turbulence. this storm actually from our first past through our last lost the eyewall presentation. usually it's in the eyewall that we get the stronger storms. so the turbulence wasn't one of the worst flights i've definitely seen out there. but we definitely get turbule e turbulence. we get bumped around a little bit depending on the storm. >> i suppose in your line of work you are looking forward to the next hurricane, looking forward into flying into the eyewall again? is that how that works? >> you know, i'm a meteorologist and i love a little adventure. for me being able to fly inside a hurricane and see everything up close, it is just awesome. and it's really, good, helpful job that we know saves lives. all those things are good. you look forward to it in that respect. of course, then when you're in a storm that you know is going to hit land and cause damage, you don't want that side of it. it's kind of a mixed feeling. >> sounds kind of fascinating. i might like to tag along sometime, captain mitchell. thank you so much. seven times flying through that hurricane. thank you. tropical storm irene was

lashing new england with powerful winds and rain. hello again, everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield. >> i'm brooke baldwin. let's get you caught up on what we know at this hour on this storm. president obama an hour away from making the statement about the storm. he will be doing so 5:00 eastern from the rose garden. we'll bring it to you live as soon as we see the president. >> irene continues to lose power since making landfall this morning. floodwaters are receding on new york's long island and downtown manhatt manhattan. evacuation orders for low lying areas including the rockaways were lifted just last hour. residents are venturing out to examine the storm damage. >> the storm has proven to be fatal. at least 15 people across six separate states were killed during the storm. irene's powerful winds toppled trees, knocked down power lines, damaged homes. early wind damage estimates alone are expected to top more

than $1 million. more than 4 million people without power. >> as homeland security secretary janet napolitano said earlier today, quote, we're not out of the woods yet. >> no matter where you are this morning, from north carolina to maine, we encourage you to stay off the roads as much as possible so that we can keep them clear for first responders and for vehicles who are working on power restoration. we also encourage everyone to continue listening to the instructions of their state and local officials and to visit ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe at the storm. >> we know irene made her way up the coast all the way from north carolina now up to maine and left quite a trail of destruction in its path. a lot of people in harm's way. even with all the events, planning or warnings, some people were caught in very dangerous situations like this family here. this is video. it shows rescue crews in these

boats essentially helping these folks who live in that home get out safely. they had to be rescued by boat here in elmsford, new york, when the floodwaters came rushing in. this irene storm surge sent this life guard station, watch this, tumbling along the waters. this is long beach, new york. it's we're told a small building. but the force of the water lifted it off its foundation, pinned it there against that boardwalk. and a boat off the coast of the atlantic highlands in new jersey, not at all fairing well. we're told this boat sunk because of irene's floodwaters. >> of course, we have crews all up and down the east coast bringing you the very latest. chris lawrence in chesapeake beach, maryland, looking very different. almost sunny today. gary tuchman in newport, rhode island, where the winds have died down quite a bit. kate bolduan in providence, rhode island. we're going to check in with all of our crews there giving us a different perspective of things. let's begin with kate bolduan in

providence. >> kate, what are you seeing? >> reporter: hey there, brooke. similar to what we've been seeing throughout the day, kind of a general trend of the rain dissipating as well as we're still getting some pretty strong gusts. the wind does seem to be dying down quite a bit. it seems the focus now and the challenge now is to try to get people back online, get the power back online. we're hearing that about 50% of the state of rhode island is without power at this time. we know the company, national grid, are working very hard to get people out there to fix the problem and start getting people back online. some of the trouble they'll deal with is that there's a lot of debris in the roads. we've seen it ourselves. as well as some here in providence and neighboring cities. warwick, especially. trees down in the roads all throughout the state. power lines in warwick to the point where the town is saying that travel must be restricted to only emergency vehicles. until further notice, really. they're trying to clean debris up off the road.

