has done to keep things extremely well organized. she wanted to praise the people there in the new york city government, they're doing everything they can. good news there. e everything i posted is on my page. lots of resources to help everyone through the storm. >> thank you very much, josh. hello, i'm fredricka whitfield at the cnn headquarters in atlanta. hurricane irene is pounding the east coast right now with drenching rains and winds reaching 85 miles an hour. just look at the expanse of it there, it is so big. it can cover europe. this is the view from space as irene barreled 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 the latest on hurricane irene. reynolds wolf, john zarrella and brian todd are in the bull's eye now along the north carolina coast. athena jones is in washington, d.c. and in the new york area, poppy harlow is in lower manhattan, elizabeth cohen at an evacuation center there in the city. and rob marciano is on long island. we'll check in with all of them. north carolina's outer banks are getting battered by irene's fury. gusty winds and rain are hammering kill devil hills. we have david mattingly getting whipped up by the storm right now. >> every hurricane that comes through is unique. it has its own special qualities

and always remembered by certain things. this storm is going to be remembered by its size and its duration. right now, we have now been rained on for about 22 straight hours. about 20 straight hours of tropical storm force winds. now i'm feeling some strongest winds of this storm yet. this hurricane is not done with the outer banks and north carolina by any stretch of the imagination. we have been watching the surf all day long. there hasn't been that much of a problem with storm surge from the atlantic ocean. but what he wiwe are bracing fo what we have seen to the south of here is when this storm moves out, and all these strong winds that you see around me right now, it is going to shift and it is going to pull and push water that is in the sound on the west side of these islands on to dry land. that water is going to cause some flooding.

right now everyone wondering how bad that flooding is going to be. for right now, some of the worst conditions we have seen in this part of the outer banks since this massive, massive hurricane rolled in. so it is letting us know that there is still more damage to be done. we have seen some minor damage in this area to structures, electricity has been going out to thousands of people now and it is probably going to be getting worse as these winds intensify. for what is going to happen in the near future, we'll go to the weather center now, chad myers following this storm. chad, you don't have to stand out here to let everyone know this is not a storm to be trifled with. >> you are about to get the worst of it. it seems like this is still ramping up for you. in about 20 minutes, the eye wall will make its closest approach to you and those wind speeds will be about 80 to 85 miles per hour.

you're right there at the kill devil hills area. got to go across the bridge to kill devil hills, one bridge up here, another to the south, and the eye wall over the top of that eye wall, that location. and you may need to get inside, take some cover because we don't want you to get hurt out there for tv. make sure all the crews are safe as well. this is the biggest part of the storm is 30 minutes from you. another part of the storm, we know now water is pouring into the chesapeake bay. we know virginia beach area, the hampton roads area will begin to flood, flood rapidly as the water gets pushed in here, push up the rivers, a couple of feet already above where we should be, the tide is still going up as well. little farther up the coast, the delmarva, ocean city, maryland, wind pounding on shore here and we're losing a lot of beach at this point in time. if you feel threatened, it is not too late to get out. you can still get away from the

coast. you don't want to be anywhere from lakewood to atlantic city, wild wood. i know how big wild wood's beach is. half of that is going to go away. >> wow. that beach erosion will be pretty significant, isn't it? >> it is. especially up here to the new york city region too, long beach, one crew along long beach, all the waves in the water pouring into here. the sand is getting pushed from the east into the harbor area here and all that water is too. that will run up the river. another part of this storm is that was over here, but the water ril rush in here, it will combine into the east river. that's why i believe most of the flooding for new york city will actuary. that's south street seaport, all the way up to laguardia, we're expecting runways to be under water. >> thanks so much. we saw images earlier showing the damage already in north carolina and virginia. we saw some buildings that were

damaged, a lot of downed trees. one of the biggest ways in which irene is impacting the coastal area is in the form of power outages. the latest numbers we have are that roughly 550,000 customers are without power in north carolina and virginia as a result of irene. the variety majority of those affected are in north carolina now. and then look at this right here this video showing the power of that storm. you can see part of the mast of a sailboat swaying there in morehead city, north carolina. well, you don't see it anymore. those waves and wind took out that sailboat. we're watching the preparations under way in other parts of the eastern seaboard. namely in new york. evacuations have taken place in what is considered zone a, the low lyiie inying areas of the f boroughs.

