everywhere, but a lot of your images helped us drive this story before. a better perspective on irene's progress and impact. we know there's a lot of inland flooding around new york, new jersey, is that what the ireporters are sending us as well? >> you know what the biggest killer in a hurricane is? >> high water. >> you're right. it's inland flooding, believe it or not. let me show you these ireports and talk about the power of water. rich sent this in. this is from millburn, new jersey, 6 inches of water, that is it, that is it, can drown a person. look at the power of this moving this park bench. another picture i want to show you also from new jersey, or this water can submerge a car, no question about that. look at this police car. this is how high the water is. this is a motorcycle to give you perspective.

this is hillside new jersey west of newark. there could be power lines in the floodwaters. it's ironic, look at this police car in newark alone six police rescues getting people out of their cars that were stuck in stranded roads because of this water. >> that's incredible. the force of the water can't be underestimated. it's amazing how it could probably move like that picture demonstrating, moving that park bench. >> why they call it flash flooding. >> it's pretty significant. >> this alone, 6 inches is drown a person. >> alexandra steele. thanks very much. for now, welcome back. top of the hour and we want to bring you up to date on this tropical storm irene. i'm fredericka whitfield. >> the storm is chaurning over new england and upstate new york pounding the area with wind and

rain. it hit little egg inlet in new jersey and weakening to a tropical storm, it hit land at coney island, i rerene's march accompanied by death. 15 people are dead acrond more n 5 million without power. >> let's brett you the details on tropical storm irene. >> a few hours ago the storm pushed the rivers on either side of manhattan over the banks there and right into the streets but not as significantly as first feared. it looks relatively dry there. but still very windy. >> reporter: absolutely. the wind has picked up a lot but it is dry. when mayor bloomberg said the city dodged a bullet, i think there are plenty of people walking out here at the tip of

manhattan in battery park who would agree with them. we definitely dodged a bullet. some other places we've been talking about haven't been quite so lucky. chris christie in connecticut was talking about two people who were killed in this storm and we're getting reports that the fdny officially rescued 61 people from staten island, including three babies, evacuating 21 homes people were in neck high water there. that's some of the latest rescue information that's coming across. in new york city, definitely dodging a bullet. a couple of things i can tell you about. bridges are open and tunnels are open and staten island ferry is coming back at 3:00 this afternoon. we've seen some ferry runs people going back to their docks. we're expecting that the mta mass transit and subways will start running sometime tomorrow afternoon. and we are also being told that the evacuation order for some of the residences right where i am

around here, this was evacuation zone a, meaning you got to go. that they are going to lift that evacuation order at 3:00 this afternoon. that's all good news. the issue of course in the list there is the subway because that's how new yorkers get around and also the issue for people doing some of the cleanup from we've heard up to 3 feet of water that poured into some of these buildings that run pair legal to the west side highway running parallel to the hudson river which as we showed you earlier around 8:00 this morning overtopped its banks and poured into some of these apartments. all things considered, when people thought how bad it could potentially get, that is not much of a cleanup from what people in new york city were expecting. the high winds are nothing compareded to what we thought we would be dealing with. >> that's good news. how about a lot of people behind you. folks have been milling about. what have many been telling about their experience over the

past 24 to 48 hours? >> look at this. that's the statue of liberty over my shoulder. this is tourist central. you have down here the mix of locals who live in lower manhattan who have come out to survey the damage and kids on scooters that have come out because parents need them out and also have the tourist who have come out as well. this is their vacation. people are feeling relief as the mayor said. we dodged a bullet and trying to get a sense of how much damage there's been in the city. when we did our drive from lower manhattan to the southern tip, not so bad. things you would expect to get knocked over and high winds knocked over. and the flooding we saw receded quickly. relieved would be thee was talk carlos at the meet district, it

was a kirn. cat skills area because of the saturated ground and nassau and suffolk counties, this still isn't done. >> we heard from mayor bloomberg while people are expected to get back to work as best they can, he does expect that nothing will be back to normal especially since you heard mta may not resume until mid afternoon and that's pow people get from point a to point b. >> offices and services will be open. >> maybe people will get free passes if they are late to work. >> maybe. >> as we're talking about new york, we want to talk about rhode island and we have kate baldwin standing by where the story appears to be the wind. >> reporter: it does feel to be the wind. as we've seen across the coast, there's relative calm and then i almost got blown over one additional time a few moments

