and please stay inside. otherwise, you might blow away. >> that about covers it. >> she's right. is she great or what? >> her left hand was punctuating what she was saying like a pro. very cute. >> we'll talk to her here tomorrow morning. >> we invited her to take one of our jobs. >> but, really, she's coming in the morning. >> they're making a decision later on to decide which one of us won't be here tomorrow morning. >> make sure you tune in tomorrow at this time. >> she doesn't get subject to all the criticism of media hype. >> the rain was falling on her head and you might blow away in the wind. pretty to the point. >> that is it for us. we'll be back tomorrow at the same time. kyra phillips takes it over in the newsroom. kyra? >> i want to see ali clutch iin her teddy bear like jane did in that live shot. >> i was doing it yesterday, kyra. >> i can't wait for the interview. thanks, guys.

we begin this morning, talking about the aftermath of irene, the massive storm that paralyzed and pummeled much of the east coast. today, it's blamed for at least 21 deaths in nine states from florida to vermont. and at last count, about 3 million homes and businesses are still without power. more than a billion dollars in damages is blamed on the storms winds. flooding damage will be much more costly. three navy ships should be positioned in relief efforts from new york to new england. cnn crews are in place, measuring the storm's impact and the struggle for the millions of americans trying to move on now. we'll take you from north carolina to new york to new england and give you the big picture from the cnn "weather center," right here in atlanta. let's go ahead and begin in vermont, a state reeling from some of its worst flooding in decades. gary tuchman there in brat

tleboro. >> reporter: they don't deal with hurricanes, at least not until yesterday when tropical storm irene came through. we are standing in southern vermont, next to what was yesterday. for generations, a peaceful brook called the when thestotst brook. it was ten feet wide before yesterday. it's now about 90 feet wide. the powers of the waters, more than 260 straights under water in the state of vermont. basically they exploded this brook into four or five times its normal width. this is an art studio, three-story art studio. the land under the right side of the art studio disappeared when the waters started flowing through, now hanging precariously and could collapse at any time. the saddest news here in the state of vermont, one woman fell into these brooks yesterday, up in burlington, vermont. her body was recovered today. least one person killed in the state of vermont from tropical

storm irene. >> gary tuchman, we'll be checking in with you in the next couple of hours. flooding is also a huge problem in new jersey. some rivers are still on the rise. poppy harlow, cnnmoney.com, is in millburn for us. the problems reach far inland, right? >> reporter: absolutely, kyra. we're seeing some record inland flooding in new jersey. the mayor, chris christie, took an aerial view of the flooding. major, major problems even away from big rivers and away from the coast. the mayor is warning still of possible record flooding in the next two days. you had a lot of rain here before the storm. it soaked the ground. dams are still at risk here in knowledge. in millburn they certainly got the brunt of it. we're by this river in the middle of town, kyra. this crested, if you can believe it came all the way over, gushing into the streets and all the local businesses here on

main street. i had a chance to spend the whole day yesterday with the business owners, dealing with the devastation. take a look at one. we're going to go see the basement. if we can look at the floor here, it's full of mud. you have a lot of sewage and grass and leaves that flew into these restaurants. this stuff can be -- go ahead and take us there. can be cleaned up. what dana was telling me earlier, it's going to take about a month. big concern here is that often times flood insurance doesn't cover basements. can you imagine that? wait until you see this basement. you'll see what we're talking b look down here. dana, how many feet down does that go? >> well, that's about 10, 11 feet. >> so you have 10 feet of water in there? >> right up to the ceiling, yeah. the office, all of the walk ins, all the food is gone. >> reporter: kyra, it's been a nightmare like that for all the businesses here in melbourne, new jersey. an even bigger headache for the

residents here is the lack of potable water. it is all contaminated at least for the next 24 hours. they can't shower. they can't drink it. a million new jersey residents without power. it certainly hit this town very hard. >> if you've seen support coming in, poppy, with bottled water, you know, groups like the red cross? >> reporter: yeah. it's a good question. we were here all day yesterday, kyra, until midnight last night. i didn't see any of that. i saw a few pg & e trucks trying to get the power back on, residents complaining to me that they are not going to get their power, get this, kyra, until next sunday or next monday. a week from now. the businesses here are the last to get help because the fire department, technically, has to go to all the residents first, pump out their basements, then come to these businesses. think how hard hit the economy is right now and being out of business for a month or more because of this storm. not a good thing.

>> not at all. we'll keep talking to you throughout the morning as well. poppy, thanks. in new york, commuter trains and subway lines are slowly returning to service now. jason carroll is at penn station. jason, how challenging has the morning rush hour been? >> reporter: it depends where you're coming from. you know this particular area, kyra. it's normally teeming with people. this is just the tail end of rush hour. this place would still be inundated with people on a normal day. not today. some people decided to take a three-day holloway -- holiday. the subway system, kyra, is back on line, all 22 lines back up and running. new jersey transit, not a good situation there right now. trains from new jersey still suspended. those who have to come in and out of long island, some service

has been restored on the lirr. some are still suspended. all three of the major airports, newark, laguardia and jfk are all open and operational for incoming and outgoing flights. but you still want to check with your individual carriers, my colleague, deborah feyerick, trying to come in from europe, is still having residual delays and problems there. all the bridges are operational and clear and open. where we're seeing the most problems is on amtrak. amtrak says much of the northeast lines are operational, but we spoke to commuters, trying to get to washington, washington, d.c. still having some problems there. when we checked downstairs, we saw cancellations all over the board, especially to destinations such as boston and philadelphia. new york city's mayor basically saying that the commute was going to be, quote, unquote, a challenge. that might be an understatement for some.

kyra? >> jason carroll for us there at penn station. jason, thanks. jackqui jeras, he was talking about travel and a lot of things are up and running. you're doing the same thing, but with power outages. we talked about how this storm wasn't as big as we thought but still impacted a lot of people, travel, homes. >> it's not going away today or tomorrow. it will be a long-lasting storm that people will be feeling the impacts of, not just days or weeks, but probably months ahead. power outages, we'll start there. at the peak of the storm 4 million people without power, now that number is just shy of 3 million. look at the states still involved from north carolina through the midatlantic. and everybody in new england dealing with some of those issues. while this wasn't the major hurricane, its impact was very far reaching from the bahamas through those 17 states. ultimately, i think it will be most remembered by the majority

of the people for being such a flood maker. this is the animation that shows you the accumulating rainfall or how much rain came down. look at those far-reaching area where we saw more than five inches of rain? some of the numbers will aston issue you as we take a look at them up to 15, 16 inches in some places. we take a look at some of the other cities down the line. we'll show you as much as 16 inches into the carolinas. flood watches and warnings will stay in effect across the northeast over the next several days. the worst flooding since 1927 in parts of vermont. a lot of people still not in their homes yet. 8,600 people woke up this morning in shelters. >> jacqui, thanks. michele bachmann jokes about it and ron paul saying why do we

