welcome back to our rolling coverage. see that shot there, that is sandra endo's shot, all the people worried about her, sandy is doing a report now live for one of our affiliates around the the country. that's what she's doing tonight. as it pap back over, you will see sap i did okay. still out there reporting. we checked with her crew. they said not to worry, they're type. this is why they are there, to cover this story. that's her job. not doing a live shot for us but one of our many affiliates, hundreds of affiliates around the country. okay, an update now, new york city stopped the subways two hours ago. now, beginning this hour the buses are stopped. no traipse, no light rail, no buses are running in new york. it's all in anticipation of the high water expected when hurricane sandy comes ashore. so here's what's happening in

other areas, a state of emergency now in effect in connect connect. the governor has notified hundreds of national guard troops to be ready to help. sandbags and more sandbags and more sandbags on the jersey shore. beach residents, business owners, broke out the plywood before heading to higher ground. and check it out, this is annapolis, maryland, right there. same story here, city passed out sandbags to residents, business owners, provided 20 tons, 20 tons of sand, coastal maryland could see a foot of rain. you know, just the beginning but already, new jersey is beginning to feel the wrath of what is hurricane sandy right now. all state offices have been closed. they have been ordered closed tomorrow ahead of this storm. new jersey was the first to announce mantder to evacuation. our alison kosik has been in new

jersey i ins in ashbury park, h the boss. datory evacuation. our alison kosik has been in new jersey in ashbury park, home of the boss. winds are picking up where you are. >> reporter: you look down this way, on a sunday night, even at this hour, there are people walking around but not a soul to be seen, except for the wind whipping back and forth, clear sand, you can see that sheet of sand going. the waves, another talking point. you can't forget the waves. high tide happened about i'd say -- about a half hour ago. it has washed a good portion of this beach away. one official thinks by morning high tide, that water is going to be over here, jump right over onto the boardwalk, don. >> how high up is that boardwalk, i really can't get an idea just from seeing it on television, how high up are you?

>> reporter: how high up? not very high up right now. we can sort of pan down here. we are not very high up, but certainly a good portion of the beach has been washed away. these waves -- actually, the waves look quite calm compared to what we saw earlier, but this wind, no doubt, has picked up. i'm being pelted by a lot of sand, it hurts, don. >> i can only ma'am. hey, stay safe out there, thank you very much, alison kosik. we will get back to you as well. want to get some other information here, really some first-hand information on hurricane sandy from noaa flight meteorologist ian sears, on one of the hurricane hunter aircraft that fly into the massive storms. ian, as i understand you are right now, are you in the middle of this thing? what are the conditions like for you?

ian, can you hear me? >> i can hear it. >> can you describe what you're seeing, ian? >> yeah, you broke it. >> as you can imagine it is loud in the plane where he is, probably some rough conditions, having a little bit of trouble hearing, i will ask one more time. ian what are you experiencing now? >> hi, yes. we are just exiting you hurricane sandy, we just made three passes through the storm. we are headed southwest back home to macdill air force base. we just had a really rough ride on the southwest side. we did see hurricane-force winds at the surface, 90-knot winds at flight level, about 11,000 to 12,000 feet. we finally saw a really good presentation on radar of the eye and the eyewall. you know, we are just out here,

trying to gather data for the hurricane center, folks on the east coast, everybody be prepared. we see the wind field continuing to expand and the pressures have dropped to 950 millibars at the center. so it's a big storm and very powerful. >> all right, ian, thank you very much. ian is on board the -- an aircraft flying right through the massive storm right now and he is a hurricane hunter, he works for -- flight meteorologist ian sears. before go to the next story there, the information he gave you, you heard him say, chad, what does that say to you? >> tell us the wind is kind of catching up to the pressure. earlier, i tweeted this, talked about this on the air, the pressure was equal to a cat three, we just don't have any cat three winds. it apackers not going to get to cat three. it appears that at least some of

the wind that potential with this storm is catching up. could be that 80, 85-mile-an-hour storm some, including us, have forecast it is mixing with a storm that is on shore right now. low pressure center, could be a snowstorm, mix with the hurricane and we are going to get 60 inches of snow in parts of west virginia on the back side, the cold side of this, where the east part of this will get winds over 80 and storm surge, even in new york harbor, up to 12 feet so far. that number could still go up. >> look at those waves, man, ocean city, maryland. don't go anywhere. more coverage, chad myers here, also our reporters, all along the eastern seaboard. more continuing coverage, hurricane sandy, as she makes her way to shore.