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it is a first for new york city at noon earlier today. new york city began shutting down its public transportation system as it braces for a direct hit from hurricane irene. subways, commuter trains, buses, all of it suspended. the main airports, they're also now closed to incoming flights. new york mayor michael bloomberg says he doesn't want people taking any chances. >> you can't prepare for the best case. you have to prepare for the worst case and that's why yesterday we issued a mandatory evacuation order for the more than 370,000 new yorkers

residing in the low lying areas called zone a areas and in the rest of the rockaways, which is classified as zone b. the difference with zone b and zone a, zone b is higher, but the rockaways are a special case because if the bridges get closed, there is no ways off the island. and it will be very difficult for us to provide emergency services. >> new york bracing for a direct hit. before new york there is washington, d.c. area, midla midatlantic states bracing for a brush from hurricane irene. let's dip into our washington, d.c. area affiliate coverage from wusa and listen to what they're telling their maryland, d.c. and virginia viewers. >> anytime when you're in a bucket truck and it is 40 to 50 miles an hour, that's a pretty dangerous situation. >> i wouldn't with a that. >> the crews are definitely aware of that.

>> are your customers having an easy time getting through to you. what are the ways you're telling them to try to reach you? >> we staffed up our call center starting at around noon today, up to 2:00 today, where we brought in a lot more folks to answer calls directly. we're taking outage reports on our automated system. we're so far handling everything as planned at this point. we'll bring in more people. >> tom densen. we know you have a long night ahead and your crews do. so we hope they're out there being safe and we know the people in southern maryland appreciate all their efforts to get their power restored for sure. we'll talk to you in a bit. thanks, tom. >> bye-bye tom. over to jessica at rfk stadium

where they brought out sandbags earlier today. a precious commodity in a lot of parts of our area. >> indeed. good afternoon to you both. it has been primetime here at lot 7 at rfk stadium. if you're looking for a sandbag, we have fresh information to bring you now. william howlland is the director of d.c. department of public work and you have new information for us. what is that in. >> we shut down the line for the sandbags. anyone waiting, we want to make sure they get through the line and get their five sandbags. we think the line, that will exhaust our supply. >> how long do you think it will take for the line of existing folks to get their sandbags and get home and sandbag the property they're concerned about? >> maybe an hour, maybe a little more than. >> this is a concern today, sandbagging for flooding. what about other concerns you have looking ahead? >> i'm concerned about the

consistent rain and the high winds that are going to be coming through. a lot of trees will be knocked over and that's what i'm concerned about, downed power lines, downed trees. >> you're working with other agencys? >> yes. >> the concern is residents and keeping streets open as well. >> keeping the streets cleared for traffic and then downed power lines for everyone's safety. >> for folk kwhoz has who have today, you may need them in the future. what should we do with our sandbags? >> need to keep them. the rising waters may come a couple of days later. and still hurricane season. there is a possibility we could get another hurricane later in the year. >> we want to thank you very much for joining us and giving us some fresh information.

we know it is very rainy, so go get dry. >> you're listening to affiliate coverage out of the washington, d.c. area, wusa. they are now out of sandbags that they have been distributing all day long. this after yesterday a full day of distribution of five sandbags per vehicle or per family. then they ran out and they opened up rfk again today to distribute more sandbag and they're out ahead of hurricane irene. you can see there the bands of rain that are hitting the washington, d.c. area. we'll continue to watch all that is taking place as irene makes its way from the north carolina, virginia coast and head up the mid-atlantic and then on to new york landmarks. they are closing ahead of the storm, including the statue of liberty. the siting will be closed through monday. lady liberty has weathered several storms since she was dedicated in 1886. this storm, however, might be

unprecedented. in advance of irene, new york city started evacuating a lot of hospitals, particularly in low lying areas. among them, this hospital on coney island, the project came with risks, especially moving those in intensive care, the very young and very old, some nursing homes and senior centers were also ordered cleared out last night. and we'll have much more of our continuing coverage of hurricane irene after this. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas, whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is

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hurricane irene just hours away from barreling down on new york. still, many new yorkers are staying put, determined to ride out the storm. joining us now by phone, morey frager, a new yorker who lives on the upper west side and is now evacuating. so why not? >> i just think that we're going to be quite safe where i am on the upper west side in the city here. and i have everything i need here. and friends around me. i feel perfectly safe. >> you live on the seventh floor. give me an idea of how you prepared for this. what do you have in your apartment to make sure you can live without power or water if it comes to that?