need fema? jim acosta in washington, where do we begin? both headlines getting a lot of attention. >> it's no surprise, kyra, that as hurricane irene was making its way up the east coast that the political rhett roarke was getting close to category 5 status. consider what congresswoman michele bachmann said in a florida at a rally yesterday. she was joking about the natural disasters who have hit the nation's capital in the last week or so, including hurricane irene. here is what she had to say. >> washington, d.c., you would think by now they would get the message. an earthquake, a hurricane. are you listening? the american people have done everything they possibly can. now it's time for an act of god, and we're getting it. >> of course, irene hit other parts of the east coast, not just the nation's capital. so there might be some republicans scratching their

heads this morning, wondering what congresswoman bachmann said. her defenders, of course, will say she was just kidding, talking about government spending in washington. someone who is also always talking about the issue of government spending and the national debt is ron paul. he was making the case, as he has in the past over the weekend, kyra, that the federal government could do without the federal emergency management agency. this is something that ron paul has said in the past. a li bechlt rt-- libertarian stripe in the republican party. we have been focusing on this hurricane so much over the last few days, to go through and comb through what some of the politicians have been saying about these disasters in the last week or so. we've certainly had our share of a lot of weather and a lot of disasters up and down the east coast. we haven't had a lot of time to

really focus on what the candidates have been saying, but we're going to now. kyra? >> we'll be following it with you, jim. thanks. we'll have a political update in the next hour. you can always go to our website c cnnpolitics.com. hated and now possibly taking secrets to the grave. convicted in the bombing of pan am 103 over lockerbie scotland. the majority of them americans was headed to new york. they were allkied. megrahi was released from a scottish prison two years ago and returned to libya. it was believed he had only months to live. there was international outrage over his release. now nic robertson, covering the war in libya, found him, in a comby, being fed through a tube with no professional help and possibly on his death bed. that exclusive from nic this hour. first, let's get our headlines from zain verjee in

london. good morning, zain. >> good morning to you, kyra. the daily telegraph, this is what it says. while gadhafi is free, libya cannot move on. it goes on to say this, the ntc, the national transitional council, faces the daunting task of disarming a country awash with guns and of integrating those militia members who want to continue bearing arms into a national army. and this is from the sydney herald. libya after gadhafi. the various groups comprising the rebels were unified mainly in their common desire to get rid of gadhafi. making the transition to representative government will be harder. this is a real gadhafi stronghold, where many of his loyalists are, about 100,000 people approximately live in this city. gadhafi himself could be there. no one knows for sure where he is.

there are negotiations to get his loyalists to is your ender. rebelists can pretty easily overrun this city. kyra? >> zain verjee, thanks. we'll hear from survivors of the hurricane. and rivers still rising in new jersey. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer.

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or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. get back to the things that matter most. good job girls. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. cross country now, people assessing the damage caused by hurricane irene, flash flooding in pennsylvania cause aid lot of

damage there. and the worst may still be yet to come. swollen rivers aren't expected to crest until later today. >> overnight, this is pretty impressive storm. >> irene tore through virginia beach, virginia, with torrential rains, high winds and a spin-off tornado. people ventured back into their neighborhoods, saying they're glad it wasn't worse. >> it's just devastating. >> never happened before. i've been down here close to 30 years. >> we dodged a bullet. i think god did us a favor this time. >> the storm roared through providence, rhode island. more than a quarter million people in rhode island lost power. >> i heard a big crash and this big tree came down. telephone pole, street lights, all the electric knocked out. >> flooding is a big problem in new jersey today as well. torrential rains away from the coast caused rivers to flood, many have not even crested yet.

the cnn got to see some of the flood damage in his home yesterday. joining me on the phone now. good morning, mr. mayor. i know you're a mile away from the river. how bad is the flooding right now? >> the flooding now has rereceded. the hackensack river is a tide river. we're at low tide. but the damage is still here and it's still being found as we go along, every minute of the day. >> what is your plan for the next 24 hours or so? >> our plan is to clean up. hundreds of calls last night. as you said earlier, i can witness it myself. i've been in this home 20 years and never have had flooding. last night, my home was devastated. we lost our basement, our den and still have no power throughout the whole house. it was pretty bad. about two-thirds of the town without electricity. we're back up, all the power is back on. we're still getting calls, several, several calls a minute,

actually, for flooded basements and flooded homes. >> and so where are -- do you have enough resources there within your area or are you having to call out for outside help? >> resources, we're fine. we have a 100-man volunteer fire department who worked all day yesterday and through the night. we have a fabulous public works department. we had a lot of help from our county. we're in good shape. it's just the cleanup now. >> we were looking at your house just a second ago. what's the status of your own home? >> well, the water is out. i cannot turn my power or gas on yet. waiting for the insurance company, like many others. we began to clean up. we have a task ahead of us. we probably won't be here several days, be able to live in the home. >> did a lot of people have to evacuate besides you? >> we evacuated three different areas of the community and most of them were low-lying areas right along the hackensack river. the river crested.

i would have to guess, just by looking at my property, we had an astronomical tide and it probably went four to six feet above that. it was pretty delve staying. >> michael gonnelli, mayor of secaucus there. thank you for calling in. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you bet. the storm is over, but the damage assessments, as you can see, are just beginning. we'll try to tally them all up for you. also on edge after the london riots. scotland yard, beefing up security, noting hill for its annual carnival. a week.

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nlthsds. showbiz headlines for you. "the help" was the number one movie for the second weekend in a row. many theaters were closed because of the storm. irene may have cut ticket sales by $30 million. mtv music awards, katy perry picks up video of the year for firework and lady gaga, dressed there as her alter ego gets best video for born this way. best male video went to justin bieber for "you smile." after her performance, beyonce pops the vest, yeah, baby, shows off the baby bump. in the crowd shot, her husband, jay-z, getting a little love from kanye west. noting hill carnival, music, parades and now stepped up

security. zain verjee in london, already some arrests s arrests. zain? >> yeah, 88 people have been arrest soed far for things like robbery, theft, possession of drugs a s and things like that. so far, this big street party that is so popular here, as well as around the world -- people are here from all over the place -- is actually pretty peaceful. there are 6,500 people just in noting hill alone. there's an extra 4,000, kyra, that have been dispatched all around london to maintain security and have a much stronger presence around the city in case there are any awful riots that break out again. i want to show you a picture of a neighborhood in noting hill. you've been here, kyra. you know noting hill. >> yeah, i have. beautiful. >> well-talk about the book store in a second. go ahead.