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reporter, laurie siegel, joins me now with helpful tools online this is helpful, you get powered out, may have battery power. tips for you to track these updates. one thing i think pretty cool you talked about, you mentioned to me during the break, are these web cams popping up. what is that? >> more and more people tracking us online, putting up web cams and get a look what is happening, virginia beach, places in new york there's one called sandy cam, just popped up, already has tons and tons of followers, essentially, located, looking at it right now, located in new york, facing you the financial district. you don't see much movement now, don, but i guarantee you will probably see overnight or tomorrow, sandy as she makes her way through new york's hudson river and the skyline and one that is getting a lot of people, follow that aten, follow it online, also, it has a live chat feature, people a lot of people are watching and chatting with each other, you can embed it

easily into facebook. this suspect the beginning of it, we are seeing these web cams all pop up online and give you really an interesting inside look into what's happening as this storm progresses. anything more do you have for us, laurie, bebesides the web cams? >> right now it is so important to know if you need to evacuate. chad says the potential of this storm is just catching up. you are looking right now at -- it's a wnyc evacuation zone map. if you are in new york, these regions, take a look and see if you are in zone a that red right there make sure, you know, governor -- mayor bloomberg earlier already issued mandatory evacuation. so if you're in those zones, important -- it's very important to know you need to get out. you can see zone b, zone c there, the orange and the yellow, see some flooding there i would definitely go online and look that the before you do anything else, don. >> thank you very much, laurie seagal in new york. stay safe in new york. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. from laurie, we are going to go to josh levs now.

we are going to talk about what happens, josh, new york city subway system, if it floods, one of the questions, josh, officials across the eastern seaboard are facial as hurricane sandy approaches. so you've been following this for us at the cnn hurricane desk. what are you finding out? >> it really put us in context what we are dealing with here. officials all across the eastern seaboard have to think about these major situations that could arise here, including flooding, such as entire subway system. the new york city subway system alone has 4 million riders every day. take a look where i am, by the way. this is, for now the cnn hurricane desk. i want you to know we have people looking at every single state in the entire renal than could be affected by hurricane sandy. this is just a little bit of the team that will be working through the night, working through the night. so when you get up tomorrow morning, you will also be finding out the latest information cnn has gathered all night long. take a look at this picture here. this is a picture of a construction worker trying to cover one of the many areas in new york city that needs to be covered if they are going to prevent flood nothing the new

york city subway system. and there are pump stakes underneath that we have looked at before, that can help free up the area and get rid of the floodwaters, but we are talking about massive expenses and this is just one dot out of all the places that we are looking at on the eastern seaboard. pennsylvania, delaware, massachusetts, all facing serious questions about public transportation which obviously is necessary for the economy to keep functioning in these states. take another look here, see this very quickly, the nuclear regulatory commission is talking about the fact they are sending inspectors out to nuclear sites, nuclear power stations, you might not know where nuclear power stations are but every triangle there is a nuclear power station, not saying there is going to be any kind of horror, i don't want to scare anyone, but sending suspect inspectors to these sites to make sure everything is okay. one more thing i want to show, since we are at the computer here, we have already had a deadly storm in sandy as it passed through the caribbean and we have some really powerful photos i want to you see here, 67 people died across haiti and

jamaica and other islands, these are just some of the photos that we have of the destruction that sandy already caused throughout parts of the area and you can see here, the situations people have dealt with. already, 67 people died in the caribbean. don't want to see deaths here in the united states. but don, just a reminder of the deadly impact that sandy has had. >> i want to move you along i want to ask you other stuff. >> what's up? >> showing great pictures of the subway system. i'm sure the desk, folks are working on this but i would love to see a ground shot from new york city right now. i'm not there, know what's happening. back in question up, because i want to ask, great, i got it now. i would love to see that, if you guys can hear that downstairs. josh, what if you find yourself strappeded or in danger for this hurricane? unfortunately, that does happen, what can you do? >> yeah, i find this really interesting. the federal government has actually put out some guidelines

how you should try communicate with loved ones if you find yourself stranded by hurricane sandy, if something happens to you. limit non-emergency calls. phone lines get tied up. phone lines need to be available for 911 calls. texting can often work if you can't get through on a phone. the government suggest you forward calls sent to your home to your cell phone so if you go somewhere else, people are able to reach you on your cell phone, even if they didn't know that number and not tying up the lines by calling your home phone number. one more there safely use the car to charge your phone if you need to get in touch with someone and lost power inside your house. i will also mention the government and many others also say use social media before you even get to a phone. post on twitter, post on facebook exactly how you're doing and what you need to know. hopefully people can get in touch with you that way. don, we will look for the shot you are looking for and have it for you in a bit. >> feel is pictures, people too

