them with us at ireport.com. you are helping us tell the story of what's going on tout. we expect a lot more coming up. >> josh, thank you. the moment i've been waiting for this morning is to say good morning to fredricka whitfield. we missed our moment a few minutes ago. we have our little chat. >> i know. we'll do that another weekend. we've got a lot going on. this is really impacting a whole lot of people. got friends and family all along the east coast. i talked to my mom, my family members. you've got the water, got everything -- my best girlfriend in new york, what are you going to do? everyone has a plan. that's the good news because this is a monster of a storm. folks get more nervous when they see category 2 and 1. maybe they rest that you are laurels. don't do that. >> don't do it. the new york friend, what is she going to do? >> she's on the 34th floor. >> oh, wow. >> on the upper east side. they have all their water, their

supplies. they really couldn't find their way out. it was an issue of where to go. and that is the case for a lot of new yorkers. many people don't have the capacity to leave the city or don't have a place to go inland. so -- >> they don't have hurricane plans. >> they're die-hard new yorkers. they're going to stay where they are and hope for the best. >> fredricka, it's all yours. you have a long day of coverage here as well. >> i'll see you tomorrow morning. this is like one long psych zbll it is. we want to welcome our international viewers this hour. 65 million people could be in harm's way this weekend in north america as hurricane irene sweeps up the east coast of the u.s. parts of the region haven't seen a storm like this in two 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 north carolina coast. athena jones is in the nation's capital. and reynolds wolf is feeling irene's fury as it batters the north carolina coast right now. he is in kill devil hills on the outer banks. you can see the wind on the those outer bands of that storm right now slapping him around there. reynolds, give me more specifics. what's going on? >> reporter: absolutely. the latest we have here, really not much at all in terms of rainfall. in fact, i can't feel a single raindrop at all. i can feel a lot of sand that continues to get picked up from the beach, driven right towards the side of the building, towards our camera, too. behind me, you have a lot of whitewater being pushed toward shore. some of it actually crossing over highway 12 to our south, completely covering the roadway. much of the outer banks is only

about 7 to 10, maybe 11 feet above sea level. that's going to be cut off completely shortly due to the storm surge. water has been coming up all the way to the dunes in some locations. the wind has caused power outages. over 200,000 people without power across the tar heel state. these numbers, i guarantee you, are going to increase. much of the wind we're getting is coming directly off the atlantic. everything just roaring this direction. later on, when that center of circulation pushes farther to the north, it's going to be coming from the backside. you have things like light poles, traffic lights that have been weakened a little bit by the initial winds, are going to have the old heave-ho when they come the opposite direction. many more possible power outages. what you might be seeing appears to be an occasional mist. that's actually a cloud of sand that gets picked up.

when the rain comes, and it's been intermittent, which is typical when tuff outer bands of rain, it comes down in a sheet and one incredible torrent. visibility almost zero at time. right now, plain and simple, the sand. for our friends who are farther up towards the delmarva peninsula, our friends in long island, new york, the jersey shore, a lot of this is coming your direction. whenever you hear the warnings, the watches, you really need to take heed and get under cover. we have to send it to my friend, john zarrella, who is a bit farther to the south in atlantic beach. john, take it away, my friend. >> reporter: reynolds, i want folks up in the northeast, if you live along the water to just take this picture in for a minute and digest what you're seeing. what you're seeing is water from the sound, from the bogue sound

which has actually now come inland. so what happened was, as the wind direction shifted, first we had the storm surge from the atlantic ocean coming in. and then as the wind shifted from the east to the west, now the sound is being pushed right up into these houses here all along -- this is atlantic beach, moorhead city area. i'm walking out into this water here. it's come down actually quite a bit. it was up to my knees a little while ago. it's not quite that high any longer here. look how high it was earlier. all of this debris was pushed up out of the sound over the road onto the other side of the street during the course of the height of this within the last couple of hours. we were on the air an hour ago. the water was coming up into the garage over on this high ground over here. it's gone down considerably now. but the wind is still kicking up. we're still getting that force