>> these homes have been boarded up. the cops cycling by. this is how nervous people are in the city, kyra. >> it's serious stuff. they've had issues before, in the past. but the movie, noting hill -- you saw the movie, right, with julia roberts? >> of course, i did. >> and the book store there. now what's the deal? it's closing down? >> i know, kyra. i know you love watching romantic comedies with bon bons and popcorn and i know this would have been one of them that you watched back in 1999, thing about blol blockbuster movie. can you believe it? the travel book shop will be closing down. basically the owners have run up hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt and just need to sell it. all these people are going, wait a minute, no. you can't. julia roberts, the bookstore. no way. they want to try to save it. the owners actually themselves really want to try to sell it.

it's caused a pretty big deal here as a result just because of the movie "notting hill." >> bon bons are so passe. it's milk duds. >> what is it now? oh, sorry. >> i'm still old school. thank you, zain. irene hammered the outer banks of north carolina. 200 people are stranded. chaos in libya, we lost track of the dying terrorist until now. cnn tracked him down. ♪

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so how come we're not using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. chebing top stories now. libyan rebels pushing toward moammar gadhafi's home in serb, have been bombing scud missile

sites. expressing his views publicly rather than to the president. alan krueger, former assistant treasury secretary. we'll have live coverage of the announcement starting around 11:00 this morning. now more on irene and its deadly aftermath. the storm is a little more than a post tropical cyclone right now, blowing over -- or blowing out over canada, actually, this morning. it's blamed for at least 21 deaths in nine states from florida to vermont. vermont saw some of the worst flooding in decades. it's not over yet. swollen rivers in new jersey are expected to crest until possibly later today into tomorrow. in north carolina outer banks were slam soed hamed so he areas are only accessible by chopper right now. 2,500 people are stranded. david mattingly is in kill devil

hills. david? >> reporter: more than 36 straight hours of rain from this storm and just as many hours from tropical storm force winds and hurricane force winds and officials are able to step back and see the big picture of all the damage that's out there. a stunning view of the power of hurricane irene. north carolina's highway 12 chopped into pieces on hatteras island. the estimated 2,500 residents who stayed behind now stranded with no way to drive out. >> probably 24 hours away from being able to get there, other than by helicopter. >> reporter: hit first, north carolina felt irene's strongest punch, bringing what is described as epic flooding to waterfront communities around albemarle sound. swamped like never before. hurricane isabel in 2003 was an incredibly destructive storm. when it hit here, it actually

blew this water away from here. when irene hit this time, the exact opposite happened. entire neighborhoods were inundated within a matter of hours. one resident caught the flood on camera with winds whipping the water onshore. just hours later, the waters receded, leaving a mess behind and weeks of cleaning up. >> part of living in paradise, you know. >> reporter: people in virginia cleaning up as well. 1.2 million were without power after a full day of damaging winds and inches of rain. governor bob mcdonald is asking for patience. >> it will be a matter of days or perhaps longer before power is fully restored. >> reporter: the second worst power outage in virginian history. two states that will remember irene as a hurricane for the record books.

an emergency ferry system will soon be fully operational to re-establish contact with that island that's been cut off here on the north carolina coast while state officials figure out how long and how tough it will be to replace that highway. >> david mattingly there in kill devil hills, thanks. closer look at irene, thanks to your ireports. jesse stone of white river junction, vermont, documented the massive flooding in his area. raging river, he says, is normally very slow and peaceful. but on sunday shall the rough wars nearly destroyed the bridge. check this out. jeff liroff captured this in woodstock, vermont, carrying the powerful waters. keep those great ireports coming. go to cnn.com, click on ireports or go straight to irepo

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cross country is all hurricane irene this time around. starting in city island, new york, downed trees and flooding littered the bronx island. some people felt, though, they dodged a bullet bullet. >> we spent the night above ground, as we were supposed to. but came down here. i saw the broken tree. my first thought is, oh, my god, my house is in really bad shape. then my eyes follow up and the rain gutter is the only thing damaged on my house. >> got lucky all right. more than a dozen shelters were open. still this boston resident says she got pretty lucky. >> we were thinking irene was going to be a lot worse. i guess we're luckny that respect but we would like our power back. >> she's not the only one. power is now one of the biggest problems for a lot of people.

timothy horan has never seen anything like it. >> it's millions of customers without power and it's pretty impressive. and now we're starting to see the first damage estimates actually coming in from hurricane irene. alison kosik, you've been crunching the numbers here and there. what do you think? how bad is it? >> it's not as bad as everyone feared yet. the numbers are still rolling in. the damage estimate friday the government is about $1.2 billion. keep in mind, this is only including wind damage. you have to realize much of the cost is actually going to come from flood damage and we don't even know how bad that is. a lot of the water hasn't even receded yet. not to mention the downed power lines. that costs money to clean up and get back up and running. factor all that in. estimates are ranging anywhere from $7 billion to $20 billion. keep in mind once again, these are early numbers, all this damage building. i'll come out with new numbers in the coming days.

kyra? >> we know that lower manhattan suffered a lot of damage or good amount of damage. what about there at the new york stock exchange, opening for business? is it business as usual or what's your feel? >> it is business as usual. you would never know that a storm came through here. i don't know how it looked over the weekend. everything looks pretty good right now. volume is expected to be light because a lot of the subways and trains aren't running. that means not a lot of people can make it in. all the major averages are higher. the dow up 170 points. if the dow holds to this, it could add to the dow's 4% jump next week. we have our eye on insurers, allstate, travelers, and metlife could rise because damage from irene wasn't as bad as expected. you may see investors buy into those stocks. kyra? >> alison, thanks. irene may be gone. this story is far from over, as you know. stay with cnn all day. we'll get the latest on the storm's aftermath and the cleanup and what's happening

state by state. it caused international outrage when the lockerbie bomber was released. in the chaos of libya, we lost track of the dying terrorist until now. nic robertson tracked him down. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union

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[ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ he was sent back to libya to die. the terrorist known as the pan am lockerbie bomber was released a and outrage followed.

since the chaos in libya, we lost track of him. 189 americans were killed in that attack. now nic robertson tracks down the convicted terrorist in libya on his death bed. nic? >> reporter: well, kyra, we knew roughly which neighborhood in tripoli he was in. we set off to that neighborhood, had a photograph what we believed to be his house. neighbors said he had been there recently. we knocked on the door and were polite, persistent. nothing, though, could really prepare me for what i found inside. we found abdelbaset al megrahi's house. this is megrahi's house, where he has been living the past

couple of years. we'll knock on the door, see if we can get any answer. hello? for 15 minutes or so, nothing. i'm not sure if they've heard me. let's try the last-ditch means, which is just shout over the wall. hello? hello? hello? then, all of a sudden, someone comes. nothing prepares me for what i see. megrahi apparently in a coma, his aging mother at his side. >> we give him oxygen and we give him some food by injection. you see, his body is weak. >> reporter: he had been expected to die almost two years ago. the convicted pan am 103 bomber abdelbaset al megrahi lives, only just. this isn't the way he looked when he was released from a scottish jail two years ago. he came home to a hero's

welcome, freed on compassioner grounds because doctors said he would be dead in three months. almost immediately, he began renovating this palatial house, money no object. it doesn't take long, walking around this building before you begin to realize and looking at the marble here on these expensive fittings, to realize that it appears megrahi was being paid off handsomely for all those years he spent in jail. in the two decades since the bomb exploded on board pan am 103 over lockerbie, killing passengers, crew and townspeople, it seeps the secrets of the attack will die with the bombers. megrahi always claimed he was innocent. just a month ago in a rare public sighting, moammar gadhafi had him literally wheeled out for a pro government rally. i'm seeing him now for the first time in two years. he appears to be just a shell of the man he was.