we heard from the governor a few times today saying that much of the state as you know and we're hearing from people all across the east coast, saying that while they're still dealing with these strong winds and the aftermath and the cleanup, that they're going to have to be dealing with, everyone breathing a sigh of relief. we keep hearing that over and over again as their worst fears did not come true with irene hurricane and now tropical storm. we're still feeling the strong gusts. we will throughout the day. we're here with this hurricane barrier, actually built in the 1960s. it's supposed to withstand surges of some 20 feet. clearly that was not tested this time around and they're very happy. we have been seeing some -- we're hearing there's some very strong surge all up and down narragansett bay and all throughout rhode island. we're watching that very closely. brooke, fredricka. >> kate bolduan, thank you very much. i want to read quickly this post. chad myers just snuck this over here. it's important. it's a flooding event. it's also a wind event. he says wind is picking up again over new york city from the

backside of the circulation of the storm. trees are again toppling down. if you think you're out of the woods, as janet napolitano said earlier today, you're not quite yet. >> all the more reason why they really prefer people stay indoors. so first responders or emergency preparedness crews can actually do what they need to do and make sure things are safe before everybody else ventures out. >> let's continue on with rhode island. we know the storm rolled into that small state earlier today. gary tuchman was there to ride it out in the beautiful area of newport. gary, i know we talked to the governor early today. big smile on his face. he seems to think that, you know, the state missed the brunt of the storm for the most part. is that what you seem to have experience zbld we're 40 miles south of cape, brooke. the winds have been picking up the last couple of hours. certainly not as bad as we thought it could be. i'm standing on these steps of this greek orthodox church not because i'm a loiterer, but because we were here last night explains in hurricane bob 20

years ago the water came right up to here. during the great hurricane of 1938 which killed more than 600 people in southern new england and long island the water was even higher. this church built in 1924 and is now 87 years old is doing fine. that's the key thing. the flooding has been very limited here. there's a lot of concern that this area very vulnerable to flood i flooding, there was a lot of concern about the flooding. instead what we've seen throughout this city of 25,000 year-round resident and more than 100,000 people on a weekend like this is a lot of downed trees, some downed power lines. fortunately there have no injuries, no deaths and very little property damage. that's a great relief. we're expecting these heavy winds to be over in the next couple of hours. then the newport residents can come out again. you can kind of see, people are kind of walking down the streets right now because they see that this is not as bad as they

thought it could be. >> amazing how high that water was from 20 years ago with bob. gary, thank you very much. >> reporter: yep. more of irene now and what it's doing. it is being blamed for at least one death in maryland. but the state largely escaped the storm's wrath. emergency crews are assessing the damage there. many marylanders are in recovery mode today. some venturing out. chris lawrence is live at chesapeake beach, maryland, where nearby people are already at that restaurant enjoying sort of clear skies, partly sunny skies right now. was there much damage to the area where you are? >> reporter: i think the -- the refrain, fred, has been the refrain that it's been everywhere. not as much as people expected or feared, really. there are a tremendous amount of trees down. there are some power lines down. some of the roads in and out of this area and even leading back up into washington, d.c., are still closed down while the crews are out there. we didn't see the level of

catastrophic damage across wide areas that you do see with some hurricanes. i remember just, you know, yesterday afternoon and into the night where the water was up a few feet from here. it was just lapping over with the waves really crashing in. now, sunny, calm. the hurricane is so strong it just pulls all that bad weather out with it and you get a sunny day the next day. there was some damage, though, from those winds. you know, a woman's chimney collapsed on her home and killed an elderly woman in queen ann's county. we spoke with a couple who a tree literally crashed right into their home, splitting it right down the middle of their home. but the thing that ended up saving them was the fact that the power had gone out just a couple hours earlier. >> the lights went off. i went downstairs to work a crossword puzzle in the basement. i was going to go upstairs a little bit once i was getting

tired. all of the sudden i hear wham, wham. all of the sudden coming through the floor are the branches. scared me to death. otherwise i would have been in my bed. i would have been crushed. >> reporter: amazing to hear that. you know, just one little action and it changes everything about how you look at this storm. right now, though, you still got a tremendous amount of people without power. i think around 800,000 in the state of maryland. they are obviously hoping that power fwe eer gets turned on as as possible. road crews are saying try to stay off the roads as much as you can. they want to get the roads reopened and move some of those powerlines and trees blocking access to some areas. >> all right, great advice. thanks so much chris lawrence in chesapeake beach, maryland. >> and that evacuation order for what was it, zone a, parts of lower manhattan, that was lifted just about an hour ago. we'll give you a live look at the damage left by tropical storm irene and how the city of manhattan is now trying to recover. ♪

[ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over.

we're getting lots of stories and pictures about wind damage, about water damage. that is what has come from what was hurricane irene, now tropical storm irene. take a look at the latest ireport we've just received. this right here. this was the favorite reading spot for kerry quinn in connecticut until a tree came crashing down on this atrium in her home. thankfully nobody was there at the moment. she and everybody else doing just fine. this is the kind of wind that came through and swept through connecticut causing lots of

damage. we heard from the mayor of stamford earlier who talked about a lot of trees coming down and some puddles of water as well. some standing water. and about 600,000 people without power in the state of connecticut alone. quite severe in terms of -- and scattered kind of damage. >> they're look agent that. several areas of new york are of grave concern to the governor. andrew cuomo talked to me about the catskill area because of the flooding. let's go to long beach where susan candiotti is standing by. tell me what you're seeing. >> reporter: two predictions came true. there is flooding. and there are power outages. that much is true. if you happen to be in one of those areas, you're not feeling too good about things right now. if not, officials are saying from their early estimates, no injuries, no damages. there is flooding in some minor areas that they always get

flooding. a lot of the water has already receded. no serious reports of heavy damage. however, 450,000 customers on long island are without power. we're reporting to you from long beach. this is where we were staying. you can see they flooded in the first floor of this hotel. if you look down the street, you can see that they're pumping water out. you can see that water gushing out of that hose right down there to the left of the police vehicle. then as we drove around town, we saw some issues, minor flooding. but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. walking over here just a step or two, i just want to show you that this is one area -- right here at the end of this dock. this is the highest point on this barrier island called long beach. it's 15 feet above sea level. but many other areas here are actually -- >> clearly a testament there to the winds that are still kicking up. any number of the five boroughs

of new york. still part of tropical storm irene. chad myers is in the weather center to give a better explanation as to why people are still feeling these kinds of interruptions. >> we're on the other side of the circulation now. the east side of the circulation pushing winds up into canada going that way. but now the other side coming in from the northwest. and winds have already gusted to 50 miles per hour at jfk. i could seizely see 60 mile per hour gusts for the rest of the evening. that means that trees that were standing may actually be falling from the other direction now. and our crews that had the satellite trucks positioned behind buildings to protect it from a south wind, now those trucks aren't protected anymore. and the satellite dish swaying. it can't hit the satellite dish anymore. that's why we just lost susan on that live shot. that's exactly the reason. let me move you town and show you there's rain in rutland and

burlington. there's significant flooding in new york, parts of vermont, also the berkshires of massachusetts. flood flooding in every one of these red zones is at least significant enough to cause fast water or swift water rescues to go on right now. some even including helicopters where people are on top of their homes. we said this yesterday. this will not be remembered as the windiest storm. but a lot of people, especially up here, will remember it as the big floodmaker. because the water is still going to -- it's going to take days for this water to get down into the ocean. days for the rivers to finally go down. we have flooding rivers in new jersey, in virginia, in north carolina and also into maryland. and that's just the rivers that caused -- rainfall caused these floods. not even this flash flooding we're seeing now. the rain is almost over. but let me tell you, the flooding will continue for at least five or ten more days, depending on where you are on that river system. >> chad, i have a question, though. back to the wind, if you're talking about how this one is part of the back part of the

circulation of the storm as it's right now kind of over manhattan, are we then to believe that's the trend and it's already moved northward? will those northern cities also experience the back circulation of the wind as well? >> you bet. that's exactly what's going to happen. all of these areas that had -- well, we've had 15 to 20 inches of rainfall here. all this wind that we're seeing here, when this band of rain, you can see that band. that's the backside band of rain from the entire circulation. that will eventually get up here toward schenectady and into these areas that are already seeing all this flooding. you have flooding. trees with their roots just sitting in mud. those trees are going to fall down and significantly more power lines are going to come down. watch yourself if you're -- if you have a house here and you have a tree on the west side of you. because those trees are going to be falling down left and right tonight. >> that's why i asked. >> good warning. >> so many people need to watch out. chad, thank you very much. also, irene leave beg hind a soggy, soggy mess. we'll check in and get the latest from our different