>> yeah. i have hard boiled eggs in case i don't have to cook. i cooked pasta last night. i thought i'll cook the whole box just in case i can make that into a salad. i have flashlights. i bought extra batteries. i have good books to read and lots of music to listen to. i feel well taken care of here in my little corner. >> so you're not concerned or worried at all, even when you hear the mayor who says, you know, people don't mess around, particularly if you're in the low lying areas, you're not, you're in the upper west side. how do most of your friends and family there in the new york city area, how are thinkey approaching this storm? >> most of my friends are still here. those who are not away on vacation, i must say, they're still here. they're doing the same thing. they're hunkering in, they all have movies or books or good food and every refrigerator.

this morning when i talked to t.j., i said the only thing i was worried about was across from my window, there was a townhouse with a deck filled with pots and furniture and beautiful flowers, and they had not taken them in. and it seemed they were -- they are gone, but right now they're taking everything in. now that's off my list of anything to worry about. >> okay. that's good. those things could potentially become projectiles. >> exactly. >> all right, morag, thanks so much. we'll check back with you later and see if you're all right. >> when i was out this morning, i was in a cafe and i heard something interesting behind me. somebody was talking to his girlfriend on the phone and trying to be very patient. and he said to her, look, just you got to get a grip on this, get a hold of yourself, all it is going to be is a lot of rain, a lot of wind, this is not an attack. i thought that actually summed up, you know, the attitude of a

lot of new yorkers. we have survived 9/11 and gone through a lot and it is just wind and rain. >> you and a lost new yorkers remaining calm, perhaps the best defense for what hurricane irene may bring. thank you very much for your time. we're going to have much more on how other people, residents along the eastern seaboard are bracing for hurricane irene. we'll be checking in with gary tuchman, one of our many correspondents dotted along the eastern seaboard. another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7. so like say you need to report a claim, alright. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage,

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of hurricane irene. the north carolina coast takes a beating as hurricane irene slams ashore and now as many as 65 million people along the entire east coast of the u.s. are scrambling to get out of the way, seeking shelter wherever they can. the now category 1 hurricane made landfall this morning in the outer banks of north carolina. take a look at how big this is. it is the size of europe. so far we know of four storm related deaths. more than half a million people in north carolina and have havi are without power. the big concern, flooding from irene's storm surge.

president barack obama at fema headquarters a short time ago said the government is ready to deal where whatever happens. he's already declared states of emergency in nine states. and among them, the state of rhode island and that's where we find our gary tuchman. he's in new port, rhode island, where, of course, it is calm now, but folks are bracing for in a matter of hours it may be very different there. >> that's right, the moment of truth is fast arriving for this beautiful city of new port, rhode island. people are boarding up, putting tape on their windows. new port population, 25,000 year round. on summer weekends like this one, more than 100,000 people are here. this is a big weekend in new port. i felt sorry for the poor bride, your poor day before a hurricane, she said, at least i'll remember the day i got married. you get an example of some of the businesses here. this is a sunglass store. they're still open. where is that sunglass woman? what happened to her?

i think she -- she went to get the gelato, that's the point, they're still open but getting ready to close down everything. one of the problems in new port, rhode island, is it is an island, it is very vulnerable and the beach face to the south. there is a lot of concern since this hurricane is coming from the south. they still expect to have hurricane force winds when the hurricane arrives here sometime between the center of the hurricane to the west of here, sometimes between 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, 6:00 p.m. in the afternoon, so people know the history of new port. back in 1938, we heard this all day on our coverage on cnn, the hurricane in 1938 hit new port very hard. more than 600 people died in long island, southern new england. 1700 hurt. hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. you talk to people over the age of 76, 76 years old, they talk about it like it was yesterday. 20 years ago last week you had hurricane bob, which came into southern new england killing