of wind pushing from the west to the east. for hour after hour, just driving the sound up onto atlantic beach under the north side of atlantic beach. they already got hit overnight with the storm surge from the atlantic coming on. we saw a lot of debris over there. now they're getting the storm surge here. if you live near the water up in new england, up in the middle atlantic states, take note if you decide to stay of what you might be experiencing. fredricka? >> john, for the most part, people did heat those mandatory evacuation orders where you are. every now and then, there are stories of die-hazard. is that the case there? >> reporter: yeah. we did see somebody in an upstairs window in one of these places here. but during the overnight hours, there was nobody on the streets here, just the police. we saw a few people out and about this morning. but a lot of the roads -- there's only one main road

leading in here, fredricka. with this water that's come up, the road is actually impassable in some places. it may be very difficult if you don't have a high vehicle, an suv or something like that, it's going to be difficult to get off the island now. but to answer your question, yes, a lot of the people did heed the evacuation orders. mandatory evacuation here. curfew in place at 8:00 last night. and many, many people, majority of them did go ahead and get off of this island. and obviously for good reason. they were smart. >> john zarrella, thanks so much. reynolds wolf, both our correspondents there along the north carolina coast. we're going to go to topsail beach right along the shore. the beaches are a lot emptier than usual. let's find out from mayor howard braxton who's joining me on the

phone what is happening there. mr. mayor, i spent a lot of time on topsail beach covering lots of hurricanes, the destruction of topsail beach that's happened so many times before. what's the situation now? >> the storm has passed us now. but we're still getting high winds and heavy rain. even though it's passed us, we still have to be very cautious. >> and where are you? where are you staying safe right now? >> i'm at the emergency operations center just outside of surf city actually in surf city. we're off the island. >> okay. >> but we're very close by. >> you and your family have quite the history of topsail beach there. what is the expectation of how topsail may have endured irene? >> may have enjoyed it? >> may have endured it. >> oh, endured it. everybody was ready to leave, i think.

we've all been through storms before. but they take heed and believe no matter if it's a 1, 2, 3 or 4, whatever the category is, they treat it as a 3 or 4 or 5. and they're prepared for it. you never take these things likely. >> you had no problem evacuating people from topsail. >> no. we did a voluntary evacuation. and people just said, we're getting off. and, of course, we did have people to stay. and that was their decision to make. and last night, it was really not that bad. we didn't have extremely high winds. but we did have high winds. >> all right, thanks so much, mayor howard braxton of topsail beach. we wish you all the best. and of course, all the landowners there along topsail, we wish them the best as well. keep us posted. maybe we'll check back with you tomorrow after you get your firsthand assessment. >> that's great. we hope to be right here and cleaning up. >> excellent. thanks so much, mr. mayor. let's get the latest on the path

of hurricane irene now. of course, it is still along the north carolina coast. our jacqui jeras live here from hurricane headquarters. give us an idea of how things are faring. >> this stays a very strong category 1 storm at this time. it's moving north, northeasterly. you can see as it's moving through the pimlico sound area. we have this heavy rain threat, a very strong wind right now. a lot of surge being reported as well. take a look at this. you almost can't even see it anymore. the power lines are swaying. lots of damage reports coming in now and hundreds of thousands of people without power in both north carolina and virginia as well. let's take this city by city and show you who's going to get what and when. keep in mind, when you take a look at the time frame on here, i'm talking about the peak of the storm. this is such a large storm and the rate that it's moving, many of you are going to be dealing with this for 12 to 24 hours easy.

so virginia beach, we're looking at the height of the storm for you between 4:00 and 7:00 tonight. ocean city, maryland, between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. overnight when you're trying to sleep. and then long island, this is probably going to be happening, say, mid-morning into the early afternoon hours for your peak. and then boston looking for the words conditions mid afternoon before everything moves out of here as we head into the morning hours. a couple of other things -- oops, sorry about that -- that i just want to point out and talk about the size of this storm. the cloud field on this thing is more than 800 miles wide. this is stretching with rain bands from south carolina all the way up into new england already. washington, d.c., what about you? take a look at this. the rain is starting to come down now. we'll watch this pick up in intensity for today. we think tropical storm force winds will be arriving by late afternoon. there you can see some pictures of that surge. that's going to be a problem potentially all through the