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all right. there she is, and there is a path. look at how big. how many states? >> well with, this is going to affect, damage in no less than 12 states. >> don lemon here with the meteorologist chad myers, and we will be joined by another expert, because someone who has seen reports on cnn a man who knows the coastal northeast like

few other people, professor nicolas koch who is a geologist at queens college in new york city. thank you so much. you are an earth scientist and listen, i feel qualified to interview you, be but chad can ask you better questions about that particular storm than i can. go ahead, chad. >> let's start out with what your biggest fear is and then go from other questions there. >> all right. chad, a lot of the talk so far has been about the water rising in new york harbor, but when you look at the wind field and the direction, long island sound is a worse problem than new york harbor, because the winds are going to push the water on long island sound into that western part of new york. flood astoria and city island and at the same time, you will see the surge coming in from the ocean, and that is a terrible combination. >> professor, when the water goes up the east river and tries to come down from the east river from the sound, what is going to

happen? >> right. so we will see some massive flooding. >> you are talking about roosevelt island? >> in irene, it came close to a foot of getting into the subway at south ferry, but we have a good chance that we will get salt water in the subways for the first time. >> oh, really? that is really obviously not good for the electrical or anything to get salt water down. >> right. saltwater and electricity don't mix well. we have a big intra strufrastru problem putting the subway back in order and that is a huge economic loss to the city. >> and when you look at the number of people taking the subway in the city. >> and we talk at the city that is not uniform and if you look at ta skyscrapers, because they are different sizes and spacings and all and when the wind goes through the skyscrapers, you will get the complex interaction and the wind speeds up called wind channeling which will suck out the windows of the

skyscrapers. >> you think it will happen in the category one storm? >> i think so, because i am sitting here in queen, and i'm just getting the first pulsings on my windows, and i can imagine what is it like tomorrow. >> and we have been talking to the people in east village saying that the winds are 40 and the garbage cans are rolling down the street already. this is the wind tunnelling effect that you are talking about? >> yes, the bernoulli principle. as you squeeze it through the windows, it will suck the windows out. >> i want to ask you something, professor. pardon me, chad. i want to show you the pictures that we have been showing earlier. i don't know if you can see them, but this is the famous hurricane of 1938, the one they called the great hurricane. it was a killer. is there anything that we can learn from this as -- with ke compare this to that?

>> well, the lessons of the 1938 hurricane have not been learned. we have continued to urbanize and ma niplize the shorelines by putting in jetties and cutting off the land from long island which will lead to real problems and we might see a harbinger of this in this storm. this is an incredible meteorological phenomenon. there will be tremendous beach erosion, and destruction along the length of long island. in long island sound, the surges that are predicted are going to be higher. >> let's talk about that, because the predicted surges we have here at the hurricane center and the meteorological center are 12 feet. anything more than that? >> well, i don't model that, but 12 feet is a considerable thing. you is to remember it is high tide, right. >> and a full moon. >> and a full moon. and then you are going to have waves on top of the surge dome.

see, now you are talking about a huge wall of water to go over the seawalls and the bulkhead. a lot of of people say, oh, 12 feet is not much. but that is the surge. on top of that is the tide, and on top of that is the waves. and then the wind. >> some people predict waves of 25 feet. >> then you add that to the picture. >> wow. >> professor, thank you. >> fascinating from queens college making cuny look great. thank you, professor. and fascinating conversation. chad, a hard break for a moment here where we are going to go to take a break and then be back with more information on hurricane sandy as it gets ready to come ashore.

don lemon here at life at the cnn headquarters in atlanta. top of the center here, and we are all about hurricane sandy which is on the way to landfall and probably just a few hours from now. take a look at live, new york city, the skyline looking calm, but not for long. that enormous category one hurricane is spinning up the coast right now, and forecasters are expected to see turn toward land tonight. new york city is preparing for the worst. they have stopped the buses. stopped the subways. cancelled classes. landed the jets. nothing is moving in and out of

jfk and laguardia and newark. and chad meyers with an update moments away. sandy's full force has gotten closer but you would not know it. the wind is whipping and slamming out power and more is expected with sandy endo. sandy, a lot of people are concerned about you, and we have said you are okay, but many people who are there are in harm's way where you are, and the mayor said to evacuate, get out. >> absolutely, don. a lot of people have heeded that warning here in ocean city. last time we spoke, the winds have picked up and the rain is certain certainly copping down. we heard a crash, and some kind of glass. you can take a look at what happened here. the wind just knocked down the glass globe protecting that light fixture here, and you can see it down on the ground sh shattered in pieces, because i mentioned in the last hour or so, the wind has picked up here, and the rains are coming down constantly all day long, and the real issue for this area is the

storm surge. you have been talking about that on the air for quite some time, and it is a real issue here, because you can take a look at the waves. look at the ocean right now, and the waves are very fierce. they are big. they are lapping the shoreline and that protective sand dune that you see there, the waves are hitting it, and it is 100 yards from where the buildings are, and if we are not at the heart of feeling the effects of hurricane san dirks it is going to be interesting to see what happens in 24 hours or so from now, don. >> okay. sandy, we will talk to you again through this, and it is easier this time. and you were saying earlier that you were talking about the temperature, and that it felt colder and chad said that you get that in the hurricanes and this is later in the year so that the temperatures are lower. so talk to me about that where the winds have been picking up. >> well, we are certainly feeling a lot of squalls, and

strong squalls, and that is pretty much forecast for the rest of the time until sandy makes its way over here sometime tomorrow night. after covering a lot of h, d hurricanes, don, the only thing that is interesting or the unique thing is that the temperature is certainly much colder than normal, and of course, chad meyers is the expert on that and he can tell you why with the convergence of the systems and all that, but a certainly hard pelting rain that does not let up. the squalls make it worse, but we have not seen one break all day long in terms of the rain and the wind, and of course, this is only the beginning for our area. so, certainly more than 24 hours to go. and of course, the duration of the storm is a big concern to local residents and officials here, because that constant rain plus the high tide and the full moon and all of those factors could equal a really massive storm surge. that is what they are looking out for and bracing for here in ocean city.