far sicker than he appeared before. has he been able to see a doctor? >> no. there is no doctor. and nobody to ask. we don't have any phone line to call anybody. >> reporter: what's his situation right now? >> he stopped eating and he sometimes go into a coma. >> reporter: he goes unconscious? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: all that's keeping him alive, they say, oxygen and a fluid strip. i ask about demands he return to jail in scotland. >> my dad, he is still in the house and if he is sent to scotland, he will die here or there. >> reporter: do you know how long he has left? >> nobody can know how long he will stay alive. nobody knows. >> reporter: it appears i arrived too late.

he is in no state to talk. whatever secrets he has may soon be gone. >> nic robertson, once again, joining us live. nic, it's actually remarkable you were able to get inside this house. i'm curious. i know it was a delicate situation and you have to be careful what you say and what you don't say because of the acti access you just got. but did the issue of the pan am bombing come up in any way, shape or form? you asked about being ext extradited. you kind of went there. were you, in any way, able to address that to anybody? >> reporter: in many ways, kyra, it was the elephant in the room. it was the unasked question. i was allowed in. i was told i could have two minutes. they gave me ten minutes in the end. the family clearly didn't want to answer those sorts of questions. they said, look, he is sickment

we want his last days or weeks or whatever to be in peace. we don't want to deal with this issue. this is the family that's dealt with this for many, many years. megrahi hips, despite saying he would prove his innocence, has stayed silent. probably because he knows if he would speak out against gadhafi or point the finger to other people, it would all end very, very badly for him. the family is still likely very afraid. anything they say could jeopardize his current situation. kyra? >> nic, we talked so much about his release and outrage it created internationally. this is a convicted terrorist that killed americans. and he was let go out of prison to go home and, obviously, die in a very luxurious way. and that outraged a lot of americans, of course, the fact that that happened. when the issue of extradition comes up, obviously he's in a

coma and it would be nearly impossible to do that. you say there are other factors playing into that as well, right? >> reporter: right. the national transition council here, the rebels are saying, look, we're not going to wait for him to die either. we have no extradition treaties. libya did sign an extradition treaty with britain and the protocols are there to do it. they will not extradite him. he is from a very influential tribe and they need to win that tribe away from supporting gadhafi and need that tribe to come over to the side of the government. the reason gadhafi went to such great lengths -- rumored, not proven -- to press the british government, threatening to cut off business contacts unless he was released. the fact that gadhafi went to those lengths was because he was from that important tribe and gadhafi did need to keep that tribe's support, something i was told was promised to do to bring

him back. right now, it seems, the rebels went megrahi left alone because they want his tribe brought on board for the new government and finish off gadhafi's regime forever. >> pushing forward, that will be interesting to see how the combination of tribes in the new government will impact relations with the united states. that will be the next part of the story. nic robertson, amazing work. appreciate you joining us live. you want to know what it's like, going up against irene? you showed us. we have some of the best cnn ireports,ireports, and pretty amazing pictures. we appreciate them, and we will show you more just ahead.

we are checki ing stories making news later. the white house briefing at 12:30 eastern is expected to cover damages of hurricane irene. and then senator from oklahoma will endorse governor from texas rick perry for president. and then michael jackson's doctor conrad murray has a court date at 12:00 p.m. eastern. and first we will check in with gary tuchman in flooded brattleboro, vermont. >> well, kyra, the landlocked canadian border town of vermont is suffering from the tropical storm that came through yesterday. take a look at the art studio, heavily damaged because of a raging rapid that used to be a creek. we will have the story at the top of the hour. and i'm jason carroll at penn station, the nation's largest transit system was

shutdown over the weekend. so how are things getting back on track? i will have the full story coming up in a live report. and i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange and the slide has stopped. a new survey shows that the gas prices have been holding steady for two weeks, but now how will hurricane irene impact the prices at the pump? kyra, details in the next hour. all right. guys, thanks. after irene and 3 million people, no lights, and the fridge is warm, and the tv is dead, and we will talk to someone from con edison to find out how long it will take to get the power back on.

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all right. the test scores are ready and the results of the u.s. open? >> yes, they are going to start at 11:00 a.m., and in queens where the open is played got three inches of rain, but the u.s. tennis association is planning to start the u.s. open in an hour. the top seeds for the men is novak djokovic and for the women it is caroline wasniak. and the jets and the giants game was washed out, but they will play tonight. and you can't get past the heartf of the little league

world series. and here is nick pratto from hunting beach, california, my hometown. and the single scores it, and the u.s. beats japan for the little league world series' title. the coach is nick's dad, and he says he likes having his dad as a coach, but he does get on his nerve nerves, but in high school, you will be getting on his. and bolt is the world's fastest human and the world's record holder, but yesterday, he was too fast at the championships, and he jumped the gun and disqualified from defending the title, and look at the reaction. yes, he knew it right away. usain bolt out. and this is tom willis who was born without arms, but as you can see, it is not holding him back. he used his right foot to throw out the first pitch at the cincinnati game yesterday, and it was a perfect strike. tom willis says he wants to

throw an opening pitch at every stadium, and he wants to encourage others with physical challenges, and his message is yes, you can. it is incredible. he steps up on the mound and throws a perfect strike to home plate. incredible. did not hold him back in the least. i wondered where the pitch was going, and it just lands right there. >> holy cow. >> look at that. >> that is awesome! i i can hear the sportscasters lending support, and how awesome what a great story. thank you, jeff. >> sure. >> and for all of the stories we have heard in the last few days, the best pictures have come from you, the viewers. here are the highlights. >> hi, i'm from pennsylvania and i want to show you some of the damages we have sustained right in our backyard. take a look at this tree, the trunk -- it fell right off of that tree, because of all of the wind.