chesapeake bay into delaware bay, as much as four to eight feet. check out philadelphia. you're starting to get the showers and thundershowers as well as new york city. new york, one thing to keep in mind for you, we were talking about how if this heads right into your city, we could have major problems with the wind. we think it's going to move just to the east of you. so your winds will probably be in the range of 55 to 75. new york, your winds arrive this evening. the height of it overnight tonight and through the day tomorrow. then it will start to subside by the evening. we'll talk about more specific cities when i see you again. flooding rain, a big concern. we'll talk about that for philadelphia, at least, when i see you again. >> thanks so much, jacqui. many states declared emergencies well ahead the storm. we'll take you up and down the east coast to give you an idea how many states are preparing for this. and the u.s. military involvement is playing a role in hurricane irene. we're going to check in with our

local television affiliates along the east coast. you're looking at live richts right now of wusa in washington, d.c. and how they are covering this ongoing storm. much more straight ahead. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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continuing coverage now of hurricane irene as promised. want to show you what some of our affiliates along the eastern seaboard and how they're reporting it right now. let's listen in to wusa in washington, d.c. >> reporter: i would say much more sort of wait and see, even kind of sit back and laugh and watch the storm pass through. that is kind of what we've been saying all morning, the nature of alexandria here, they've been there, done that, they know the routine and they're going through it right now. >> all right. >> hang loose. >> they're just chilling out. all right. britney reporting live from alexandria where they're cool. >> taking it easy. >> won't soon forget rowing down the streets the last time -- >> they know how to do it. they're fine. >> it is scary when you're not used to having that kind of flooding. >> monica joins us to talk about travel issues. there's plenty.

we talked to the airport's authority recently. flights are starting to kans zblel we're continuing to monitor our affiliates. you were looking at washington, d.c. where they're waiting for the brunt of the storm. right now, i want to take you to our north carolina affiliate where a good part of north carolina is already feeling the effects of the outer bands of hurricane irene. let's listen in. >> reporter: why would we be in a horse stable during hurricane coverage? there's more than 80 horses from the coast here in raleigh riding out hurricane irene like this horse here. and actually i've met marilyn beers who joins me now. this is shiloh. they've made the trip trying to ride out the storm. tell us what brings you here to raleigh? >> i wanted to get out of the hurricane. i didn't want my hurricane to be in a hurricane. the winds were going to be 100 miles per hour. and i couldn't see him standing in a pasture in that kind of weather. >> reporter: and what have you heard?

what's been the latest you've heard from home? >> back at home, there's trees down, power's out. but the water has stayed down. so that's good. >> reporter: when are you going to venture back out and head back east? >> i think tomorrow morning, we'll see what the roads are like, see if we can get back to where we live and go then. >> that's raleigh, north carolina, where the coverage there continues. a lot of people along the coast of north carolina moved inland to raleigh. you saw right there that young woman was talking to a woman who was talking about protecting the horses inland. meantime, hurricane irene making its way north from the north carolina coast. virginia, too, is bracing. let's check in with our affiliate now in norfolk, virginia. let's listen in. they're talking to the governor there of virginia, by the way, right now. >> minor reports of standing water in the roads and trees being downed. but as you know, people really need to know, we've closed the midtown tunnel and the hampton roads bridge tunnel, the bay bridge tunnel is in the process

of being closed. and some of those will be closed until sometime tomorrow. midtown tunnel maybe until tomorrow night. people need to know the major arteries will not be available because they're too dangerous because of the winds and the flooding. but overall, people seem to be doing exactly what they're supposed to. i talked to the mayor this morning and the virginia beach eoc is doing well. just because it's downgraded 85 miles an hour, there are very dangerous hours still to come with tornado warnings and heavy rains and flooding potential is a great significance. >> governor mcdonald, that brings us to another question, realizing the storm hasn't even really completely gotten to us at this point. what are we doing right now to keep in contact with people to make sure that people realize that this is an emergency, stay safe? how are -- how are you asking them at this point trying to heed that warning? >> heed this call and many others like it is what we need