ago. it does still seem to be the wind. we have been getting a little more rain but nothing people feared could be heading our way. i will tell you as we've been talking about the concern throughout this state was the wind damage and all of the problems that they have been experiencing because of these fierce tropical storm winds that have been blowing through since early this morning. just about ten minutes from here in the town of warwick, we spoke with an emergency management over there and they just restricted travel throughout that city to only emergency vehicles because of the problems that they are experiencing with so many trees blocking roads as well as power lines that are down that can be dangerous as we well know. they have restricted travel throughout that city to only emergency vehicles and definitely couldn't tell us exactly when they thought that restriction would be lifted. they simply said the power crews need to get out there and needed time to clean it up and make it more safe for people to be able to travel before they can do that. we are dealing with a little bit

of -- while we're still expecting strong winds continuing throughout the day, already hearing from emergency management some discussion about how they are going to be able to clean up quickly and get things back to -- get things back to normal as they can. as you probably know, the providence airport is in warwick. you can be sure people are looking forward to traveling that city, getting back to normal really quickly. >> absolutely kate boulduan. >> not far from providence, n newpo newport. we hear from gary tuckman. the boaters are relieved their vessels seem to have survived this storm. >> reporter: fredericka this is my boat collection, i always

talked to you about it. it's wonderful. i can smile because the boat collection which really isn't mine is still intact and everything is good. a lot of people overnight were on the boats and didn't want to leave, make sure they were safe. maybe not a wise move in the storm was more serious. fortunately it wasn't as serious as we anticipated. still windy on the newport ma rena, one of the great cities of america, only 25,000 people live here year round of the on a summer weekend like this one, more than 100,000 people including many of the boaters who are anxious to leave the port and go back to their homes. they are staying put as you heard kate telling us, the winds are still strong. hardest rains between 3:00 and 7:00 this morning but the winds have picked up over the last couple of hours. i was talking to the governor in person and he is very relieved. there's a lot of pressure when you run a state that hasn't had a hurricane for 20 years, last

time was when hurricane bob came acalling in 1991. there was significant flooding in newport which is a very vumenerable city because the beaches face to the south. and this hurricane at the time irene was coming up and there was a lot of concern this place could be under water and there would be a whole lot of damage. and the worst thought among the politicians there would be fatalities and injuries. so far there are no if a talts and no serious injuries. there are 100,000 customers without power but right now they consider themselves very lucky. so do the people who are collecting my boats. >> you were talking yesterday to the captain of the one of the boats there who said he and his son were going to sleep in that boat. >> reporter: he's still here in the harbor here and he says as a matter of fact you can see

that's his son. bob, do you want to pan over there? there he is. how are you doing, fin? give a way. that's fin. good timing actually. that's the son sitting there. they are waiting for fin and his father, dan, they live in connecticut. they are hoping to get that beautiful 50-foot sport fishing boat back to connecticut shortly after the winds sub side but they did okay. >> fin looks mellow, may have been a good night. >> dare i say enjoying it. >> gary tuckman. thanks so much. >> people in rhode island may be smiling a tad but not yet in massachusetts. irene is approaching boston. they are getting huge waves all along the coast. the massachusetts bay transportation authority has suspended boston area transit service but despite the potential for danger there in some state, some people are out and enjoying it. >> it's windy and exciting and everyone likes a good hurricane. you know, it's more than earl

but less than bob. and a lot of oxygen, i think it must be doing good stuff. >> it is so much fun. as long as we keep out of harm's way it's great. >> tell me why it's so much fun? >> because of the wind and big waves and it's just like you don't get a chance to experience this. as long as you keep experiencing it, it's awesome. >> maybe so much fun for them. maybe not so much if you ask -- >> if you live in massachusetts you love the sea and everything that comes with it. >> i guess so. >> maybe talk to people in parts of new york and north carolina and virginia, i don't think it was so fun. >> it gets scary after a while when things fly around. they are seeing wind guflts to 81 miles per hour there. that's because there's no friction out here in the ocean. when the wind is spinning around land with mountains and hills and trees it slows down a little bit but there is nothing to slow it down off the ocean.