>> wow. look at that. the fire station is flooded. >> you can see that this is normally a road, but it has turned into a huge lake. it is about a few blocks long and three to four feet deep which is way too deep for your car. this hour, we measure the aftermath of irene, the massive storm that paralyzed and pummeleded the east coast. it is blamed now for at least 21 deaths in nine states from florida to vermont. at last count about 3 million homes and businesses are still without power. more than $1 billion in damages blamed on the storm's winds, and the flooding damage will be much more costly. and three navy ships should be in position to aid relief

efforts from new york to new england. cnn crews are in place to measure the storm's impact and the struggle for millions of americans trying to move on. we go from north carolina to new england and from the white house to the cnn weather center. let's go ahead to begin in vermont, a state reeling from some of the worst flooding in decades where we find our gary tuchman. he is in brattleboro, and gary, what is the latest from there n now? >> well, kyra, who would have thought that the green mountain state tonon the canadian border would have been suffering from a tropical system. the flood waters are receding, and it left behind muddy driveways and homes inside of the one-story home, and it is all emanating right here in this town brattlele borrow from what used to be a brook. this was a quiet brook where children were swimming yesterday for generations where children have swam in the wet stone brook, and it is rapids five times as wide because of the explosive power of the waters from the tropical storm. and look at what it has done to this business right here.

this is an art studio and 15 artists worked inside of this building when the waters exploded through, it demolished that part of the building. that part of the building could fall into this raging brookt a any time. now, a short time ago we actually went inside of the building to take a look. we went inside, because artists were trying to recover some of the valuable artworks. we did not go into the damaged part of the building, but it was eerie being in there, because you felt it could collapse at any time and my intrepid photographer went in there and heard cracking inside of the building and that is when they got the heck out. we talked to the owner of the building who is a nice guy who wanted to build the studio for the artists, and we asked him how shock ed he was when he saw what happened. >> a very old-fashioned shop. a couple thousand square feet and most of it is gone right now. so, the shock will come in a couple of three days. but for the time being, my responsibility is finding places for all of the tenants of the

artists in the buildings so they will have places to go tomorrow or the next day to continue working, because that is what this place is, a place for the artists. >> my other intrepid photographer is standing near the ledge taking the video of the raging waters, and i can tell you that the fortunate thing is that this is what we see after hurricanes and tropical storms the waters recede relatively quickly, but it leaves the mud behind. what we are seeing in the state more than 260 roads covered by the floodwaters and the state has beautiful covered bridges that you have seen in the movie, and four of them were destroyed from the raging floodwaters, but the saddest part of the story at least so far, one person killed. a woman last night fell into a brook just like this 20 miles to the west of us in a town of wilmington, vermont, and her body was found today. she was pronounced dead. kyra, back to you. >> all right. our gary tuchman out there with bob and tom, two of our best photographers. gary, thanks. in new york, commuter trains

and subway lines returning to service. jason carroll at penn station. you said it is calm, but something like we don't normally see on an early monday morning. have things changed? >> oh, a lot of things have changed. 7.5 million people use the transit system everyday here in the city, and sometimes at this hour, it feels like they are all right here at this spot. if you take a look around, you have got a few stragglers out here on a day like today at penn station, and a lot of people deciding to obviously take a three-day weekend. let me update you, kyra, in terms of exactly what the situation is as it stands right now in terms of the transit system. the subway system actually was up and running at 6:00 a.m. this morning. but, still, not as many trains as they normally have on the system, so there were a few delays there today, but officially subways are up and running, 6:00 a.m. and not the same situation for new jersey transit. for those folks trying to get in from new jersey, the new jersey

transit system is still suspended and those trains. same situation for long island railroad and some suspensions there, but there are trains also running on the long island railroad so that the folks coming in from that portion will have to check in first before they head into the city. all of the airports are up and running as of 7:00 a.m. this morning, and that includes laguardia and newark and jfk for arrivals and departures, but the airlines are in terms of what you should do with the carriers is to check before you head out, because there are still some residual delays depending upon which carrier you are flying on. other bridges and tunnels are open, kyra, and operating, and the biggest problems are on amtrak actually. the trains are running in the northeast corridor, but we are seeing suspensions for those people trying to get to places like boston and washington, d.c. yesterday, new york city's mayor said that it is going to require a little built of patience while the system tries to reboot itself.

>> it is fair to say that you are going to have a tough commute in the morning, and if you are pleasantly surprised, that's great. >> so, we did talk to a few commuters this morning who were in fact pleasantly surprised and they said barely anyone on the trains, kyra, as they headed into the city. back to you. >> all right. jason carroll at penn station, thanks. and air travel is also struggling to return to normal. new york's three major airports are back open with smaller airports on the east coast, and our jacqui jeras has been following the flight delays, and what do you think? >> well, it is moving and looking better out there, kyra. this is the flight explorer map showing the planes in the air as we speak and there are over 4,000 of them. that is good news. in peak times between 5,000 and 6,000, so lower than average day, but overall the airplanes are out there, and it is going better. all right. teterboro still reporting that they are closed.

we have delays in san francisco, but that is due to the low clouds that you will often see in the mornings this time of the year, and things should clear up for the afternoons. we are expecting major delays for the new york metros and new york and it is recovery. it takes a while when you have canceleded thousands of flights to kind of, you know, catch up from that, and in fact, our own rob marciano is trying to be here for you tomorrow, and it might be me once again, because he can't get a flight back. so there you go. and san francisco i mentioned and miami and denver, and also expecting some delays because of that, and something to think about as you are traveling across the roadways, there is a lot of water out there, and a lot of the roads have been washed out and bridges have been washed out. this impacts the i-95 corridor all throughout the interior. so if you are trying to travel a across the country, call ahead. at love t t lot love -- a lot o have 511 number to call, because there are issues on the roadways. major flooding going on across a dozen states here from north carolina all of the way throughout new england, and a

lot of the rivers have crested and a few haven't, and that is going to happen this afternoon, and the flash flooding e haven't has started to go down, but the cleanup is a long time, too. and kyra, something else to think about, there are power lines that are down and boards all around with nails in them, and use caution if you are out there trying to cleanup. also speaking of the tropics, we have tropical storm jose, and we don't need to worry about that one too much. we also have an area of concern up here, and this is also going to be heading up to the north, but what we want to keep our eye on is out here near the cape verde islands and tropical storm 12. this is katia, and all of the models are keeping it out of the ocean at least a week before it is close to land and something to keep an eye on, and a note today is the day that katrina made landfall on the gulf coast, and the name katia replaces katrina on that list. >> well, thank god things were

not as devastating as katrina. >> yeah, absolutely. >> thank you, jacqui. and irene making international headlines and we will go to amy with more headlines. >> yes, it has. much of the world's attention was focused on irene. looking at "the guardian" this is the headline, catastrophe averted at the cost of billion, but now floods loom. this article goes on to say that a sign that the storm both proved not to be as fear as once threatened and that evacuations paid off and the cost of irene was assessed in dollars and not human lives. looking at the united states arab emirates paper, u.s. defends hurricane precaution and precaution was clearly the watchdog for the u.s. authorities mindful of the experience of hurricane katrina. as jacqui was saying that