>> chad myers has a question for you, and as we look at the high shot, and looks like construction site or drainage site, and we are curious where you are, and chad has a question for you. >> well, we are trying to hunker down and brace ourselves on this gazebo where we are on the pool deck of a ocean front hotel. er sorry, to make you face the wind, eddie, but behind me, there is a pool and water slide, and obviously, the pool is empty, because it is not high tourist time which is maybe the silver lining in all of this that there are not more visitors here in ocean city. of course sh, a mandatory evacuation for all nonresidents, and mond toandatory evacuation people in downtown ocean city. but if it hit in the summer months, around warmer weather ings many more people would be out here or trying to enjoy the beautiful coastline, but again, luckily, it is not hitting during that time, be but the

mayor forcing a lot of people to leave their town. >> sandra, this is more of a comment than anything else than a question. in about 30 minutes, your winds are going to double. there is a big squall still offshore, but headed your way. i want you to be very mindful of that as you do other live shots for other networks and places, this is not anything to be taken lightly. we can see what this can do with tearing things off of the building. have you seen other damage since you lost that lightbulb or fixture above you a while ago? >> well, that is certainly the first thing tor sign of damage that we have seen here, chad. we are trying to stay protected. eddie is doing an amazing job out here in the elements as are the other photographers and hunkered down in balconies and you can see that they are trying to brace themselves alongside the walls, but clearly, like you said, chad, thanks for the head's up, that it is going to be more severe here. and you can look at this light

post, eddie, because it has been shaking in the wind, we are kind of anticipating that maybe the next to go, but of course, we are trying to stay safe out here, and the good news in all of this we have seen the residents flee town and board up their homes and shops, and taking it seriously here in ocean city. >> all right. sand sandra, you are done. thank you. get safe. we don't want you to get injured out there. >> thank you. >> so be very safe. i hope you are donor for te efot of the networks and affiliates. >> be safe. >> we appreciate it, and great reporting by the way. great reporting. sandra endo. >> so eld cold. >> you cannot see it on tv, but i could see her shivering out there. even with the rain jacket on, you can sweating through the inside or raining right through

it and then the winds are 60, you feel cold. and this is yeoman's work out there. >> and when people go outside, why would anyone want to go outside in that? i don't get it. the emergency people, and the reporters of course will be out there, but last night it was cold here in atlanta. i wanted to walk to the local watering hole, and i said, it is cold out here. >> and few thousand people without power, and due to the winds in atlanta, and the first power outages are 700 miles from the storm. and the winds are 40 miles per hour everywhere, and this is coming up. >> someone handed you a note. new info? >> no, the potential for $2.5 to $3.5 million in damage alone and some of the estimates of people without power are well in excess of 10 million. as the ground is wet and the wind is blowing hard and the trees come down and the power lines as well. there is a risk of the grid having an issue with too many lines down. please don't touch a power line tonight or tomorrow or whatever.

>> okay. take to us the wall, sir. what do you have there? >> well, a couple of things we were tweeting about and i know i have a couple of thousand viewers listening to that, but not the people on tv. charge your cell phone. i want you to turn your freezer down. get all of that stuff in your freezer good and hard frozen. get out there and if you have a car charger, you can use it to charge the phone if you can still run the kcar and start th car. just little things that you don't think about until it is right on top of you. get some water in the tub, because you will use it later. here is the storm that i am talking about the squall right through there and there is sandra endo right there in ocean city, and the squall is about to come over the top. as the squalls come over the shore from the delmarva to the cape hatteras area, that is the biggest wind event we have seen so far with this storm. it continues to go up. we don't have landfall, don, for 20 more hours or 15 or 20 more

hours, because it will be in the water for a long time. it is not going to be stronger, but it will gather the energy and gather the wind here from the west, and it is cold here and warm here, and warm and cold never like to get together. just like a tornado event. there is not going to be tornadoes, but there could be thunderstorms that produce more wind on op top of the 50 to 60-mile-an-hour winds that you will see. there is the storm, and look at how big it is. look at the west. nothing going on here. it is spinning around out there and it will be spin for days, and we will have 60 inches of snow in west virginia and it is snowing in parts of virginia, and this is the cold that will interact with the warm to make this storm one plus one equals three. this is not a cat one storm. it has cat one winds and cat three pressure and it is going to go for many, many days. >> the potential, and i'm reading the note, potential of $2.5 to $3.5 million wind