affiliates on the ground covering this as well up and down the east coast. special coverage tropical storm irene back in a moment. it's been a good year for chevy. and not because silverado's the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size truck on the road or because heavy duty made motor trend's 2011 truck of the year. no, it was good because you told us so. consider this a thank-you. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. right now, combine the all-star edition discount with other offers for a total value of $6,000. our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. no, it's just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i'm new, too. umm... he's new... er... than you. even kids know it's wrong to treat new friends better than old friends.

at ally bank, we treat all our customers fairly, with no teaser rates and no minimum deposit to open. it's just the right thing to do.

all of these images really paint the picture of just how damaging and threatening tropical storm irene has been.

especially since it started as a hurricane category 1 along the coast, hitting north carolina and making its way north. take a look at these images right now from our ireporters out of jersey city, new jersey. the accumulation of water going from the embankment on to the walkway. pretty remarkable. folks are seeing this many times over in new jersey. also in new york. at least in new york we understand in manhattan the water has receded quite a bit. but still the remnants of tropical storm irene are evident in so many different places. >> let's go ahead and we also are keeping our eyes on many different monitors. you can't see. our folks behind the scenes. we want to dip into some of our coverage from our affiliates. here are a couple. our new york affiliate wcbs. >> that's kind of what we're seeing here and there in fresh meadows. some branches here. some limbs here. once in a while downed tree really falling victim to the wind and the water beneath it.

guys, back to you. >> just to get an idea of how strong those winds were earlier this morning, cbs's christine sloan -- >> now to wabc out of new york was well. >> one family, six people, they had enough. they said, you know what? we need to get out of here. they called for help. the fire department showed up, took them three trips to get the six occupants out. they had two elderly people there. a couple of young girls. two adults. they were brought to safety. then there were a number of trips after that as residents -- they've been through floods before. so they thought they could make it through. there was a little discrepancy there. the fire chief says they were given notice to leave. residents say they didn't. a lot of residents said we've seen flooding before. we're going to stay. and it was even too much for them. they'd been through these floods and couldn't hang in there. they needed to be rescued. you know, once the water comes in, even if the basement is empty and they've got the house up on stilts, you've got to cut

the power once it starts to come up to the first floor. that's when they knew they were going to be stuck. they called for help and they were able to get there. power is out in this area. there are a lot of outages. i'm out of power at home. i know that. >> me, too. >> where we stayed in the hotel, there were crews already in from out of state. from ohio. from kentucky and west virginia. >> let's head from new york to wpri in providence, rhode island, and dip in. >> how big do you think the waves were? >> probably eight to ten feet. the highest i've ever seen here. >> pretty impressive. eight to ten foot waves and a strong wind. but take a look. the sun trying to crack its way through the clouds here on watch hill. >> eyewitness news has been all over the state. >> that is just a look at some of your different affiliates here as they are covering the storm from the ground all throughout the eastern seaboard. let's go back to wcbs out of new york. >> there is some damage, but not

as bad as she initially thought. now you see this big truck getting in the way. that's okay. because the remnants, what's left of that 40-foot cedar, in there. everyone's very happy it's in there. it is being trucked away. the next part of the job here on fredricka avenue in shreveport is to get the power back on. of course, that big tree downed lines. that's repeated all over this area, all over nassau county. the trees down. this is one of the bigger ones we saw. the work crews here did an amazing job doing it quick, getting this tree removed in about an hour, hour and a half. now moving on to tree after tree in this area. >> gnaw nassau county, suffolk county, catskills all experiencing downed trees because of so much floodwater as well as high winds that kicked in when tropical storm irene came through. so now it's making its way farther upstate new york, vermont, new hampshire, maine as

well. we continue to get a lot of video in from our ireporters and our affiliates. we're going to continue to show you new images and get you new information about the damage from hurricane and now tropical storm irene.