katrina had made landfall today actually all of the years ago. the other point that i think that is interesting, too, kyra, is that it is called a hurricane in your part of the world and the caribbean and in the eastern pacific, but in the western pacific, you know what they call it there, right? a typhoon. and that's because the way they call it, but it is considered stronger than a hurricane, because the waters in the western pacific are a lot warmer, and it creates more dangerous storm conditions because of that. kyra, thought you would like to know. >> well, i always love your bits of information and makes me smarter every single day, zain verjee. in less than an hour president obama will focus on the nation's troubled economy. according to white house officials he will appoint a new chairman of the white house council of advisers and dan lothian is following that, so what can you tell us about allan kruger? >> well, he is likely to be the

public face of the administration's economic team to follow austan goolsbee who is leaving earlier this month, and to return to the university of chicago. who is he? well, he was a professor of economics and public affairs at princeton university. also has published extensively on the economics of education, labor and unemployment and among other things. he did work in the obama administration in two years in the treasury department, and also in the clinton administration in the department of labor. president obama in a statement this morning of mr. krueger said as one of the leading economists, alan is a leading voice on a vast array of topics and he understands the difficult challenges that our country faces. this announcement that the president will make at 11:00 in the rose garden comes ahead of the jobs speech that the president will make some time after labor day when the president will lay out a plan to bring down the high nation's

high unemployment rate. if confirmed mr. krueger would be a part of pushing this administration's policy, kyra. >> thank you, dan lothian at the white house. a legacy of a soggy storm from downed trees in connecticut to downed power lines. we will see how many people are still dealing without power. and coming up in showbiz, bee yawn say's big announcement at the mtv's music awards. caree expensive. so to save some money, i found one that uses robots instead of real people. 'cuz robots work for free. robot 1:good morning... robot 1:...female child. sfx: modem dial-up noise woman: are there flaws? yeah, um, maybe. anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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stories across country now. people addressing the concerns

caused by hurricane irene. and flash floods in pennsylvania, and the worst may still be yet to come as swollen rivers are not expected to crest until later in the day. >> for an overnight shot, it is an impressive storm. >> irene tore through virginia beach, virginia, and had high winds and a spinoff tornado. this is what it looked like there, and people ventured back into the neighborhoods saying they are glad it is not worse. >> this is devastating. >> never happened before and i have been down here close to 30 years. >> we dodged a bullet and god did aus favor this time. >> and the storm tore through providence, rhode island, as well, and more than a quarter of a million people lost power. >> i heard a big crash, and this big tree came down, and took down the telephone pole and the street lights and all of the electric knocked out. and irene sure impacted the nation's power grid.

at last count 3 million homes and businesses still without power. new york took the biggest hit with 830,000 homes without power. and nearly 420,000 of those are on long island. now, in connecticut, more than 600,000 homes are without power and nearly 420,000 homes in pennsylvania still in the dark. in north carolina, as many as 2,500 residents of the outer banks are stuck. they are cut off from the mainland, because the road along a narrow strip of land has been completely wiped out in some places. cnn's brian todd had a chance to ride along in a national guard chopper to see how those stranded folks are doing, and he joins us live now from kill devil hills, north carolina. brian? >> well, kyra, 2,500 people as you mentioned still isolated on hatteras island, north carolina. they are starting to get some connection to the outside world because ferry service has started to run in earnest this morning. we are told that i believe they sent one ferry yesterday, but

they are slow-moving ferries that take 2 1/2 hours each way to get there, so not sure how many of them will get there with supplies and construction equipment that the people need. we got great aerial shots with the national guard as we went on on assessment mission, and we saw entire flooded out neighborhoods and one older home not only hit with the hurricane, but caught on fire and burned down. then we saw the reason that this place is cut off. the incredible breach on highway 12 connects hatteras island to the other outer banks, the barrier islands which connects the land to causeways and this section is incredible. it looks like a earthquake hit it, and roads caved in and power lines down, and the atlantic

oaks is runni ocean running over it, and i asked one of the local people there his philosophy. why do people stay? >> well, i don't know. we grew up here, and the main thing is getting back. when you are gone, you know, you are wondering what your belongings, and your property, and wondering how it is. you know, it is your whole life here, and it is kind of hard to leave. >> now, another resident told us that folks there have lived through stronger hurricanes at least technically stronger, category 2 or 3 hurricanes that they stuck around for, but this same resident told us that even with that he has not seen flooding like this, and they have not had a breach on that highway, kyra, since 2003 when hurricane isabel blew through, but that breach is the most severe they have had. >> brian in kill devil hills, north carolina. and gas prices could increase as hurricane irene sent

in. and moon walks and baby bumps. i will give you the highlights and justin bieber's new glasses. >> i see you are keeping it cool like me tonight. 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. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunits that i had at the university of phoenix, dealing wh profesonals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix.

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let's get some showbiz highlights for you. the weekend's top movie was "the help" for the second straight week. but hurricane irene washed away the box office totals. as many as 1,000 theaters were closed because of the storm, and irene may have cut the ticket sales by $30 million bucks. at the mtv awards lady gaga

dressed up as philippe calderon, and justine beaver with a smile there, and after a nice performance with beyonce, she pops the vest and shows off the baby bump and the crowd went wild. there is the shot of the husband jay z getting the love from kayne west. some parts of the northeast, and the floodwaters are rising and so are the damage estimates. government says that the damage could top $1 billion just from the storm's winds and the damage is going to be calculate and much greater, and one analyst says that irene's price tag could be $10 billion which is not as bad as initially feared and falls well short apparently of the costliest natural disaster in u.s. history, hurricane katrina. that struck the gulf coast six years ago today causing $45 billion in damage.

alison kosik of the new york stock exchange monitoring the gas prices with the impact analysis. >> yes, kyra. this is coming from the lundburg survey saying that the cost of a gallon of gas in the u.s. is $3.61. it has not budgeded over two week, because the oil prices are holding steady, so what you see happening in oil prices you will see happen with the gas prices. we saw a big sharp drop in oil and gas prices this summer because of the slowing economy and oil was above $100 a barrel in june and fell back below $85 a barrel, but that slide appears to be over as gas prices and oil prices appear to be leveling off. kyra. >> all right. are you expecting or what kind of impact are you expecting from hurricane irene? >> well, with hurricane irene, you know what, expect the unexpected, because analysts think that the prices will fall a bit. which we definitely don't always look to and expect when we see

hurricanes come, because the fact is that the damage wasn't as bad as feared. you know there are a lot of refineries located along the east coast, but they weren't damaged. also, you know, the hurricane forced a lot of people to stay at home, so all of us, we were sitting at home getting stir crazy and not out driving around so we didn't have to refill our gas tanks and all that en moobs is lower demand, so we could see the prices drop a bit, which is good news, and good news to come out of the storm, kyra. >> alison, thanks. we know with any disaster there are political winners and losers and our panel will weigh in on what they think. have i got a surprise for you! [ barks ]