to do. i appreciate your having me on because right now, it's important for people that have power to watch their tv. if they've got batteries, listen to the radio to make sure they're following the most recent track and looking at tornado warnings and other things that might occur. and also to go to www.vaemergency.gov. and right there, they can find out everything from shelters. we have nearly 100,000 capacity shelter set up around the state. there are ample places to go all over hampton roads. if people will just make sure they're personally informed and then be good neighbors. if they see something going on that needs help, call 911 for legitimate emergencies and call their local non-emergency numbers available on that website if they need help for something else. >> governor mcdonald, regarding the power situation, dominion virginia power, i think, reports 114,000 customers at this point

without power. and irene is going to make a major impact up and down the east coast in terms of people losing electricity. so how are we coordinating the response when this storm finally blows out and it's safe to go out and work on those lines? are we going to need a lot of help from other crews out of state and what is your role in trying to get that all together? >> we've been in constant contact with dominion. they're actually here in the operations center. they are in virginia beach at the operations center. i went to virginia beach, norfolk and hampton yesterday. they are regularly in touch with dominion and the other co-ops that serve the region. we're expecting far more than the 114,000 or so reported. it's actually up to about 150,000 as of noon. the problem is, of course, north carolina and maryland and other neighboring states are going to have their own problems. so we'll have to have people from other places if we need extra capacity. dominion's already planning on that.

i've gotten personal calls from governor perry in texas and the governor in florida to say, we're here to help you. i have to say, for our residents, they need to know that despite the great efforts of these power companies who will be out even during the storm, that it may take days to restore all of the power or longer, depending on how many outages we have and people need to be patient. they need to help one another, be good neighbors. hopefully they've got ice or can buy ice after the storms and do everything they can to be self-sufficient. but if you have legitimate emergencies, 911. non-emergencies, call 211 and we can help. >> call 211. we want to continue to remind people of that call, 211 for non-emergencies right now. >> you're listening a conversation there with virginia governor robert mcdonald, talking about the precautions people need to be taking. at the same time, he says that that state is looking to be able to help about 100,000 people in terms of shelters if it comes to that.

you're looking at live pictures right now as well from our affiliate wjla. what city is this? this is atlantic beach, north carolina, actually. i don't know if you were watching any of the coverage yesterday here on cnn. where you saw that that pier jutted out quite prominently into the ocean. right now, according to our affiliate reporting there, a good portion of that pier has been knocked down. you're only seeing a portion of what was the original pier there at atlantic beach, north carolina. we'll continue to follow the developments there, thanks to our affiliate coverage as well, wjla providing those live pictures. meantime, irene is certainly disrupting lifestyles all along the eastern seaboard. and that includes airline traffic, bus traffic and, of course, subway service, particularly in the big cities of new york and even philadelphia. we'll have the latest news on travel along the eastern seaboard coming up.

our continuing coverage of hurricane irene. washington, d.c., the nation's capital, could also feel the impact of hurricane irene and it could span an entire 24-hour period. cnn's athena jones is there right now in washington joining us live. we can see it right there. you're already starting to feel some of the rain. how significant is this thus far? >> reporter: well, the rain just started up here maybe about two hours ago. so far, it's not too strong. we expect to see the heaviier rains and winds come later this afternoon. but people are preparing. we just got a report that president obama just arrived at fema headquarters to take a look at what they're doing to help people prepare for the storm and to respond to the storm. the city is helping by handing

out sandbags to residents who want to protect their homes or businesses. they distributed about 7,000 sandbags yesterday. they ran out. so they had to stop at about 5:00 p.m. but they've started up again today. they're limiting people to five bags per household. another bit of news to report, the last transfer of patients from walter reed medical center to the naval medical center in bethesda was mutual fuoved up t morning. between 7:00 and 9:00 this morning, they moved about the last 18 patients from that center, just to get ahead the storm. some of them are wounded warriors. some were in critical condition. they moved them in 18 ambulances. that happened between about 7:00 and 9:00 this morning. >> can want help but notice the washington monument behind you. we know it suffered some cracks from the earthquake earlier in the week. what are they doing, if anything, to brace for what could be pretty significant hurricane force winds?