on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. tropical storm irene having a tremendous impact on states up and down the northeast today

including major cities like new york, philadelphia and boston. in fact, let's jump into coverage from our affiliate in boston, affiliate wcv zblrks until we see it actually peak, that's what we're going to be very, very concerned about. this is a river that drops very quickly. still, it's on its way up right now, not on its way down by any means. >> one that drops quickly. clearly it's one that rises quickly. as an experienced meteorologist, is that unusual for a river to go from 4 to 17-plus feet in 12 hours? >> that's pretty impressive. each river has its own personality. you know, there are some that just fill up very quickly. some take a long time. especially some of the bigger rivers, it takes a long time for that water to come down. that's why we're going to be talking about this i think for several more days. this water is going to be moving into a bigger river. we're going to have some flooding there. the connecticut river is probably going to be giving us big issues. >> water, water everywhere. >> they're talking about the east milton area.

not far from the shore of massachusetts. kind of close to interstate 93 for a lot of people living there. they're experiencing a lot of the winds. you've already got some of the rain. not as much as some of the other areas and states farther south. they did get some wind. you're seeing some people out there, kind of the looky lous out there to see what they can. >> those who go stir crazy. >> marveling over the rise of the very rapid rise of the river. from massachusetts, let's move on to connecticut. it, too, dealing with the effects from tropical storm irene. widespread power outages as well as a few puddles of water here and there. earlier, i spoke to the mayor of stamford, connecticut, a city that was projected to get a direct hit from irene. but thankfully it didn't. here's what mayor michael pavia had to say about the conditions in his city. >> the surge, we were worried about the coincidence of the surge and the peak runoff of the heavy rainfall, and then combine

that with the winds that are pushing water back on land. we were able to dodge that bullet. we saw some surging. we saw some high waves. it was a very angry long island sound. we saw flooding of roads. we saw some -- many, many trees down. in fact, in the northern country, the streets are littered with branches and leaves. it's almost like a leaf confetti all over. the third leg of this storm, the tripod, is the cleanup and restoration. and that's going to take us quite a while from what i saw. and what i can see. we are currently without power. about 20,000 of our residents. which is about 20% of our residents are without power throughout the city of stamford. primarily in the northern section. we're waiting for the utility company to dispatch the crews that we were promised that would be here sunday. haven't yet arrived. unfortunately, we're all ready

to go, and we're waiting for the most important people to show up. >> and so states all along the eastern seaboard kind of share connecticut's pain, waiting for some help to arrive. more than 4 million people are, in fact, without power right now. and in just a half an hour from now, president barack obama will be making a live statement from the white house. officials say that he'll be providing an update on the storm conditions. of course, we'll be taking that statement live from the white house, 5:00 eastern time. y. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

welcome back here to our extended coverage of tropical storm irene. i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm fredricka whitfield at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. in less than a half hour from now president barack obama is scheduled to talk about the storm. he'll be coming to us live from the white house rose garden. of course, we'll be covering that live as it happens. meantime, tropical storm irene has turned into a major rainmaker as it moves through the northeast. we've been record flooding in parts of new jersey, new york city and even philadelphia today. >> but we're also getting our first look today at the damage all along the north carolina coast. look at these images. you see the water. some of these roads are just

disappearing. this is where irene first came ashore as a category 2 hurricane. we're now learning today bridges are out, roads are ripped apart, entire communities there along the coastal areas under water. at least 15 people in six states have tdied. some of them crushed by falling trees. the storm has knocked out power to more than $4 milli4 million . >> live crews across the storm zone to bring you the latest on irene. let's neck in with our folks there from battery park to chesapeake beach to right here in atlanta. carter evans, chris lawrence and, of course, our josh levs. >> carter evans, let's begin with you. carter is there along with perhaps some tourists. some folks who i know have been stir crazy, ready to get out and about. i know that where you are, that's the hudson river behind you. is it now back to normal? >> reporter: you know, it's back

to normal in the sense of river height. as far as normal, though, you can see all those white caps behind me reaching all the way out to the statue of liberty. it's pretty rough. we normally don't see it that rough. it certainly is a lot better than it was earlier today. when the flooding was at its peak here, the water came up to about where i'm standing well past those benches over there. i would estimate it's a good eight or ten feet down to the water level right now. that gives you an idea of how high the water was. here in new york city, though, water wasn't the only problem. there were falls trees. i was near central park this morn ing. we heard a loud bang. it sounded like an explosion, really. this this gigantic tree came down. the scariest part about that was is there was virtually no wind or rain at the time. all because of the saturated ground out here. there's nothing to hold these trees in. it is still dangerous in that sense. but all along, mayor bloomberg said the storm surge would be new york city's biggest problem.