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check top stories now. japan is about to get a new prime minister. the finance minister will be japan's sixth leader in five years. he is expected to be the prime minister after being confirmed by parliament. the current prime minister was h heavily criticized after the tsunami and earthquake in march. and the postponement of the

martin luther king jr. dedication of his memorial will be officially dedicated in the fall. and people of new orleans are recalling another hurricane katrina, and the hurricane struck the city six years ago and devastated much of the gulf coast. political buzz and the rapid fire of the hottest political topics of the day, and three questions and 30 seconds on the clock, and playing today is maria cardonia and pete and michelle. okay. governor christie telling the folks to get off of the beach or the governor perdue being front and center, and the damage from hurricane irene was not as severe, but in any national disaster, there are political winners and losers. who won and lost, maria? >> well, the winners were from the president on down the state and local elected officials

including mayor bloomberg, and cory brooker continues to grow with his legend, and governor christie, and governor o'malley, and governor perdue and mcdonald and it is a testament to how prepared the federal government was to basically coordinate the operations with the state and the local officials. the losers were people like ron paul who thinks that fema should not exist and people like rick perry who want to make washington inconsequential and for those whose lives were saved don't think so. >> well, it is not a monday without her. >> back at you, dana. >> well, state officials did a fantastic job, because this is what state officials need to do, the and this is how you respond to disasters, but ultimately the winners were the american people, because we kept hearing that this is so much worse than it actually was, and still, there is damage and lives lost

and think about how bad this could have been and compare with the results that we actually saw. so i think that it really comes down to, again, american people won. >> okay. pete? >> well, the political winners, and in this case any time there's a hurricane all presidents and all politicians at the federal level think of katrina, and nobody wants to be george bush and heck of a job brownie, but they were prepared, but they were reminded of what the government's role is and the responsibility, but remember without the federal government states would pick up 75% of the cost themselves, and the federal government will do that in places that were declared a natural disaster or emergency disaster or whatever they call it. >> part two here. ron paul saying we should get rid of fema, and michele bachmann says that the earthquakes are a sign from god. okay. are these candidates ready for the big office? dana?

>> well, i don't understand how fema went from being satan's spawn under bush to now it is like yay, fema. there is no argument na fthat f is a completely corrupt department. you have media who has done in depth studies of how much money is wasted by there department, but what paul was saying that we need to rely, again, on the states and the states being able to respond. for instance we had family and friends in new orleans and there were -- they stopped the red cross from donating and stopped low kacals and charities from helping out and that is not disaster relief, but control. >> i want to answer the first question of dana, katrina is why it is yay, fema, now and in terms of not knowing what they are doing. kyra, they are not ready for primetime.

under a ron paul administration, we would have legalized marijuana and the department of education would be wiped out and people would be mellow and undereducated and would not know if their neighborhood was under water and if anybody was coming to rescue them. >> and ron paul is right about marijuana and foreign policy, and the fema thing that michele bachmann talking about the god said that the earthquake and the hurricane, and i agree with her, michele bachmann is right, god is mad, but he is upset that people would consider her as president of the united states. >> oh, you are a buzzer beater here with 20 seconds each. george pataki says he won't make a presidential run in 2012, at least not another candidate to throw his hat in the ring only to have the voters say, who exactly is that? so who else do you want to see not run in the 2012 race? any party. dana? >> oh, goodness. well, i'm glad that pataki is

not running, because i thought of him as a rhino, but we have republican stars who are not ready for a presidential race, and perhaps mike pence will run in 2016 and not now, and marco rubio, and chris christie for 2016, but none of them now. no offense, guys, but just not right now. >> maria? >> i think that for as the democrat on the panel, kyra, the question needs to be the opposite, because i would love all of those people to jump in and run. first on my list, sarah palin. second on my list, christine o'donnell. she might not even not only be able to talk to god, but she can talk to the goddess. i think that, you can also look at allan keyes, and where is he? and tom tancredo, and everybody, jump in, the more the merrier. >> pete dominic? >> well, allan keyes was a tough candidate, and also pot robertson or any of the people like michele bachmann who think that god is responsible for the natural disasters of things happening in america.

i want to announce today, kyra, i have decided not to run for president in 2012 and a lot of people are going to be happy about that. >> too bad, pete. >> well, the three of us ladies here, we are very disappointed. >> absolutely. >> i will be getting the e-mails from all of you, i know. sorry. >> see you guys. >> there is still time. >> maybe next time. >> there you go. never know up to the last minute. all right. >> never been a -- in new york city hospitals that evacuated the parents because of irene, well, they are slowly getting back into place. we will have a live report and update just after the break. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge!

stories cross country now. people assessing the damage caused by hurricane irene starting in city island, new york, and downed trees and flooding litter the bronx island, but some felt they actually dodged a bullet. >> we spent the night above ground as we were supposed to.

we came down here and saw the broken tree and my first thought was, oh, my god, my house is in terrible i shape and i my eyes went up, and i see that the rain gutter is the only damage. >> and transit systems in boston were shutdown sunday and dozen shelters were open, and still this boston resident says she feels lucky. >> we were thinking that irene would be a lot worse so we are lucky in that respect, but we'd like our power back. >> and she is not the only ones. power is now one of the biggest problems everywhere. and timothy horton the chairman of the power grid says he has never seen anything like it. >> when you look at the east coast, it is millions of customers without power and pretty unprecedented. >> well, cnn reporters and our affiliates brought us crucial reports from all over the east coast and great ireporters showed up, stepped up and told us what was happening all around them. jacqui jeras was monitoring so many of them, and it was

incredible and gave us an insight to places that we could not get to. >> absolutely. and as the things are happening as well, kyra, and so many of this em f them focused on the water, and what we are dealing with. look at the first one we have from you from chad stewart in nagshead, north carolina. he says he lives 150 foot from the sound and so the surge came in with the debris from the yard and it did not damage his home, but he did lose his car and washer and dryer. this next one from ryan lakeee from rafway, new jersey, and he got -- no, this is the fleischman, new york, one. this is chris cow, and this area overcome with flooding in the catskills, kyra, and you know when you get the extra elevation in there, it can cause the flooding to become much worse. he said they were caught off guard a little bit here, but people were evacuated and able to get out of that area in time. >> pretty incredible. and then of course, you saw the one 5-year-old girl who was

phoning into us, right? that was, i don't know if we have that one in for us, guys? >> she is from pennsylvania, and she was out there with her umbrella, and she sent us ireports before. believe it or not. in other rain events. so, yeah, she is going to be on "american morning" tomorrow morning. >> they came in from all ages and different parts of the states affected. >> we appreciate them and always remember safety, too, by the way, when you are getting the ireports, keep the safety number one and then get your video. >> thank you, jacqui. well, he is the world's fastest man, and perhaps a bit too fast. we will show you exactly what we mean next. and nearly 3 million people without power after the hurricane, and coming up, we will see how long it will last. . thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®.