>> reporter: the big news on that happened yesterday when the engineers were out trying to plug the holes that were created by the earthquake on tuesday. they were stuffing, jamming this flexible insulation into these holes to try to plug it up and prevent any leakage or further damage. they also did some work to the smithsonian castle behind me also damaged in the earthquake. they tried to secure that. it's been a big week here in washington in terms of natural events, fredricka. >> thanks so much, athena jones from the nation's capital on the washington mall there. and behind athena, you could see a couple of cars getting around. well, travel in general along the eastern seaboard has been a nightmare, especially since now mass transit is actually closing in the big cities like new york. alexandra steele joins me with the latest on travel, whether by air or land -- >> can't do it, can't do it. that's right.

thanks a lot, fredricka. this is incredible. what we're seeing in terms of travel is an incredible amount of cancellations preemptively. one point about what they're going in new york city. i just got word that lower manhattan, especially s going to protect those power lines. so con ed may cut off the power to lower new york in advance of the storm moving down these power lines to protect those lines from the salt water that would come. there's a lot less damage, will mitigate the potential damage in the end game if the power gets cut off before it goes down on its own. that's just a possibility. >> and those are underground. people don't know the power lines are underground in new york. that's why flooding is so significant and potentially damage there. >> absolutely. there's one interesting thing. the way new york is, it's called the new york bight and it's this geographical point, like right angle.

and all the water has nowhere to go. to the left is new jersey. to the right is long island. that wash of water, a wall of water potentially, just an inundation into lower manhattan. that's some of the potential, real problems. obviously massive travel disruptions is an understatement. airlines canceling thousands upon thousands of flights. if you are traveling, the airlines think they're not responsible for the weather. so a refund to your flight and your ticket, yes. meal vouchers, no. hotel vouchers, no. none of that moving you around and making you more accommodating, that's not the case in this scenario. transit systems completely shut down in new york and in philadelphia. and one of the reasons why they've preemptively canceled all the flights and shut down all the airports in and around new york is because these arrival flights, they don't want people getting stranded in new york because there's no mass transit to take them anywhere. cancellations so far today, 3,000-plus. tomorrow, preemptively, almost

5,000 we're going to see in terms of cancellations. so preemptively, that's what they're doing. that seems to be the standard operating procedure. kind of in the last couple of years with airlines and airports in advance of the storm as opposed to waiting till the storm is on the doorstep, they're doing that. also be mindful, they have to move all of these planes and get them out of harm's way. laguardia and also jfk, what they're in is the most low-lying areas in and around new york. they are in that area that everyone's being evacuated from. that level "a." what the expectation is feet of water over the runways, just to give you a little mental picture of what the potential scenario is. saturday airport closures, newark, laguardia, all around new york. also stewart, just north of new york city in poughkeepsie. philadelphia closing their airport at 6:00 tonight. and, of course, sunday airports, this is what we're talking about. a little bit farther north as the storm slowly lumbers into the northeast and southern new

england. we get into boston and hartford and providence, rhode island. portland, manchester, new hampshire. even albany, new york. 2 1/2 hours northwest, of course, in upstate new york out of new york city, putting out a statement yesterday. high winds, an incredible amount of rain. and in terms of the rain, that really could be a calling card of irene. we could see 10 to 12 inches. 8 inches in albany, new york. but the problem is not just the rain alone. this has been the wettest august on record, 10 to 12 inches at the very least for this month. >> very saturated. >> that's it. the ground is saturated. can't support the winds and so much easier to tumble off, the trees, the power lines onto cars and homes. it mounts up because of the saturated soil and the incoming rain. so in the end, winds not so much. the calling card of hurricane irene in the end may be the heavy amount of dosing rain.

it's so massive of a cloud shield, 430 miles wide and it's slow moving. which really is the worst thing that could happen because it's not going to hit and get out. it's going to slowly make its way through. >> sometimes that's the worst kind. we'll check back with you throughout the afternoon for more on that forecast, the path as well as how it's impacting travel because it's not over yet. meantime, on some of the most vulnerable new yorkers were among the first to get to safety. how some of the city's hospitals prepared for irene. hey can i play with the toys ?