damage. >> well, it is plus the storm surge and everything else that will go wrong. >> and chad, you and i had a talk with a earth scientist and expert on coastal hurricanes, and he says that the heavy rainfall is not the thing that he shworried about, but it is a fascinating conversation. listen to this some of this. >> a lot of the talk so far has been about the water rising in new york harbor, but when you look at the wind field and the direction, long island sound is a worse problem than new york harbor, because those winds are going to push the water on long island sound into that western part of new york. flood astoria and city island, be but at the same time you will see a storm surge coming in, and it will be terrible. >> professor, when the water comes up the east river and tries to come down the east river to the sound, what are you

going to see? >> massive flooding. in irene, it came close to about a foot of getting into the subway at south ferry, but i think that we have a good chance to get salt water in the subway for the first time. >> that is one of the most fascinating conversations we have had throughout the coverage. that guy knows his stuff, chad. another guy who es to the stu k because he is right up there in the middle of the hurricane in the aircraft, and we will go to him next. we will leave you for a little bit and live pictures of ocean city, maryland. oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice.

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. that picture right there should tell you something that is happening. that is not normal, people. it is the start of it, and just is the start of it. you saw from the very balcony right there, that very deck, that it was hard to move around because the winds were so strong. imagine how it is going to be the closer that hurricane sandy gets ashore and makes landfall. chances are the water will be over that pier. there is sandra endo, our intrepid reporter doing report s for the network and affiliates.

so i have to warn you that it is a little bit tricky and you may have trouble hearing, because he is calling into cnn from a hurricane hunter plane in the middle of hurricane sandy. noaa flight meteorologist ian sears is onboard that flight right now. hopefully you can hear me. ian, what are you seeing there? >> hi. good evening. here southwest of hurricane sandy at 20,000 feet, and 20 or 30 minutes ago, we were experiencing pretty good turbulence southwest of hurricane sandy. we see the field is expanding and the central pressure is down 950 millibars. we are southwest of hurricane sandy, and dropping instruments, and keeping temperature and speed direction and beginning to give that information tho national hurricane center so they can properly warn and

forecast the storm to all of the folks in the mid-atlantic and new england. we know it is a big storm with high impact, and we hope that we can get all of the information so that everybody can stay safe. >> thank you, ian sears. i hope you get all of the information and stay safe as well. technology, isn't that amazing from the live of the middle off a hurricane and doing a live broadcast. he is in a hurricane hunter aircraft, and again, a mete meteorologist with the noaa flight institute. a meteorologist there. and imagine, this is going to be pelting rape and a lot ining a and no doubt that hurricane sandy is going to have a massive impact. we have to be more grown-up, because we are now on the set here, so give me the latest numbers, because i have seen the wind damage in billions of dollars?

>> well, the people who are in the path of the storm -- >> nick valencia is here. s sorry, nick. >> well, people in the path, there is fatigue here, don, because they got the same initial warnings of hurricane irene and how is hurricane sandy different from the last one we went through, and let us break it down by the numbers. as of now, 6,271 flights an estimated number that cnn has cobbled together, and handful of airlines including american, and delta and jetblue canceling the flights which are coming into and out of jfk, laguardia and newark and hurricane sandy causing all kinds of problems for the commuters. tomorrow, 11 million people, and not with their monday service. this is a majority of the people will be in the new york area, mta shutting down transportation as of 7:00 p.m. tonight, and you is places like new jersey shutting it down gradually from tonight into the overnight hours. this is not just about people trying to get to work, don. this is students as well.

tomorrow, national desk put together these numbers -- >> we said colleges an universities where the classes will be canceled tomorrow. >> yes, 2.1 million people in public schools with k-12 classes cancelled and colleges as well. we have thousands of college students who will be without places to go like harvard and columbia, and georgetown, and it will cause all kinds of havoc. >> and you did say harvard and m.i.t. and -- >> i don't have the accent. >> well, do the chin here. listen, we can be light here, because no deaths here in the united states. sorry, say it again, producers? say it again. okay. great. nick valencia, a lot of money tied up into this hurricane and the potential impact of it. nick valencia, thank you so much. look. a live shot from new york city.

manhattan as a matter of fact. as you look, you can see the empire state building, and this is the an installation across the street. and it is in columbus circle across from our building in the time warner building, and central park on the other side. that is columbus circle, and you ski the traffic moving and people and things are moving around there, but you know what, the major said take warning and take heed, because we will shut off all of the mass transit systems, and buses, and everything is gone as far as mass transit systems. there is the monster making the way to the shore. there are so many threats with the storm surge, high tide and a foot of rain and 75 mile an h-mr winds and three feet of snow up in the mountains of virginia. how do you prepare for all of that? well, there he is. nickname category 5 general.