81, not that far from blue hill observatory in the past hour. what's going on right now, significant flash flooding from this. boston, you're out of the rain, new york, you're out of the rain but not upstate and not vermont, new hampshire, in the rain for sure. here's some of the strongest language i have ever seen in a flash flood warning. torrential rains rising in rivers on the east slopes berkshirs, the possibility of record flooding at multiple locations, seek higher ground immediately if you live near a small stream. now that is for this entire big red zone, the flash flood warnings all the way from maine not really along the coast where it didn't rain very much but here through the berkshires and add dirn aks and in the poconos. s it is still raining in most parts.

the national guard was called to get people off their roofs. it is raining so hard and there's been a foot of rain this august already and another foot of rain from this storm that it has too run off. it has nowhere to go. it's going to be a life threatening event for everyone from parts of maine all the way back to pennsylvania. you can have a good time in new york city but not having a good time up here where it's raining so hard still. >> let me jump in it's an important point to make. the issue on the upper part of the east coast in pennsylvania and also in new jersey, that i have seen so much rainfall that the ground is so saturated that the water coming down from this tropical storm has nowhere else to go. that's the problem? >> that is. in fact new york city before the storm had 13 inches of rain in august, philadelphia, same story. all the way up to albany, almost 16 inches. the ground is completely wet. it can't hold anything and can't hold the tree limbs and roots.

the trees are falling over. it goes right into the creeks and streams and the water goes up rapidly and people get washed away if you're in the wrong place. >> thanks so much chad meyers, appreciate that. we're talking about the water particularly around the philadelphia area. it has been saturated and they got two rivers that run right around philadelphia causing yet a bigger problem. we're going to talk to the mayor of philadelphia and find out what the new normal looks like these days. >> also, more amazing images of irene's fury. mike shot this, heavy rains and wind from irene, at the time still at hurricane strength slammed into greenville, north carolina yesterday. keep sending us ireports or breaking news coverage of tropical storm irene back in a moment. i remember the days before copd.

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welcome back. we are getting these pictures from you, helping us tell the stortry of hurricane now tropical storm irene. a lot of you in the thick of it. this is ireporter george nicholas took these videos here of the hudson river overflowing in its banks. there was a mandatory evacuation order in this particular area but he says he lives in a high rise building so he didn't feel his safety was in too much jeopardy. let's move further south there from jersey city and on to philadelphia where mayor michael nutter is on the phone. big concern for you, mayor, before irene hit the rivers, your state was already very much

saturated from preef yis rain. how do you feel this morning about what took place? >> well, it has been an incredible storm fredericka. i'm in the east falls section of philadelphia and looking at the schuylkill river which is just about cresting, maybe about 14, 15 feet. it is almost up to where a traffic light is. that's how high the river is. i just took a photo of it. we're concerned about flooding in a variety of areas across philadelphia. many of our creeks and rivers and streams already at flood stage and we may see some reseeding this afternoon. that's an issue. power outages of course in philadelphia, about 10,000 right now but it was at 21,000 earlier today. our energy company peco is doing a great job in philadelphia but there are many outages across the region. part of the problem is that the

rain has gone away but significant winds that whip around and take down trees, i heard on the earlier broadcast, trees are falling down as at the this had no roots primarily because we've had so much rain and combined with the wind. tough situation, we're going to move through it. our teams are out and as the rivers recede, we'll be able to come in and provide additional resource. it is a fascinating sight right now. >> remarkable you talk about the cresting at 15 feet. it also has to worry you too we're looking at images of people who get out and they feel comfortable with the water and have fun with it but the potential for flash flooding is still very great. how do you get the word out to people about -- >> we are telling people to be smart, don't make bad decisions, could call it something else but don't make bad decisions. i know on tv the cars and suv gs

go through water. that's only on television, do not try that on the streets. stay away, if you want to look that's one thing. don't get in it. this is not a game, not something to play with. that water will rapidly take you away and a tragedy could happen. it's a constant refrain when i'm getting information when i'm on television talking to the news media to remind folks it is an incredible event but also can lead to tragedy. be careful. >> mayor nutter, it's brook baldwin and i know this is the worst storm to hit philadelphia in five decades. is the curfew still in effect for your city? what's the message to people as they do try to get out and get to work tomorrow? >> i'm sorry, fredericka, can you give me that one more time. >> i hear the sirens. >> my question, if you can hear me, are the curfews still in effect for the city and what's the message to people who will be needing to get out first