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more of our continuing coverage of hurricane irene. the north carolina coast takes a beating as that hurricane slams ashore right now. and now, 65 million people along the east coast of the u.s. are bracing for the worst as the storm moves north now. landfall was just hours ago near

cape lookout, north carolina. irene was a category 1 at landfall with sustained winds of 85 miles an hour. at least two storm-related deaths are reported in north carolina right now and one in virginia. right now, more than 200,000 people in north carolina are without power. irene is expected to arrive in new york city some time tomorrow morning. the big concern there, of course, flooding from irene's storm surge. of course, irene is going to be impacting a whole lot of lives along the way from north carolina to new york city. in fact, north carolina all the way up to new england. cnn's reynolds wolf is feeling irene's fury as it batters the north carolina coast. he's in kill devil hills in the outer banks. reynolds, we can see the shoreline there. where are you? >> reporter: i'll tell you, this wind is so intense, it comes and goes. when you feel its fury, it takes the breath right out of you.

this is easily one of the driest tropical systems i've ever dealt with. parts of the area have had a great deal of rain. not so much has been felt here in the last hour or so. but it's been more than anything a wind event. you can see in the background all the whitecaps, as far as the eye can see. it's amazing. what's also interesting is the field of vision. just yesterday you could say way off toward the horizon. the horizon seemed endless. now it stops. it's almost like it runs into a mist a misty wall. the wind, as we've been saying has just been very strong. not only picking up sand and moving it, the wind is going to cause the power outages. you said in the last update, several 100,000. the latest we heard, 300,000 just in north carolina alone. here comes the wind again. really expect that to pick up considerably. this is what's going to be in

store for many people farther up the chain, farther up the eastern seaboard. talking about people in washington, d.c., along the virginia coast, obviously the jersey shore, back up to long island, the 'em spire state of new york, perhaps massachusetts and maine before all is said and done. >> reynolds, appreciate that. we'll check back with reynolds as soon as we can. we have reporters all up and down the east coast bringing the very latest on the hurricane. take a look at the map and the placement of everyone. reynolds wolf, you saw where he is in kill devil hills. john zarrella and brian todd are in the bull's-eye right now along the north carolina coast. athena jones in the nation's capital of washington. rob marciano, poppy harlow and elizabeth cohen owl in new york. jason carroll is in atlantic city, jersey. let's get the latest on the path that irene is going to be taking away from north carolina. let's check in with jacqui jeras first in our hurricane headquarters. then we'll head up to new

jersey. >> we'll go ahead and tell you where the storm is and where it's going to be going. it's in the pimlico sound right now. up through the cape area, towards new york city tomorrow, into boston by tomorrow afternoon. and then making its way all the way into canada. and it will be finally done with it here as we head into monday. there you can see some of those big waves which have been pushing into the area. we've also been seeing big rain amounts. in fact, flooding could ultimately end up being the biggest story for a lot of folks who live just a couple of miles inland. we're getting as much as 3 inches an hour in some of these areas and the threat of tornadoes. you can see the tornado watch which extends near philadelphia all the way down to virginia beach. this map will show you some of the rainfall totals that we've seen so far across north carolina. this white area that includes newberg, extending up towards

aurora, 15 to 20 inches of rain being estimated. a lot of reports of flooding getting into businesses in some of the downtown areas of these cities. we'll watch that as it continues to ride on up the coast. this is the big picture for the forecast, wind speeds as we head through the area, ocean city, maryland, looking at 1:00 to 3:00 in the morning. this is overnight for you. washington, d.c. and baltimore, you're going to be feeling the tropical storm force winds here by this evening. if the winds probably somewhere between 45 and 65 miles per hour. those are going to be your gusts. large branches from healthy trees are going to come down in this area. then it's heading on up towards long island probably by tomorrow morning. one of the areas we're expecting to get hit very hard is atlantic city. that's where we find our jason carroll. jason, what's the latest? some of that rain already moving in along with the wind. >> reporter: actually, we've been dealing with a lot of wind out here lately. i have my trusty wind gauge i've been using to monitor the wind.

sustained at about 30, 35 miles per hour. that's what we're dealing with out here. obviously the concern is not just about the wind but the potential for flooding here. i'm standing right by the very acoopic atlantic city boardwalk. you can see the casinos boarded up. all the major casinos in the city are closed. the city under a mandatory evacuation. many concerns about whether or not the ocean will meet the bay in this particular spot and the water will end up rushing into the city here. also concerns about the iconic steel pier that you see out here. back in 1944, that pier was badly damaged by a hurricane that came through here. the state's governor, extremely concerned about people not heeding the evacuation orders for places like atlantic city. he was extremely angry about it when he spoke during a press conference yesterday. take a listen.