is that your nickname russel honore. >> well, that is one of them. >> well, you know what is good about this, and i feel and i hope because we are on the air early about this telling people what the officials are saying, and hopefully people will realize how much they can be impacted from this storm, and they will get to safety and heed the warnings. so, you know, i'm feeling good about it, but i hope that there are not any search and rescue that have to go on after this. >> well, unfortunately, don, the people who need it the most are not watching or listening to the television. >> right. >> because of no power or doing something. >> and in some cases the power is already gone or the power has been turned off in some cases. >> as the mayor did. >> as a precaution. so, probably the people who need it the most, as i said, the elderly and the disabled or the poor people who don't have a choice in when they move or where they move won't get this

message, but those are who are listening, i think that the government is doing the right thing. we are seeing good government at work at the state, and the local and the federal level collaborating trying to get the message out to work the media and get information to people that they can use to protect themselves and their family. >> let me jump in here. we get word from the meteorologists that there is a possibility of a major storm hitting and impacting the united states. then what happens next? who is contacted first and then how is it, the information distributed? >> well, the national hurricane center with noaa has a responsibility to provide warning to the government and the people. that information is taken and constantly updated. you saw that those americans out there risking their lives through the storm. that happens 24/7. people are out trying to get information to be more accurate and to narrow down the information that is coming to say, you can shelter in place,

or you have to move. based on theinformation they have now, they will give a warning to other people, because be prepared that you will be without electricity for many days. as the storm is closer, they can n narrow down to a warning for some people, but based on what they are seeing and the size of the storm, they are using good science, best judgment they can to give people information. and folks need to understand that. >> yes. how does it get, or how does it escalate to the point, and this early that the president of the united states which you said is pretty rare to declare a state of emergency for the state of new york and also for the district of columbia. >> the team is working. the interagency where people see in the white house movie that comes on every now and then is at work along with fema, national security council and all of them making recommendation, and they should go to the president and he will make those decklation ralaratde

some cases he is getting recommendations from the senators and the congress and the whole team working together to make the declarations, because it means moneyt and the end of the day, but also money that the government needs. it causes collaboration to happen, but can only go through the president. administra administrator few gate is feeding the information to the president as required. >> you were the face as far as recovery from new orleans with hurricane katrina, and the man credited with rescuing new orleans. s you look at this and look back at hurricane katrina, we have lea learned a lot since then. that was really the impetus to really get our act together when it comes to forecasting these storms and getting people to safe safety. >> you are right, the face, because a lot of the heavy lifting of the state and the local people and the national guard was out there preparing

now, and the entire north con team that gave me the ability to do what i needed to do on the ground, but much of the work is being done leaning forward with the national guard and the northern command and the active duty military and the pentagon on full alert and working to support the national guard who has the first response. they have stood up those dual commanders and positioning equipment and logistics as we speak. but the big game is yet to come, and this is once this storm hits landfall and hit the population and we start seeing people calling for help or having to go into the me ernlg si rescue mode and that is going to be the hard part, but that is in the search and rescue and in the recovery phase. so that the hard work is yet to come. the pregame show has been done well by local and state government, and the fact that the president has signed the declarations empowered the governors the do what they need to do to get the people ready. >> thank you.

this man knows everything about safety and about how to handle emergencies and making decisions and i said i would say it to you one day if i said anything to you, but thank you, because my mom works at a chemical plant at baton rouge, louisiana, and you did a safety speech there, and you were so kind and thank you for helping my mom and coming on to guide us through the coverage to help us on. >> well, good luck to everybody. >> thank you very much. this storm is develop iing and stories all around it, and we will go to our hurricane desk next. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf.

bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families.

[ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

okay. welcome back, new york city skyline and they say that the city does not sleep, but it appear appears to be moving slowly and more slowly than normal. new york city stopped the buses and subways hours ago and now the last bus is done. no trains, no life rail, nothing running in the city, and it is all in anticipation of the high water expected when hurricane sandy comes ashore. here is what is happening in other areas. state of emergency in connecticut. the governor notified hundreds of national guard troops to be ready to help, and the national

guard on the ready, and sandbags and more on the jersey shore and more. beach residents, business owners and all broke out the plywood and you can see it there before heading to higher ground. and check out annapolis, and maryland and the city passed out sandbags to people and business owners there, and 20 tons of sand. coastal maryland could get a foot of rainfall. a foot of rainfall. you know, video from a cruise ship is going viral impacted by hurricane san dichdy. josh lev has more. what about these pictures? >> well, a different look at the impact of hurricane sandy and tropical storm sandy is having. look at this. the video is getting a lot of clicks and sent to us here at c cnn ireport from a cruise ship off of the waters of miami, and what you see happening there is

first the very heavy waves to cause the boats the do serious rocking and you see what is happening on the cruise ship itself, and this is one of the many ireports coming in to us by people who have been impacted by hurricane sandy and various parts of the united states already. do not go the any danger to take any ireport videos or photos, and do not, do not violate evacuation orders to take photos or videos, but if you can safely and legally take videos the show the impact that it is having on you, that is terrific. look at what the cruise turned into for dr. david e bens who sent that to us. i will tell you that what is going on in various states around the country, and message messages around the country, what about me? well, on cnn, we have a state y