thing tomorrow morning to get to work? >> well, we're going to get the city back into shape. the mass transit system has gotten up and running, philadelphia international airport will be open at 4:00. recycle will be in in effect and trash. we'll have the city pretty much back in shape. with the rivers and streams and flooding and power outages, that will take some time. we're asking folks to be patient and be understanding. philadelphians have been tremendous in this effort and one of reasons why we haven't had any real tragedies in this. but we don't want folks to get deseefd by what is seemingly calm. there's still many many danger points in this and we'll keep getting this information out there. >> i had read that you had seen sofas, refrigerators floating along in this river. is that still the case? >> couches, refrigerators, all

kinds of stuff. it is rapidly moving river but it's also very, very powerful. and it comes with a lot of force. so it's -- there's a lot -- we have trees that -- full trees that have come down the river. we're very, very concerned about their movement and you know, they may get lodged between pillars and cause all kinds of other problems. we're going to stay on top of this. we know where our pressure points are and fortunately for us we have a great team with a great plan working with the state and federal government but it's a lot of work. >> mayor michael nutter of philadelphia. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> when the water recedes, the mayor and others can better assess the damage. >> and the cleanup effort, they are going to have their hands full. >> that's going to be big. >> some of the videos and pictures from hurricane irene,

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of tropical storm now irene. i'm fredericka whit ks field along with brook baldwin. tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate the lowest lying areas of new york city but some refused to go.

our affiliate spoke with a man whose father stayed put. >> he never got out before and refused to get out now. >> when did the floodwaters come in. >> 5:00 this morning. >> reporter: what happened? >> the water started to come in through the front door, back door and time to go. >> reporter: what did he say? >> he ain't leaving, i'm not leaving. so he's upstairs, he's okay. i go check on him once in a while. he's all right. >> reporter: you've got your hip waders on so you're able to get him food or water he needs. >> he's got everything he needs upstairs. >> reporter: how old is your father? >> 93. >> reporter: he's not changing his ways is he? >> never. >> reporter: have you ever seen it this bad? >> this is the second time but higher than it was the last time. the last time was the big flood where everybody got bombed but this was a lot higher. it's actually going down now. you couldn't see the roof of that car before or nothing like that so -- >> looks like his son has

accepted dad is stubborn but seems like he's all right. >> 93-year-old dad, i made it this long, i'm going for it. >> some of the best pictures and stories are from cnn ireporters, alexandra steel has been watching the reports come in and been sifting through them. what do you like? >> last time we had biggest hurricane we know inland flooding. we talked a lot about flooding and i want to give you the quick 411 on flooding. chad is talking about flash flooding and river flooding. they are different, flash flooding in vermont and massachusetts from the rain from irene. it happens quickly, short amount of time and ends quickly. river flooding which we have warnings before on the delaware and schuylkill, river flooding takes longer to develop and a lot longer for the rivers to rece recede. that's the cliff note version. we have seen flooding in long island. let me take -- you were talking about those mandatory

evacuations and those who didn't leave. take a look at this. it is video from a backyard in oceanside new york. south side of long island and also south of the sunrise highway. mandatory evacuations were in place here. obviously this person did not go. 20 shelters open in this area it is a coastal flood plain and look at the water. it is certainly very scary. this is her backyard in oceanside and that white is a big fence connecting her toe at the time neighbor. you can see farther left it's broken up. the note is saying, look what happened to my fence. kind of looks like a low garage but it's a fence. 6 inches of flowing water drown a person 2 feet can float a car. we're talking about incredible power here. mandatory evacuations and some didn't do that. >> i know a lot of people in lower manhattan, you go to

battery park, it should be a beautiful sunday want to see statue of liberty. not yet this morning. you shouldn't be out there but a lot of tourists are already heading back out. i know soledad o'brien is it going to have a look for us at the cleanup effort there as you can see trees are down. that's an issue with power lines. we have a full report from this part of new york when our special coverage returns. if you don't have an iphone, you don't have the app store. so you don't have the world's largest selection of apps, that are this easy to find.. and this easy to download right to your phone. so it can be almost anything.. like a boarding pass. or do almost anything.. like pay for your coffee. the app store. just one more thing that makes an iphone an iphone. when i got my medicare card,