>> get the hell off the beach in asbury park and get out. >> reporter: and that message goes to some of the people who we saw out here earlier today as the rain starts to steadily come down. about 30 minutes ago, there were four surfers. i asked them why in the world are you out here in such dangerous conditions? want you to hear what they said about those conditions. one of the surfers had a message for the governor himself. i know the surfing lifestyle. i'm from southern california. but, you know, everyone who's watching this is going to be saying you are absolutely crazy. and you're really taking your life in your own hands by doing this. >> it's an adrenaline rush. i think a lot of us live for that. everyone has a different hobby. this happened to be my hobby as well as my buddies' out there. the adrenaline rush is worth it. >> reporter: when will it be too much out here today? >> too much for me?

tomorrow. tomorrow will be too much. >> reporter: you heard what your governor said yesterday when people were just out on the beach and not in the water. he said, get the hell away from the beaches. and here you are here today. >> sure. i don't think the governor's lifestyle is necessarily comparable to mine. >> reporter: those surfers are no longer in the water. i guess the water finally got too tough for them today. in terms of the governor, just about an hour and a half from now, we are going to be hearing from new jersey's governor. once again, he'll be updating in terms of the situation out here in atlantic city and other parts of the state as well. back to you. >> thanks so much, jason carroll, appreciate that. no one can be too cautious, especially right now. getting to safety, if that's still part of your plan, whether it involves babies, the elderly, we'll explain the methods that people are being assisted. ♪

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discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. more of our continuing coverage of hurricane irene as it makes its way from the north carolina coast. it is inevitably going to hit manhattan, the new york city area. already thousands of hospital and nursing home patients are being shuttled out of harm's way there. that's ahead of hurricane irene. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joining us live from battery park, the lowest

point of manhattan and the place where the storm surge might likely impact first. what measures are being taken there? >> reporter: that's right. five hospitals have evacuated from new york city. those are five hospitals that had to do something that's unprecedented, get all of their patients out of the hospital. if you count nursing homes and other health care facilities, we're talking 22 facilities that had to get their patients out. we're talking everyone in the intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit. new york university hospital has been evacuating people today. they're finishing up the process. i spoke to one woman whose brother has a brain tumor. her name is eileen and her brother is in a grave health situation. he was supposed to begin a new round of treatment yesterday. they had to delay that because they had to get him out of the hospital. i talked to eileen late last night. here's what she had to say. >> it just feels like, what else can you throw into this? it's bad enough having to live

with this diagnosis and try to get the medical help. and then, you know, it's just everything that you try to do, you just keep getting slapped back down. but we'll get him to a hotel tonight and have an aid and we'll just weather the storm there. >> reporter: sources tell me that a handful of patients are actually staying at nyu. these patients are so critically ill that moving them would be a far bigger threat than keeping them there. i just want to show you what that means for these patients. if you take a look, new york university, this medical center is practically on the river. there's the river, the fdr drive and then the hospital. if that river overflows, it will go into the basement. the basement is where all the generators are. so you can imagine the brave staff that's agreed to stay with this handful of patients that just can't be moved. fred? >> oh, my goodness, that is incredible. so, elizabeth, can you give us a

general consensus of where you are as you look around usually this time of day on a saturday, the streets are still teeming with cars and people. can you paint a picture where you are and talk about how perhaps deserted it is? >> reporter: sure. what's funny is it's not completely deserted. on a saturday in august, it's usually much more crowded than this. but there are a fair number of people. i was just chatting with our photographer saying, you've been here all day. have you been talking to these people? and he said, oh yes. they said, this is all hype, we're staying. that's what they're telling us. >> elizabeth, thanks so much. we'll check back with you throughout the day. even if you don't live in the path of the storm, you still might feel the effects of its bump. we'll look at what hurricane irene could mean for gas prices straight ahead.