state-by-state breakdown and as soon as i am done, i will tweet it. you see the cnn desk here with a few folks and people all over the newsroom and people are working hard to follow what is going on in every state and city. our chandler freedman is coming up with the number of college students who will not be having classes for the next coming days and we are up to one million? >> yes, the state university of new york and they have another 50,000 students who will not be in work. >> and suny and i'm from albany and another 50,000, and 1 million students who will not be having classes and in addition to all of the schools shutdown around the country. let me show you pictures coming in, and power pictures and i liked this one, because it is pictures that that you can feel and hear. it is cape may, new jersey. look at the destruction and the storm surge coming n. i want to show you one more here. this is a boat that is being pulled in from the long island sound here, and today, a few of the pictures coming in, and

before i go, i want to hear some of you say that chad was giving you important information about the food supply, and what to do about food. we have important resources for you online that deal with that. take a look here one more time. we have the eatocracy section taking a look at food safety in the middle of a storm. what to do and what not to do. what is safe to eat and not safe to eat. one more thing, and i had not thought about it before, your medicine and what to do about it when the lights go out. on this page, we deal with what medicines are safe to take and how best to take care of them when the power goes out. i will tweet out all of these things, and i encourage you take a look at it. i want to show you how the track the storm throughout the night and including the absolute latest predictions of the storm surge for your area coming up. >> one more thing. >> yes. >> and one more thing. and then i have another thing. you are all excited to be down there, and i was trying to ask you a question, but the mike was

not out. >> this is the first time i was hearing you. >> and you said the picture, you can feel it and hear it. what is that picture saying to you, josh? >> well, when i look at it, i will tell you that, i know he is trying to make fun of me, and i'm not letting him. but it is one of the pictures that it has to be video, because it is so much movement. >> you are saying it looks great now, but go home, because it is much worse and do what the emergency officials are telling you. some of the stuff may seem minute, but you know it is not, because you will have to know what to do with the food safety and on and on and josh beckham, you are back in my good graces, because i asked you the replay a message and you did. josh levs, thank you. and now the pictures from new york city, the subway, and they are closing it. that is when they told people to get out of the subway and having to leave, and due to the hurricane sandy, and service is going to be closed. they are putting the police tape up, and rolling the gates down and shutting off the power to

the gates. you cannot swipe your metro card because there are no trains down there, and that is new york city. you don't see that even in the wee hours of the morning. you rarely see a subway station in new york city, especially n manhattan like that. there it is safety alert sandy in anticipation of the hurricane sandy, so people are having to leave the subway. there you go. again, thank you wabc for those pictures. so if people are not yet taking this storm seriously, maybe they will after hearing this. >> people across the eastern seaboard and mid-atlantic and going north, you need to take this very seriously and follow the instructions of your state and local officials, because they are going to be providing you with the best advice in terms of how to deal with the storm over the coming days. >> the things that we ask the residents to do now first and foremost, if there are final

preparations to do, make them right now. >> the biggest thing that we are concerned about right now is individuals not taking this storm seriously enough. >> we have to take this seriously. >> i know that all of us especially the folks in this area are veterans of a lot of the events and sometimes that leads you the complacency, but i hope it does not in this instance. >> heeding the warning, and we are going. i hope i have a house when i come back. >> i am pretty sure we will be without power and all that stuff, so it looks like a pretty bad storm. >> governor cuomo and the mta have announced that i are pthey going to put into effect their contingency plan and closing down the commuter rail systems tonight. >> the main concern is for three reasons. one, it is unsafe to operate the trains in high winds. >> the national service expects strong and damaging winds and major coastal flooding and significant beach erosion.

>> we are talking about the extensive flooding and maybe the worst we have seen in 70 years. >> this is going to be a destructive storm. it is something that we have not seen before. >> it is not a typical storm. it could very well be historic in nature and in scope and in magnitude, because of the widespread anticipated power outages and flooding and potential wind damage. >> this has not hit landfall yet and we don't know where it is going to hit. where we are going to see the biggest impacts, and that is why it is so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in. >> you have heard the warnings, and you have heard the warnings. leader of the free world, and the governor of new jersey on and on and on, seek shelter, be safe. if you are being told to be evacuated or to evacuate, do it. the very latest on hurricane

sandy is next. pictures now of ocean city, maryland, live. [ female announcer ] they can be enlightening. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far.