>> we are seeing some very serious consequences of the flooding or of the storm including flooding and downed trees and power outages. and as we anticipated, the storm surge has caused serious flooding across the five boroughs including here in lower manhattan where the hudson river is flying over its banks. >> reporter: so it was both rivers, both the east and the hudson. we're on the hudson now. i want to take you a little way up the west side highway. there's a jogging path, a bike path along here. over the last couple of years it's been renovated. again, the water at normal times well below. you can see here just railings sticking out of the water. these are some of the piers that stick out into the hudson river. so the water comes up over those, across the bike lanes, across the west side highway of manhattan. and it makes its way into the trendy meat packing district and into some apartments there.

so there is going to be some cleanup involved here with flooding. that's for sure. as far as the damage that it did to the inner workings of new york city, if you will, the subway, the underground power, the underground communications, that's still unclear. we know public transit is still shut down through tomorrow morning. they're going to try and get it up and running tomorrow afternoon. but no guarantees from the mayor right now. the good news for the people that live down here where i am is, they can now come home. the evacuation order is lifted. >> carter evans, thank you very much. >> i like how an occasional jogger or biker go on through. >> got to get that exercise along the hudson. it is a beautiful jogging path. irene rolled across maryland earlier as well. chris lawrence is live from chesapeake beach, maryland. they, too, are trying to restore some normalcy. folks eating on a kind of patio restaurant not far from where you are, chris. >> reporter: yeah, that's right,

fred. i mean, nothing like -- will help you get back to normal like a beautiful sunny day like we're having here at chesapeake beach. take a look over here. you can see this restaurant right over here where people are sitting out, really enjoying the day. but it's somewhat of a mirage in that we've spent a lot of time in there talking to folks. a lot of these folks are from other counties here in maryland and none of them have power. in fact, a lot of people in there were saying, man, this is the only restaurant within miles and miles that we could find that was even open. they're rung off a generator, were able to get power and keep power. a lot of folks in maryland, about 800,000 are still without power. the problem is, you've still got a lot of downed trees, downed power lines. some of the roads that people would normally use to get around are simply inaccessible. eve p going all the way back up to washington, d.c., we've been told, it's going to be a very roundabout way back. because a lot of the main roads that people would use to get back there, the most direct

routes, are simply covered in branches and tree limbs and power lines that are down. fred? >> extraordinary. all right. fwl glad folks are in the clear weatherwise. now it's a matter of restoring that power to so many people there in maryland. >> then you have new england. a lot of you looking out your windows and saying, yes, i'm still saying rain, very much so, out my window right now. heavy rain on new england. there are still mandatory evacuation orders for parts of rhode island. michelle katafiz lives in bristol, rhode island. one of the lower lying areas, i'm told. she's now on the phone. michelle, i understand you live on the coast. you were told to evacuate by 10:00 this morning. you didn't. do you regret that decision? >> hi, fredricka. no. i don't regret it. i wish i could be watching cnn right now. we've been without power since about 6:45 a.m. i'm going on almost ten hours without it. we haven't seen the coastal flooding that we really thought we might see. we were really worried about some coastal surges.