people. people know they're vulnerable here. they're taking it seriously. what is so unusual about this particular hurricane, we can't blame people if he ththey don't to leave because where are they going to go? there is nowhere to drive to evacuate unless you want to go far away. most people seem to be sticking it out. they are taking it seriously by boarding up businesses and boarding up their homes. back to you. >> all right that is good to see. thanks so much, gary tuchman. we'll check back with you over the course of the next few hours from new port, rhode island. on top of the great work we're getting from our own cnn reporters, we're getting great reporting from you, our viewers. let's start with an i-report from oak island, north carolina. beautiful pictures there, julia bishop sent in this picture of the suffer there and also video here, flooding in atlantic beach, in north carolina, not so beautiful. that's the reality. kimberly segal went out and shot

the footage and sent it to us. there is not just the carolinas getting hit at this point, that's from andrea alexander along the coast in virginia beach, virginia. and further north, let's go to new york right now, where they continue to brace for hurricane irene, mayor michael bloomberg at the microphone there. >> -- we'll talk about some other issues. i wanted to first say all of the forecasts are basically the same. the storm is headed in this direction, slightly east, slightly west, slightly stronger, slightly weaker, but this is a storm where if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can be fatal. there will be very high winds no matter if it is a tropical storm, 1, 2, 3, whatever it is. there is a lot of blowing debris, tree limbs come down and water gets into places that can

cause electrical shorts. it is dangerous out there. the thing that makes the most sense for everybody is to first comply with the mandatory evacuation. it is done because you may be in danger, but as importantly, if god forbid you needed some emergency services, our first responders would have to put their lives in jeopardy to get to you and to provide the service and we're worried that in some cases we just may not be able to get there. and you never know when you are going to need a doctor or something like that. the storm continues on track. we zoedon't have any other upda. the reason we have rain and no rain and rain and no rain is the way a hurricane works, there are bands of rain that surround it and when you're between them, you think there is no storm. when you're under one of them, you get a lot of rain.

we're nowhere near yet the heavy winds. those will come in about 9:00 tonight. and the place -- the time when you're likely to have flood damage of just literally water all of a sudden pouring over the side of the bulkhead is something like 8:00 tomorrow morning. the winds are scheduled to subside late tomorrow afternoon and then we're going to have a whole separate set of issues of how we clean up and mass transit tries to get back, which probably is not going to happen until well into the day on monday. so monday morning is going to be a mess in terms of a commute. our concern is saving lives. our concern is making sure the only thing that comes out of this is inconvenience and a little property damage. we don't need people to die. unfortunately i was told about somebody who fell off a ladder earlier when the -- they were trying to board up their house. they haven't died yet but seriously injured and may in fact be fatal. things happen all the time, but we can take some steps to try to

minimize the damage and prevent as many as we can. we also are going to talk about power. and the possibility of electricity being shut off in some areas. kevin burk from con ed will help us with that. remember, we're asking buildings to shut off their elevators, certainly doing that. we don't need people stuck in elevators. if the power goes out while you're in the elevator, we're going have to not find out about it which sometimes is hard to do and get the fire department there and fire department should be standing by for real emergencies. so if you haven't evacuated yet, you still have time do it. there is no mass transit available. we have buses at the facilities. you can hail a cop car. some of the taxis are working, maybe some friendly motorists will give you a ride or you can just walk. just because you say i'm living

on the tenth floor and water isn't going to get here, that's true. it doesn't mean there isn't going to be flying glass the higher you go up, the stronger the winds are. so we should heed the warnings and follow what the law says. please evacuate the eight areas, the low lying areas and all of the rockaways. as a programming note, when we finish talking about what is happening here, we will have a press conference in spanish and take some questions for our spanish-speaking audience. margarita lopez who used to represent the lower east side on the city council and has been out in the field encouraging the residents to evacuate will conduct that. if you're a resident of a nitra facility, you must evacuate now.