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welcome back. tropical storm irene lashing new england right now. >> i'm fredericka whitfield. the storm has weakened quite a bit since this morning but it is still quite powerful as it barrels across vermont and new hampshire and also approaches parts of boston, massachusetts. at least 15 people in six states have been killed since irene first made landfall 30 hours ago, some from falling trees. others from flooding. >> the worst is over if you are in new york city. the evacuation order as we learned from mayor bloomberg will expire in half an hour. also the staten island ferry service will resume shortly. but let's talk about the winds. they have been fierce as you see the pictures. it toppled a number of trees and snapping power lines and some are also crushing cars.

more than 4 million people are without power and it could be a week before electricity is restored to everyone. >> let's check in with soledad o'brien in lower manhattan. a lot of folks are out and feeling confident that the worst has passed by manhattan. they are streaming behind you trying to see the statue of liberty and maybe just feel the wind that still exists. >> reporter: we're -- the wind is actually pretty strong. it's been blowing us around quite a bit. this is a tourist spot because it's a good place to see the statue of liberty. even more than that is this is a spot where they were evacuating people out of it. >> it used to be historically landfill, it is low lying and they were very worried about flooding and it did flood. water came well up to where i am and even past but receded quickly. earlier this morning we were on the west village side by where the hudson was coming in and doing the same thing, flooding, overturning the banks and flooding and receding quite

quickly. the damage has not been miserable. what we are seeing damage from some of these people who had to evacuate those buildings and 3 feet of water in the buildings. that is not something that's horrible. much less than they were expecting. also these high winds have knocked over trees. you see the newspaper boxes have fallen over. we've gotten a chance to see that through the city today. it's not as bad as many projected it would be. in fact mayor bloomberg earlier today in the press conference said the city dodged a bullet. here's what else he said? >> the good news is the worst is over and we will soon move to restore and return mode. the tides we're heading towards low tide. as you know the back side of a low pressure area comes up the east coast where the winds will force the waters away from the coast. so the dangers of flooding additional flooding have been eliminated and the existing flooding should start to go

down. >> reporter: mayor bloomberg holding that press conference at a command center built after 9/11. we've had a chance to tour that command center several times actually. so the mayor also said at the press conference that the bridges and tunnels are open and the staten island ferry running again. the only thing we're waiting on is the subway system, mass transit, we're being told that that may come back towards the end of the day tomorrow. that's a big problem for new yorkers because that's how new yorkers get around. what i found interesting about the press conference as i'm sure you guys both have noticed. he launches into spanish as well. he is fluent in spanish, 26% are latinos so he often will do his presence conference then do another version in spanish for spanish speaking constituents listening to his press conferences. that's been interesting to see

as he updates us. that's the word from here, we're feeling confident as are these folks because the police come by and tell people to be cautious, gawking at the scene, windy but not much danger at this time. >> for people who aren't as intimately familiar with mat han an, you're not too far from ground zero, we're near the tenth anniversary, there was sandbagging et cetera to make sure the whole area remains a-okay after this storm. can you give me a quick assessment on that? >> reporter: people were very concerned about that. if you know what the memorials look like in the footprints of where the towers stood, they created this underground water falls, absolutely beautiful, amazing to look at but also underground. there was a big concern if there was major flooding that would be a disaster foreground zero area because they are working on the buildings. you've got tons of construction gear and everything trying to

ramp up for the 9/11 anniversary. that was i big concern and they sent out a tweet in the 9/11 memorial, no damage, that things were fine, when another sigh of relief. we've seen of those, we're back, no problem. that's great. 9/11, the ground zero not far from where we are, we can see one of towers going up in front of me. no damage there. it looks like that means that things that were on track for the anniversary of september 11th will not be slowed by this storm. >> wonderful. >> good news. soledad, thanks so much. a lot of construction workers had taken great measures to make sure the cranes that had to replain in place because of the last minute touches being made for the 9/11 memorial would stay in place, tied them to withstand up to 100-mile-per-hour winds. >> chad meyers has a look at what's left of the storm. it's still a tropical storm but also causing big problems for