but we are getting the relentless winds. and it just seems it's not stopped. there's a lot of boats that have broke away from their moorings in the harbor. they're now onshore. i've seen -- there's been a lot of power lines down and trees down. which is a bit surprising. they took down about 30 of our trees that were diseased or they deemed, you know, dying in town just two weeks ago and on this main road, we're still seeing more healthy trees that have just come crashing down. >> michelle, it's brooke. my only other question is, what about any flooding issues? are you high and dry in your home? >> yes. happily, i can say right now, high and dry. the high tide will probably be around 7:00. so if we can get past that tonight, i think we're all going to feel a little bit safer. >> michelle, we'll be thinking of you. so many people we're thinking about here. a lot of people not as fortunate as she is as we saw witnessed in new jersey, poppy harlow, all

that water in those basements. >> still a lot of winds. still a lot of water. in some cases an issue of standing water. in others, a matter of rivers cresting. chad myers is going to give us an overall view of things when we come -- oh, there you are. you were talking about winds that are still kicking in. >> yes. >> it is dropping still some rain in some parts zpl especially up north here. up north into northern new england, still raining. winds still coming in from the south in providence. a slight surge there. coming in from the east for the most part up north of boston and also into maine and into nova scotia itself. the rainfall is to the north. there's also a bit of rain right through here. and it's not significant when it comes to rainfall. but it's significant to show us where the backside of the eye is. where the backside of the circulation is. that is bringing the new wind into new york city. for a long time, you were in this basically a black hole of no wind across most of new york. now that black hole is gone and

this surge or this backside wind is coming through at 45, 50 miles per hour. even a couple of fwuss not out of the question at 60 miles per hour with this. you have to understand this may not be over when it comes to falling trees. may not be over when it comes to significant flooding up here in new york from syracuse back to schenectady. i know there are evacuations going on in utica. evacuations going on in rensselaer county. very, very heavy rain in burlington, vermont. rutland, we have our gary tuchman on the way to chase some of this flooding. the problem is it's flash flooding. it comes up very fast. it may come up 12 feet in an hour. then goes back down 12 feet the next hour. you have to be ready for it if you live near water. now that it's going to start getting dark, you don't want to be driving near creeks and streams if you don't know where they are and how much rain has come down. there's been 10 to 20 inches of rainfall across parts of this area just from the storm alone. there was a dozen inches of rain

before that in august. so there's no place for this rain to soak in. it's all running off. it's all causing flooding. and we will have great pictures tomorrow. right now we have words and talking about it. but i know we will have pictures from all of our affiliates across the upper parts of new york and new england tomorrow. let me tell you, they will be dramatic. >> it reminds me just looking at that wabc affiliate, the video they're running while you were talking of seeing that standing water, people, don't drive through that standing water. you really don't know what's in there. could be a live power line or could be debris. there could be a lot of things. sometimes you just don't know how deep it is. >> you don't even know if that road is still there. the road may be washed away and you just drive down in a hole. >> chad myers, thanks so much. straight ahead, some of the video and pictures people have been sending. our ireporters all kind of giving us their perspective of hurricane irene, now tropical storm irene. much more straight ahead after this. hey can i play with the toys ? sure, but let me get a little information first.

for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do.

woohoo! yes! ♪ it was the best day

♪ it was the best day yeah! ♪ it was the best day ♪ because of you [echoing] we make a great pair. huh? progressive and the great outdoors. we make a great pair. right, totally. uh... that's what i was thinking. hmm. covering the things that make the outdoors great. now that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. our developing coverage continues of tropical storm irene right now moving over new england. >> it has left a lasting mark on states much farther south as it roared ashore in new york and new jersey today. here now is cnn's jonath jonathanmannen. >> irene made landfall early

sunday morning, windy, wet and destructive. it was slightly more subdued, quickly downgraded from a hurricane to tropical storm. as it hit new york city, the worst problem was flooding. storm surges in the east river and hudson submerged low lying areas of brooklyn and manhattan. waterfront walkways actually under water. to the east in long beach, the advancing atlantic swallowed 10 to 15 foot berms built to hold it back, pushing at least one building into the boardwalk. those winds are massive! that surf is absolutely pounding the shoreline and has completely wiped out the manmade berm they put up to protect this hotel, this boardwalk and that town. 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 rising waters. rescue crews used boats in