it is a mandatory evacuation. your buildings are shutting down. your elevators are shutting down. your boilers are shutting down. it will be much too dangerous to stay. for the last five hours, we have been running bus service from nitra developments to nearby evacuation centers and we hope the residents and other new yorkers who need to evacuate have places to stay with family or friends who live in safer areas. but in case you do not have family or friends close by, we have evacuation centers fully staffed and ready to go. there are 78 hurricane shelters across the city. there is plenty of room. no one will be turned away. if residents don't want to use one of our free buses to evacuate, which we have outside the facilities that need to be evacuated, cow use a private car or a cab. our gps data shows us the number of taxis on the streets now is just belotte average for a saturday afternoon. and we have moved to zone fare

systems to encourage ride sharing and increase the capacity of each cab. we also directed cabs to go to the evacuation areas. commuter vans have been authorized to pick up street hails anywhere in the city. the essential point is even if you have to walk, evacuate new. as i said, this is for all of the zone a areas, low lying areas and also the rockaways, even for the area heiser up because there, if you were to god forbid need -- have a medical emergency, for example, it is not clear that we could get to you. as the winds build up, the bridges may close down. it may not be able to get off staten island or get off the rockaways. it is a good time right now to say, okay, better to be safe than sorry. we have been saying this all day. the time is running out. it is going to get dark in a little while and the rains will start getting heavier and then

the winds will make it very difficult and dangerous to be outside. the airports are all closed. the staten island ferry is running on a one-hour schedule because there is no demand, nobody is going -- nobody is showing up at the ferry. we'll continue to do that into later in the day, but as soon as the winds start to build and it gets to be something like 40 knots, at that point we think it is not safe to run them and so we will shut those down. the storm is coming. and the few things that are still working, a few stores still open are -- you would expect to all close in the very near future. since this morning we have seen a marked increase on the number of people evacuating. most are getting a message but some people have yet to leave. so let me just one more time, i hate to sound like a broken record, but it is exactly what we are trying to do. if you haven't left, leave now. not later this evening, not

later this afternoon, but immediately. let me repeat that briefly in spanish. [ speaking spanish ] the latest forecast has the epicenter of the hurricane hitting east of the five boroughs. tropical storm winds of 40 miles an hour and higher will start about 9:00 tonight, continue to increase to hurricane strength through the morning. most of the storm is going to take place during the night when you're asleep or when you get up early sunday morning. and the most important thing to do is stay inside. in beach no beaches, it is much too dangerous. no parks, branches come down, we don't need people getting killed.

and there is so much flying debris, no matter how careful we are, be sure that you stay inside in the morning. look out the window, may be fun to say i walked around in a hurricane, but it wouldn't be fun if you have to say it from your hospital bed. if you live in a high rise, especially on the tenth floor or above, stay away from the windows in case they break and shatter. if you have a yard or porch or balcony, make sure everything including outdoor furniture is tied down or secured properly. and you should know as a preventive measure because people asked me as they have driven down the streets and have seen what the sanitation department has done, they spent the day emptying all the litter baskets, turning them upside down so nothing goes into them and placing them next to buildings to reduce the risk of them blowing down. we have reports of some people thinking they're helping by putting the baskets back on the corner, please do not. if you see a litter basket next to a building, leave it there. our sanitation department knows what their doing.

and if you encoukouncounter an emergency, call 911. if it is not an emergency, call 311 instead so you can keep 911 open for the most urgent calls. and nyc.gov is working as well. national grid is fully prepared. there is a chance that con ed will be forced to shut down part of the grid if there is severe flooding. you should be prepared for the possibility of losing power in your home. that means considering filling your sinks and bathtubs with water, particularly if you live in an upper floor of an apartment building. a lot of water gets pumped up. if the electricity is not there the pumps don't work. so have -- fill a bathtub or sinks with water. make sure you know where your flashlights are. it is a good time to take them out, put them on the kitchen counter, somewhere where it is easy to get. make sure they work.

the stores may not be open to buy new batteries but look around, you probably have some and do that, charge your cell phones now. and you can always text 311 at 311692, which is 311 nyc for updates about the storm. you can also go to nyc.gov or follow nyc mayor's office or @mayorsoffice. >> mayor michael bloomberg underscoringing the importance of potential dangers of hurricane irene as it barrel its way north along the east coast, making its way to new york and he says if you live in zone a and you haven't left already, there are means in which to do so. there are buses available. he says, quote, even if you have to walk, evacuate now. we'll have much more of our continuing coverage of hurricane irene after this.