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we're continuing our look at

tropical storm irene. yes, it's primary in the northeast but it's still left in its wake a lot of damage on the east coast, particularly north carolina where it first made landfall. >> north carolina saw a lot of the brunt when it initially made landfall, i know yesterday chad meyers talked about the damage there, outer banks. >> we have the storm run right over atlantic beach, which is the south part of the angle or the triangle that would be the outer banks. then it went into the sound then eventually back into the ocean. but that storm surge that we talk about it, if you're on a sand island, where your feet are may not be there when you're done. you have to be careful and i have pictures to prove what this is route 12 and this is rodanthe, i'm sure you heard the movie, they are going to have to build a bridge or fill that back in. let me show you how this happens. here's the video. here's the wide angle from the

helicopter. this is what the road -- this is 12 should go all the way down into and this is the water tower at rodanthe there was a beautiful house there. i'll show you that in a second. it doesn't exist and i'll show you why it doesn't exist. here's the point. there's north carolina and there's that little part right there. we're going to fly you in. this was the angle it was taken. we're looking from the north, looking to the south. here rodanthe and there's the house i was talking about. why is that road gone? why that house gone? one more turn and we're going to look back into the sound. when the water got pushed into the sound, the water was back here and then the storm went offshore and water was dragged out of the sound. it was sucked out of the sound along that little creek. and that little ditch really more than anything, it was the weak spot and that's where the water went. and when the water came out it began to wash away the island.

that house right that was there is no longer there because that island does it exist anymore. we'll put google there, this is what it looked like before, beautiful place to be except now that part right there and that home right there doesn't exist anymore. it is in the ocean. we know that because there it is, there's part of the problem as well. will had fires going on in parts of the island as power lines came down. and i can't really tell where that was. that was obviously still a close part of the tour that our producer was on the helicopter. that's what happens, you can get a cut across these islands then you have to build a bridge. what you thought you were standing on when you were covering a hurricane doesn't exist anymore. >> my goodness. all of that area was under mandatory evacuation. hopefully the people who owned the properties did indeed leave. now they are likely looking at those images, this is their

first assessment and saw that at least that one did not withstand the storm. >> here's my question, is that more like the anomaly or the trend there. >> that is the anomaly. that is the one cut that was made. this is only a category 1 hurricane. at a category 2 or 3 there may have been a lot of that island that disappeared and they have to build bridges. when the water wants to rush out, it finds the weakest point and that little ditch was the weakest point and that's where the water eroded and kept going until it made its own little river and now there's an extra place to take your boat in and out of the island from the ocean to the bay right there at the island in the ditch or that river i guess, the opening that the hurricane made. >> the luck of the draw for that one piece of property. thanks so much. there are other regions are the northeast that do feel like they dodged the bullet completely. >> absolutely. but not everyone has been lucky at all. poppy harlow, if you saw her a

little while ago, she gave us a tour of mayor of secaucus's basement. one kitchen floor falling out of one of these homes. we'll check in with poppy coming up next. t on your phone, which makes it this easy to talk face-to-face with another iphone. this easy to talk with a mac and this easy to talk with an ipad. facetime. just one more thing that makes an iphone an iphone. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. that's how it is with alzheimer's disease. she needs help from me. and her medication. the exelon patch -- it releases medication continuously

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membership rewards points from american express. they're a social currency. with endless possibilities. new jersey is dealing with flooding and toppled trees and of course power outages. >> poppy harlow has been providing the first images some of the damage there. poppy, showed us the live tour of the mayor's basement. what do you have now. >> reporter: we have the house next door to the mayor unfortunately it was sunny when we talked last. it's getting a lot darker and gotten significantly windier here. we heard about the winds that might come after the rain.

that's what's happening in new jersey. they got the brunt of the damage from this. guy, we're going to go into his house. tell me, you rode out the storm here, right? >> yeah, we left about 10:00 this morning. that's when the water rose up and came up through the front door and bassically turned this into an island. around 6:30 this morning, i fell asleep finally, we had power back. it seemed like we were out of the woods, no water in the street, just raining hard and windy. i got knocking on the door about 9:00 and this was the fire department. i looked out the window and it was completely up to the door. you know, right about that gold plate. >> let's head in. >> then within the hour it went from that level to about 2 inches to about 3 feet. >> reporter: also, fredericka, he woke up to screams from his wife and mom. we're going to go into his house. we've just been told by the

building inspector here in secaucus it might be a little dark. come all the way in. we'll get light on it right now. we're told by the building inspector that his house is unliveable. the carpet here is completely soaking wet. and what you're going to see in a minute, the middle of this house essentially caved in. take us into the kitchen and show us what's going on. >> of course it's dark because of power outages throughout new jersey. >> it starts to drop. as you make your way in, you can see where it cracked along the floor. >> reporter: the floor cracked here. you can see that down here. come all the way in here with me, i'm going to show you what happened to the ceiling here. essentially when you get in the kitchen, when you get in the kitchen -- can you come anymore? are you able to come in? they are trying fredericka.

