin. chad myers joins us with the latest. chad, what does the new bulletin say? >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there are hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now, did not find any increased wind speed yet. sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but there's the eye right there from the miami radar site. so it's not all that far away. we've had outer bands coming onshore in florida for most of the day. there's another outer band offshore right now, if you're standing ong the beach you may be able to see the lightning in the distance. i hope you're not on the beach at this point, though, because the waves are getting much larger. you get the 115-mile-per-hour winds out there, there's going to be a lot of rip currents going out into the

you talked about 20 north carolina counties, a lot of those are counties inland not right on the coast and that's because of all the rainfall. it has been raining steadily now for several hours and as everybody, as chad myers has been pointing out, we could be in this kind of weather and worst weather right through tomorrow late afternoon and evening because the core of this hurricane is expected to pass right over us at about 7:00 a.m. in the morning when we'll get those category 1, category 2 hurricane winds and then for another six, eight hours on the back side of the storm we'll get this tropical storm force winds and the continuation of the rainfall. so, a long time yet to go before we see any clear skies here. anderson? >>> i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. 65 million people at risk, the government possibly picking up the pieces after this massive >> mandatory evacuations, time to get out right now. >> you have to get out. >> we've never done a mandatory evacuation before and we wouldn't

hurricane irene. "anderson cooper 360" right now. >>> north carolina will be next when warnings went out this afternoon. after that, more than 50 million people, the entire northeast seaboard, right in the storm's projected path. just moments ago, the national hurricane center issued a new bulletin. chad myers joins us with the latest. chad, what does the new bulletin say? >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there are hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now, did not find any increased wind speed yet. sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but there's the eye right there from the miami radar site. so it's not all that far away. we've had outer bands coming onshore in florida for most of the day. there's another outer band offshore right now, if you're standing ong the beach you may be able to see the lightning in the distance. i hope you're not on the beach at this point, though, because the waves are getting much larger. you get the 115-mile-per-hour winds out there, there's going to be

here as it continues to pile up. in some areas also in north carolina, more than 24 hours now have seen these steady downpours across this area. let's go ahead and show you what is happening right now. also, here is long island and we arenticipating the tides right across here and this is an area that we are focused on and this is an orange shaded area, but it is telling us that the water is going to continue to pile up across this area, and lesser so into the sound and this is where the perth amboy area is and manhattan, and this is where noods could be six feet above where they are and we are seeing higher than normal and astronomical tides across this region, so this is in peril here, but the pressing situation here continues to be focused on now critically on the st. mary's st. park area that we showed you right as you begin to enter the chesapeake bay area, and as i said 7 inches of rain, but because the system is just repeatedly putting rainfall across the coastal sections of north carolina and in some cases as much as 14 inches, but in this particular region, the ground has

the storm in the bahamas. john zarrella is in wrightsville beach, north carolina, and jacqui jeras here in the hurricane headquarters. jim, let's start with you. what's the situation there? >> reporter: good morning. the winds have been blowing like this for hours now. about an hour and a half ago they really picked up a lot. you can see the sea is being blown over the sea walls here, a lot of the low-lying roads along the coastal areas already have water on them. fortunately so far we have yet to see any major damage to structures. reports coming in just within the last hour of widespread power outages across the island, as you may expect, as lines get blown down. so far they have avoided that main blast. just about all of the tourists in the area that could get out have gotten out. for those who aren't in the resort hotels, the much more modest homes, it's going to be a lot tougher for them. everybody hoping they can get through the next two or three hours when the winds are expected to die down some. >> all right, jim, we'll keep talking. please keep us updated. we want to turn

you for your insight. >> thank you. >> the outer banks of north carolina took heavy damage. some 2,500 people are now cut off from the mainland. next, an aerial tour of the damage. we'll show it to you. then good news for air travelers and your monday commute. airports will be open. we'll have the details ahead. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. i'm a speck

such a densely populated area, as you know. not to ignore north carolina, virginia, delaware, maryland, any of the other places. we'll be talking about them throughout the morning. it's just not something you see in new york city that has 8 million, 9 million population, almost 30 million in the metropolitan area. this will be a big deal. hopefully it won't be as bad as some are predicting it will be. still, it will be a major event. >> ear talking about high-rise communities here. this is a different situation when you talk about the high winds and the flooding that could take place in lower manhattan. there are some -- about 78 shelters or so that were set up, massive evacuations, mandatory evacuations from the mayor of new york that's with just called yesterday. i want to bring in scott snyder, who's with the american red cross of greater new york. he's joining us by phone to talk about the thousands, i think it was close to 9,000 people who evacuated, riding out this hurricane in emergency shelters. if you would, scott, give us a sense of how that's going. are folks doing okay in t