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we have been putting this number out there. i can repeat it for anyone living in alexandria. >> our affiliate coverage there out of washington, d.c. telling the maryland, d.c. and virginia viewers there how those bands from hurricane irene are starting to pound that area, not like we have what seen in north carolina as well as virginia. and then you head north from there, and the potential damangs are great in new york city from new jersey. we heard that from the mayor of new york and earlier from the governor of new jersey. let's check in with one of our reporters there in that region now, our jason carol is there in -- along the new jersey coast where you're feeling the wind, not necessarily the rain in a big way, but describe for us what you're experiencing and if people have heeded those evacuation warnings in that area. >> absolutely. and just to set the scene for where we are now, we have seen conditions here in atlantic city

deteriorate. we have been here since early this morning since 10:00. we have been watching the surf. the surf has gotten more intense. we have seen the wind pick up, we have seen many more of the bands of rain sweep through here, fredricka. as you know, atlantic city is under a mandatory evacuation, all of the major casinos, all 11 of the casinos in the city have been shut down. you can see they have been boarding up this morning. we saw some of them boarding up, doing some last minute adjustments, put sandbags in front. reason they're putting it here is because the boardwalk is definitely in jeopardy at this point. those who know the area, those who know storms that have come through here say they expect the ocean to come up to this area of the boardwalk that you see over in there. they are expecting that to happen when hurricane irene arrives here. once again, atlantic city is under a mandatory evacuation. and just about an hour ago, new jersey's governor said for all those who haven't left, now is the time to go.

>> with hours to go now, before we really start to get into the gale force winds on our coast, if there are people who still are in areas that we have asked that they voluntarily or in a mandatory way evacuate, and you have not done that yet, please do so. go to family, go to friends, go to co-workers, neighbors, go some place that is safe because it is going to come a point in time later on this evening when we're not going to be able to move you. and then you're going to have to ride out the storm wherever you are. which if it is in one of the places we identified, it is not going to be a good experience for anybody. >> final warning from new jersey's governor christie. as you look there, fredricka, you can see that is the irene's gift shop, strange sort of sign there, but perhaps a sign of things to come. some good news, the governor's office does say that some 1

million people actually heeded the evacuation orders and left the area. so that certainly is good news for emergency officials who have been out here, dealing with these bands of rain, like the one coming down right now. and dealing with trying to move those last minute holdouts out of this area. this is not the only area, though that is under a mandatory evacuation. just to the north, in new york city, my colleague, elizabeth cohen is in lower manhattan in battery park. let's check in with her. elizabeth? >> jason, here in battery park, i must say i don't know this is true in atlantic city, but i'm amazed at the number of people still here and aren't heeding the mayor's warning to get out. they say they don't think this is going to be such a big deal enth and they will hunker down and put up with it. the mayor said early friday, you've got to get all of your patients out. and when you include nursing

homes, it is about 22 facilities. so what they did is they evacuated these people, it was actually done, i watched it happen, it was quite efficient and they brought them to hospitals that were in further out in northern manhattan. i spoke to one woman whose brother is being treated for a brain tumor. he's gravely ill. and she is really very concerned because he was supposed to start a special treatment yesterday and he's not going to be able to because he had to evacuate. let's listen to what she had to say about the incredible anxiety. >> feels like what else can you throw into this? it is bad enough having to live with this diagnosis and get the medical help and then it is just everything that you try to do, you just keep getting slapped back down. so -- but, you know, we'll get him to a hotel tonight and, you know, have an aide and just weather the storm there. >> now the hospital that he had to evacuate from is new york university and really it is

right on the water and they are actually keeping a handful, probably fewer than ten patients there who are so critically ill that it would be more dangerous to try to get them out of there. they're really hoping that that water doesn't get too high. because if it gets into their basement, that's where their generators are. as i mentioned, i'm amazed at the people who are staying in lower manhattan. one of them is a gentleman who was the commodore of the manhattan sailing school. he and his crew were battening down the hatches earlier today, getting everything secure and they said that they are staying, they're going to go out for a nice dinner and then they'll come back and spend the night on a ship. i got to talk to that commodore. let's take a listen. are you nervous about this at all? >> we're not nervous because we have been watching the storm and its projection and watch the -- it is declining in wind speed. we think we understand what is coming and what will be able to do. we're not nervous now. could have been a lot worse.