elmsford, new york, sunday morning to ferry people to safety. in new jersey water inundated a marina. >> we're talking about not only coastline flooding, but also inland flooding of our rivers swelling to record levels. so that's going to continue for another couple of days after the storm passes. >> farther 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 her. a nuclear power reactor in calvert cliffs went offline automatically late saturday after a piece of alum lum numb siding struck a transformer. power was a big problem everywhere the storm spread. more than 3 million utility customers spent some part of the weekend in the dark. >> we're trying to obviously help people manage their

expectations by getting that information over to utility companies and helping in any way we can to prioritize to critical infrastructure to get power restored to those communities. our expectation is this is going to take days -- if not hours, days to get that done. >> reporter: the storm took lives in north carolina, virginia and florida. the extent of property damage is anyone's guess. and it's not over yet. jonathan mann, cnn. >> as if these images aren't powerful enough, there are more. we continue to receive a whole lot of images whether it be pictures or video from a lot of ireporters. we'll review a few more to you. particularly we'll take you to north carolina. that was the first place hit by -- >> hurricane category 2 at the time. josh levs in on the action, all kinds of news he's about to share with you. we'll be right back. e: i am. i'e name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name?

> naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce.

new images coming in from

our ireporter fred moore. west haven, connecticut. the surf may be coming up right there as you see. possibly into the restaurant you saw a little earlier. fred says after he put the camera down he and a few others felt a little bold. they decided to take a swim. >> did you see those waves, fred? >> yes. clearly they tdid okay. >> some of the most compelling, dramatic video has come from you, our own cnn ireporters. josh levs has been combing through different videos. judging from the map behind you, mr. levs, i know they're coming in from all up and down the east coast. i think it's so important. i don't want to forget north carolina. what are you seeing from there? >> good point. in fact, we just got a new picture from north carolina. we just teased before the break. i'll tell you about it. you can witness destruction before your eyes. look at this. from our ireporter chet stewart. furniture and debris from his neighbors' homes that washed up

in his front yard. this is over in nags head, north carolina. think about that. i've covered flooding in north carolina before. times when there was one inch of a stop sign sticking out of the water. there's nothing like seeing the destruction after these gushing waters have come through and realizing these were people's homing, livelihoods, parts of destroyed businesses. he reports at least one home in this area was completely destroyed. that picture you can multiply in hundreds or thousands of cases throughout north carolina. new video from one of our superstar ireporters in virginia beach. let's take a look at this. he's showing -- >> what is that? >> -- what was an auto shop right there. >> really? >> william bernstein. he says now look at that. completely, completely destroyed beyond any kind of use. i'll tell you, some surprising things happen when you see these storms come through. another thing we found, surprising people become reporters. check out this 5-year-old girl.

>> i love this video. >> i think this is a new one. >> i want to show you some of the damages that we've sustained right in our backyard. take a look at this tree. the trunk broke off that tree because of all the wind. >> her name is jen holbrooke. 5 years old. i'll tell you, in her area where she was hit, they've obviously been facing plenty of problems right there. it also getting to be adorable because of the extent of the taj she faced there was that tree that did not crash into her house. those are some of the kinds of things we're getting. let me show you what brooke was just referring to. this screen behind me. this is called open story. it has taken off like never before in the history of cnn. what we have here is on the main page of cnn.com people have been sending in their ireports. their ireports have followed the path of irene. at any point along the path you were able to just click on a picture. it automatically brings you over to what one of these pictures or

videos is. you can then take a look at that area. if you have people you're concerned about in that area, want to see what's been going on, it's all at your fingertips there. this is flooding in farrockaway. this video came to us this morning around the 10:00 a.m. hour. we are also following your twit vids. videos on facebook. keep them coming. facebook and twitter. we'd love to hear from you. obviously we're looking at ones that are taken safely. we're not going to show you things in which anybody is doing anything crazy they should not have done. >> even though we saw someone who was kind of street surfing. that was crazy. thankfully, all worked out okay. that was pretty nutty. >> i don't recommend it. >> thank you very much. we're three minutes away from the top of the hour where we're expecting to hear from president obama speaking specifically on tropical storm irene. speaking from the white house, from the rose garden.

we will bring that to you live. >> more ireport images right after this. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car iance. ♪ geic

welcome back. straight to the white house and