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all right. a quick check of the sforts and despite irene's impact in new york the u.s. open will start today. there was concern with all of the rain, but the u.s. tennis association plans to starts in 15 minutes. the top seeds for the men novak djokovic, the joker as we know him, and then for the women carolina woznski, and also known as rory mcilroy's lady friend. and usain bolt was too quick yesterday jumping the gun and disqualified from defending his title. yes, you can see from the face he knew he had messed up.

and knot morgue excinothing than the little league world series. score tied in the bottom of the sixth, and nick pratto brings it in. the boys from huntington beach, california, win over japan. and for 3 million people, hurricane irene is not a fading memory, they are without power now. and chris is from con edison joining us out of new york, and tell us, chris, how bad the situation is for you right now and what particular areas you are working on. >> kyra, good morning. con edison has about, we have restored 100,000 customers who have lost electricity courtesy of irene. this is the worst overhead storm in con edison history. we have about 90,000 customers to go. west chester county, north of new york city, was especially hard hit. there are about 56,000 customers

still without electricity. the goal is to get them all back late thursday. >> by thursday. so, you know how people are, chris, and they don't always understand the situation and they are going to say, why the heck is it taking so long, and can you sort of explain why it will take four days? >> well, kyra, as everyone has seen on cnn, the damage from irene was just horrific. trees down, flooding, and it takes a lot of time to get the trees cleared, to let the water subside, and we must get to equipment safely. that is is for con edison employees and con edison customers. safety is number one. we cannot plow into there like rugby players on speed. we have to do it scientifically and safely. >> do you have enough manpower or womenpower to get it done

safely? >> we are seeking help since friday and con edison has 800 men and women from the midwest and the south, because the utilities that we would normally use to help us out, and we would help them out, they've had the same problems from irene. so, we have called the texas, mississippi, colorado, ohio, wisconsin. they started to file in this weekend, and they are right now working side by side with con edison crews to get new yorkers electricity as safely restored. >> thank you, chris olert from con edison. thank you for calling in. >> you bet. and stories making news, president obama speaking at the top of the hour to talk aboutp appointing allan krueger as head of his council of economic advisers. and now the senator inhofe will endorse texas governor rick

perry for president. and dr. conrad murray's trial is set to begin. and today, we see nic robertson has tracked down to convicted terrorist of the lockerbie bombing.

libyan rebels pushing toward moammar gadhafi's hometown of sirte and nato forces have been bombing scud missiles ahead of the tension that has been announced as former members of the gadhafi regime have been added to the new rebel government. he was sent back to libya to die.

the terrorist known as the pan am bomber was dying of cancer. but now the president is defending his decision amid international outrage. and since the chaos in libya, we lost track of abdel best ali mohmed alma gras hi. and now in a cnn exclusive, nic robertson actually tracks down the convicted terrorist in libya on his death bed. >> reporter: we found abdel bassett megrahi in and up skasc apartment. this is where he has been living for the past couple of years. we will knock on the door to see if we can get any answer. hello? for 15 minutes or so, nothing. i'm not sure if they have heard

me, so let's try the last-ditch means which is to shout over the wall. hello? hello, hello. then, all of the sudden, someone comes. nothing prepares me for what i see. megrahi, apparently in a coma, and his aging mother at his side. >> we just give him oxygen, and some food by injection. if you see his body is weak. >> reporter: he had been expected the die almost two years ago. but convicted pan am bomber abdel basset megrahi is dying, but this is not the way he looked when he was released from a scottish jail two years ago. he came home from a hero's welcome freed on compassionate grounds, because doctors said he would be dead in three months.

almost immediately, he began to renovate this palatial house, and money no object. it does not take long the walk around the building before you realize and looking at the marble here on the expensive fittings to realize that it appears that he was being paid off handsomely for all of the years he spent in jail. in the two decades since the bomb exploded on pan am 103 killing all of the passengers, crew and townspeople, it seemed that the secrets of the attacks would die with the bombers, and megrahi maintained he was innocent. in a rare public assignment, moammar gadhafi had him literally wheeled out for a pro-gadhafi rally. am seeing him for the first time in two year, and he appears to be a shell of the man he was before and far sicker than he appeared before. has he been able to see a

doctor? >> no, no doctor. nobody to ask, and we don't have any phone line to call anybody. >> reporter: what is the situation right now? >> he's stopped eating, and he is sometimes has come in coma. >> reporter: coma, unconscious. >> yes. we just sit next to him. >> reporter: all that is keeping him alive they say oxygen and a fluids drip. i ask about demands he return to jail in scotland. >> my dad is still in the house, and if he is sent to scotland, he will die by the way he arrive there. >> reporter: do you know how long he has left? >> nobody can know how long he was still alive, nobody will know. >> reporter: it seems that i have arrived too late. he's apparently in no state to talk, and whatever secrets he has may soon be gone. >> and just to ask you, again, about the secrets, nic.

we talked last hour and i'd like to explain to the viewers again, that this was unbelievable access that you attained here. a number of us, curious, about the issue of the pan am bombing, and obviously, you are in a situation very lucky to be in, but at the same time you want to ask that million dollar question. describe the environment and did you feel comfortable working your way around that? >> well, what i really picked up and what i felt most out of this is a family hugely on edge about a security situation enveloping them around them in the city of tripoli, itself. they are sort of living behind a sort of fortress wall, and the security cameras and the gates. they are very concerned about their security. and you really pick up, and i picked up as well on the fact that this man megrahi really appears to be, and he is about to die. they are sitting there in the room with him as he is really in

front of them wasting away. they don't know how the treat him properly. the family and megrahi have always maintained he was innocent to the point that they wanted to get across to me is that it didn't matter, because i asked them, should he be taken back to scotland to finish off the jail term there? and they said, let him die, and let him die here and live the last days or weeks in peace at home. so, it really was a question that they didn't really want to answer, and it didn't feel like the right environment if you will be to pushing them on that. i was given two minutes there when i was first brought in. they gave me in the end ten minutes. i was not a welcomed visitor, just somebody they wanted to get, i believe the story out about how sick he was, kyra. >> how sick he was, and also a man convicted of killing 270 people, 189 of them americans. nic robertson, pretty tremendous

access. thank you. and coming up in the next hour of "cnn newsroom," suzanne malveaux, millions of people without power, and millions of basements flooded. we will tell you how to make a claim and get your money back in the next hour of "cnn newsroom." ♪ there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses.

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make a difference to head the council of economic advisers. let's look ahead at jobs and that announcement. cnn white house correspondent dan lothian live from the white house rose garden where the announcement will be made. the president also hits the road this week, right, dan? >> yes, that is right. the president will go to minneapolis tomorrow where he will be delivering remarks at the national american legion convention. i'm told that is mostly veterans who will be there, but that the president will also talk about how service members and their families are impacted by conmy, and then of course, we have been talking all about how the president wants to talk and focus on jobs post-labor day the president rolling out the jobs proposal, a way for the administration to try to bring down the high unemployment rate. that is something that the president has been working on while on vacation at martha's vineyard, expecting that to be rolled out some time after labor day. >> dan, we have a minute to the top of the hour, and