ongoing coverage of hurricane irene and its path. right now we know it's hovering along the north carolina coast. when it heads north, it's going to be heading toward washington, d.c., virginia, delaware and on to new york and into new england. let's check in with our affiliate coverage out of the washington, d.c. area, wjla servicing the maryland, d.c. and maryland viewing audience. let's listen in. >> top winds, 85 miles per hour. it will slowly weaken. it's no doubt about it. the center is over land or a bay area now in extreme eastern north carolina. and it is bound especially in part of the circumstance lace encountering cooler water with every mile or so it moves to the north, it will weaken a bit. but at this point, for our viewing area, really doesn't matter a whole lot what the

central circulation winds are. look how widespread the precipitation bands are and how wide the wind bands have become. this storm will continue to make its move across the area. right now as you're watching on live radar, you can see the areas in yellow indicate the heavier areas of rain. >> you're listening to the forecast there as they continue to track hurricane irene out of wjla, the washington, d.c. area affiliate. let's head south to the north carolina viewing audience where wral, there are live pictures from there, coverage along the north carolina coast. irene still hovering along the north carolina coast. let's listen in. i understand they're talking to a resident in the newburn, north carolina, area. an area that was hit hard during hurricane floyd a few years ago. let's listen in. our connection is getting a

little bit choppy. so thank you again for talking with us over the phone, patrick walsh. thank you for that video. stay safe and get through the next couple of hours. >> my pleasure. just be glad you're in raleigh. >> we are. thank you. >> kevin holmes has been a roaming reporter moving from wayne county, where he saw a huge tree limb downed, almost had an encounter with a tractor-trailer rig. he's moved on to rocky mount. >> there has been one death in that area in nash county. tell us just what you're hearing and learning from residents and the emergency folks in those areas. >> reporter: here in nash county, the weather, the strong winds, the downed power lines, the downed trees, they have proven to be dangerous and deadly. first i want to show you what's happening about a stone's throw from where we are right now. you see that power line down and

is going to fall at any moment. my photographer was shooting video over the river and that power line -- he heard a loud crack and ran over this way. we're here just for safety's sake. those are live power lines. that proves to be the case throughout rocky mount, throughout the county. investigators are confirming for us right now that a downed tree killed a man in nashville. >> we apologize -- >> we know a large limb or tree actually fell -- >> you were looking at live coverage from our affiliate wral based out of raleigh, north carolina. they're talking about how hurricane irene has caused a number of downed trees in the outer lying areas. meantime, etch if you're not along the east coast, you are likely to feel the impact of hurricane irene in the form of gas prices. already they're going to be pushed higher, nearly 10% of the

nation's oil refining capacity is in philadelphia, new jersey, delaware, all the areas that are going to be hit by hurricane irene, producing 1.35 million barrels per day. those refineries could be offline for several days because of this hurricane. barge routes are also being disrupted, combining hurricane irene and the upcoming holiday weekend, analysts predict that gas prices will rise 15 to 20 cents over the next couple of weeks. we're continuing to watch hurricane irene. but there are other stories we're keeping close taps on. a powerful typhoon has battered the northern philippines. the heavy rains triggered landslides which killed two people. several others are missing. the storm is slowly moving toward taiwan with landfall possible on monday. and a wildfire near yosemite

national park. the blaze started on thursday and has scorched 3,000 acres in the sierra nevada mountains. authorities say it began when a propane tank on a recreational vehicle exploded. and the tea party, talking politics now, is preparing to hit the road. a nationwide bus tour kicks off today with a raul in california's napa valley. the tea party express tour culminates in tampa, florida, come september 12th. that's when it teams up with cnn to sponsor a debate for republican presidential candidates. much more of our continuing coverage of other stories plus, of course, hurricane irene after this.

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irene at the moment of landfall. this is the freeze frame of that exact moment. monster. let's take a look here. we have this thing going today called "open story." this is where your ireports are telling the story on the main page of cnn.com. and we're getting throughout the day tons of ireports. take a look at this map here. everywhere there's an "i," we're getting a new report. we have a couple for you. let's go to this first one. these are some of the full screens. that came in to us not long ago. we've also been getting pictures that has a boat outside a hospital in baltimore. and there's another one we're seeing -- even in some places, beach erosion, what they believe is the beginning of beach erosion coming from the wind. i want to jump over to the video. take a look at what one of