but the floor leans to the right and the ceiling is cracked. you heard, guy, that this is unliveable. what does this mean for you and your wife? where do you go from here? >> it depends on how long this is going to take to fix. it's new to us obviously, we've been in this home 40 years, it's a family home. >> my mom and dad had this thing built. my mom still lives here, we all live together. so i don't know. this is all new ground for us. i honestly don't have answer answer just yet. we have great friends who have offered to put us up. we'll see. you know -- i mean. the good news is it's justify stuff. this is a home and we love our home but at the same time it's just things. everybody is healthy, my mother is 75 and still kicking strong. everybody is good so healthwise it -- we're okay but now we've

got to rebuild. >> reporter: fredericka, do you have questions for him here? this is the second home with severe damage. as we hear people say the storm wasn't as bad as expected you have to remember people like this. >> guy, where were you and where was everybody during the brunt of the storm? >> reporter: she wants to know where you and your wife and mom were during the brunt of the storm? >> home. >> reporter: upstairs? >> my hom was down here, this is her half of the house, we live upstairs. we were upstairs together for a while until 12:00, 12:30, kids were watching movies with my mom and i was working and we were staying busy. we had power internet. we had tv. >> this wasn't an evacuation zone was it? >> nos it was voluntary. >> was it constantly going up and downstairs and checking. >> nothing imminent. the water was draining. >> reporter: were you constantly going up and down the stairs checking to see how bad it got or did you not realize until you were woken up by a knock on your

door. >> the problem is we don't have a basement. we don't take water through the ground or don't take water that has a place to go down. it has to come from the back and front for it to ever happen. and i was constantly at the window checking the street to seal if the sewers were backing up. see if the river was rising. there was nothing. not at 6:30 this morning, zero. then by 9:00 a.m. -- >> it all came in. >> unreal. >> reporter: i heard too i was driving around the town with the mayor, the concern here is when high tide comes in again what that might be like. we're 100 feet from the hacken sack river, the way you described it, this became like a moat around your house. >> and they are saying 8:00 we're looking at another high tide. >> reporter: 8:00 p.m. tonight? >> i believe so. that's what i was told. i haven't checked myself. i've been told it's 8:00 p.m. between that and full moon with the new moon, it just not going

to be pretty again. >> reporter: we'll hope for the best, guy. we're going to milburn where we hear there's severe flooding. we'll come to you live. >> sounds like guy and the rest many family should pack things up. >> sounds like a good guy. mom lives in the house, got his priorities intablgt. it's material but that is really -- that story hits home for so many people. >> then predictable of the storms of this caliber. >> a look at irene's impact overall and how the storm affected millions more up and down the coast. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. for dentists, the choice is clear.

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our tropical storm irene is moving over southern new england right now. we're talking about vermont, upstate new york, even new hampshire but it's clearly left a lasting market on states south. >> we're talking new jersey and new york. >> reporter: irene made landfall again sunday morning, windy, wet and destructive. but it was slightly more subdued.

quickly downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm as it's wind speeds fell below 75 miles per hour. as it hit new york city, the worst problem was flooding. storm surges in the east river and hudson subamerimerged low l areas and water front walkways under water. to the east in long beach, the advancing atlantic swallowed 10 to 15 foot berms to hold it back, pushing one building into the boardwalk. >> those waves are massive. that surf is absolutely pounding the shoreline and has completely wiped out the manmade they put up to protect this hotel and this boardwalk and that town. >> reporter: people in low lying areas had been told to evacuate in advance of the storm. those who chose to stay quickly found themselves in situations like this, trapped by riding waters. rescue crews used books in new york on sunday morning to ferry people to safety.

in new jersey, water inundated a marina. and the governor said flooding was by far the state's biggest concern. >> we're talking about not only coastline flooding but also inland flooding of our rivers, they are swelling to record levels. so that's going to continue for another couple of days after the storm passes. >> reporter: further south, ocean city, maryland reported no major flooding but still plenty of water, at least 11 inches of rain by early sunday. elsewhere in the state, a woman in queenstown died saturday night crushed by the chimney in her home after a tree fell on it. a nuclear power reactor went offline automatically late saturday after a piece of aluminum siding struck a transformer. power was a big problem everywhere the storm spread. more than 3 million utility customers spent this part of the with in the dark. >>