>> i asked the commodore what are you going to do sitting on that boat as the tides are going off and you're rocking around? he said, i think we'll be playing poker. >> really, okay. very bold move. we'll have to double-check with him later as the storm really does kind of barrel in on that area. thanks so much. >> we will. >> elizabeth cohen. let's move south now to maryland, state of emergency has been declared there as well. and now they're already starting to experience some of the first indications of irene's approach. chris lawrence is there and he'e first indications of irene's approach. we see right there in the water, who's going on. >> reporter: yeah, fred, we're definitely seeing the waters rising, at got 11:00 or 12:00 noon t waters really started to

come in quickly. if you could just take a look and we'll just kind of show you right here along the chesapeake bay, speaking to the mayor of chesapeake beach, he says that high tide is going to be high around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and that's when the brunt of the storm will be hitting the maryland, new jersey area. so the brunt of this storm arrives at the same time as high tide, that's going to push that water right into these homes that are only a few yards away from the beach. this is a resort town, a lot of people are here for weddings, are here for the weekend. we talked to one young lady who was determined to push through her wedding just like the hurricane on its way.

what are your thoughts right now? >> i was a little worried for everyone's safety coming in, i had second thoughts about going through with it just so we can keep everyone safe, but you know what? we're going to do it. nothing can stop us now, so it's going to happen. >> what was your original plan for the wedding? >> we were going to it right there on the water, under the beautiful gazebo that they had set up, but now they're going to set up a great reception room for us to do the ceremony in, so it's going to be great. >> you have the beautiful pictures, palm trees toppling over in the background. >> it's going to be something memorable for sure, we're going to have great pictures from one of our friends who will really capture the moment, definitely. >> reporter: she's going to have a great story to tell on her 10-year wedding anniversary and of course as the hurricane gets closer and closer to this area, and, again, keeping an eye on that high tide at 4:00 in the morning, we have just got to hope that when all is said and

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all right, the outer bands of hurricane irene all right starting to be felt in the nation's capital. let's find out just how prepared washington, d.c. is. the mayor of washington, d.c., vincent gray with us now. give me an idea, how prepared are residents particularly as i understand that all of the sandbags that have been distributed for free yesterday and today now all out? >> we're all out. i just came from rfk stadium, where we had lots of people in line, an frankly very chummily without exception, people are in good spirits, people are prepared for it.

we're telling people to go home and stay home. we're expecting anywhere from two to four inches of rain, we're expecting high winds and we certainly could have some power outages, but all of our staff is mobilized at our emergency operations center and we're ready for this. we're asking people to call 311 if they have any questions and we'll try to get them answered quickly. >> you said there could be some power outages already, some 260,000 people without power in maryland and parts of virginia already, is there particular pockets of washington, d.c., the city that you, i guess, are bracing for the most, to likely hugh lose power? >> certainly in the past when we have had snow problems or other problems, the northwest area, the ward 4, ward 3 areas, the northwest and certainly parts of the southeast. one of the good things is we have been working very closely with pepco, our power company, they have doubled the number of people in their call center, they have doubled the number of

people who can get out and get the work done should there be power outages. so we think that's an improvement, but i think people need to remember too that as long as we have gale force winds, they can't get out and do anything, so it will have to come quickly in the aftermath of the winds subsiding. >> we're looking at the weather deteriorating, it's before dark in the afternoon, the capitol building, the washington monument, very gray there, i realize you have left a number of the homeless shelters open, you're very concerned about the homeless people so they can be inside in the middle of the day. >> that's right. >> what communities are you most concerned about? the vulnerable elderly, the children, how do you reach out and be available to them if they need it? >> well, we know where a lot of our seniors are at this stage, of course those in public housing, we have already checked in on them, we will continue to check in on them, we're making sure that everybody has the information to call 311.

we also have set up shelters for should they need it for families. we have got four recreation centers that are open, emery, turkey thicket, bidding stoddard and one or two others, the kennedy center is also open and the southeast tennison learning center where people can go if they need to and we're already set up for that and all of our day in and day out homeless shelters are open so people will not have to be on the streets unless they just choose to. we can't urge people strongly enough at this stage to stay indoors. don't go outside. >> what about mass transit in d.c.? >> it's still open, we have a wonderful metro system here, we met with them yesterday, we continue to communicate with them throughout the day today. and the transit system is going to continue to operate unless we get conditions that would contra indica indicate that but right now we plan to keep