introducing the new droid razr maxx hd by motorola. now more than ever droid does. and every day since, two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes

just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. okay. this is a picture of ocean city, maryland, and number one, it is a great picture and it shows you the impact of the storm, and the potential impact of the storm and as it moves quickly towards the eastern seaboard, alone, and i should not say quickly, but slowly, and chad meyer says that by doing so, it is building up

strength, and awant to show you some stuff that you think that you have been responding to me on social media and can we take this shot on social media. all right. my e-mail is down. this is on twitter and i asked you for pictures, and you can send them to ireporter here. thank you, boshow on twitter and lo look, this is new york city. that is a line to get into the graciti market, and i know this market. you don't see a line like this goat into a market in new york city very often, and that is folks who are trying to get supplies and those supplies have been run out. thank you very much. send them in to don lem lemon@cnn.com. if i can answer your questions or chad myers can answer them, we will. let's bring back i have been on straight for a long time -- mr.

chad myers. i was not sure if you were ready, sir. >> i was working on airplanes leaving jfk and arriving at jfk, and wait until you see this graph. >> hang on before you put this on, and moving quickly and you said it is moving slowly and building up speed. does that mean anything that it is moving slow ly? does it get more power because it is moving slowly? >> well, 15 miles per hour is normal. i would not call that slow or fast, and that is not -- that is about where we should be. >> and what are you working on with the planes? >> these are the planes leaving jfk. 155 planes out of jfk. getting out of the way of this hurricane. now, the planes going to jfk. doh! six. six planes compared to 155 leavi

leaving. they are not putting planes in the way of this storm. dulles and laguardia did not have planes in or out for a long time. this is a big deal all night long and in and out of the weekend. and into pennsylvania and new york and into ontario, this storm does not move much, and that is 48 hours' movement. yes, i have been tweeting about the snow coming down in west virginia, 60 inches. it is going to show for 48 hours and snows an inch an hour, and it does not take hard to get to 50 or 60 as well with more than that. and is it going to make landfall in new jersey or at least northern delaware? i think so. i don't think that there is a model out there right now that doesn't believe that. it is going to be that model guidance. as we get closer, we know more about it, and that is the deal. that is why the cone is smaller, as it gets closer to shore, and wind gusts 80 miles per hour through parts of new york city and into the delmarva and all of the way through new jersey as well. there's the snow. look at that area.

charleston to roanoke, and all of the purple is 20-plus. there are places in there that are 48-plusch do. >> my goodness. if i'm wrong and correct me, producerses s oes or chad. laguardia closed? >> well, it is not technically closed, but the planes are not flying in there because they don't want the planes on the tarmac during the storm. >> jfk the same? >> yes. >> newark the same thing? >> yes sh, the same. >> and what about d.c.? >> i did not see it. but there were planes in and out of national, but dulles did not have a plane in or out for a long time. >> and philadelphia? >> well, it is not a matter of the airport, but the airlines saying we are canceling 3,000 flights and not putting people in danger on the airline whether it is a bumpy landing or rough takeoff or people in danger that work for us having to load the

bags at 60 miles per hour. >> that is exactly what the note from the folks in philadelphia said. they said, we have been notified by our airlines that they don't feel safe with the aircraft there, and the aircraft in the air and flying people to and fro. that is what happens. >> right. >> great. thank you, chad myers. appreciate it. okay. change of plans. going to break. we are going to go somewhere else. but we are rocking and rolling tonight. our coverage, and the rolling coverage of hurricane sandy, as it makes its way to shore still continuing here on cnn. there is the live picture that we have been showing you and we can show you how it is intensifying moment by moment. to test the 2.0-liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] ♪ [ derek ] 272 horsepower. the lightest in its class. the cadillac ats outmatches the bmw 3 series. i cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers.

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all right. welcome back to the continuing coverage. someone asked me how long we are going to be on. val, we are going to be on until midnight. so if you are in a comfortable area outside of the purview of the storm, then grab the popcorn. we have a little while to go. but if you are listening in an area where they said to evacuate or get to safety, you should prepare to do that as you get the information from us. it is not just people affected or businesses or homes, because you know, people are evacuating the homes to escape hurricane sandy, but it is pets, too.

this is an interesting package, because cnn's michael holmes is at a storm shelter in new jersey and has this report for you. >> reporter: new jersey is 95 miles south of new york city and 65 miles to the east of philadelphia. about five miles that way are the barrier islands and those people on the barrier islands are worryied. a lot of them are coming here. we want to talk to the red cross official. than you for chatting with us. tell us about the setup here and who is here and why? >> well, people arrived at 4:00 and people came with animals and we have 60 crates with cats and dogs and great to help them out. people love their animals. >> reporter: how many people are you going to be able to cater for right here? >> well, right now, have 181 people, and we can hold about 250. depends tomorrow. >> reporter: how worried are people in this community? >> very worried.

after irene which was a year ago, this is huge. >> monday, 181 people who are here in the shelter so far is one michelle who -- thank you for joining us -- and tell us how you ended up here. >> we had an mandatory evacuation in ocean gate, new jersey, and having been relocated here and displaced, i knew that i would be safe and sound here, and they would have facilities for my pet. very accommodating. >> reporter: this is looking like a big storm, and how concerned were you about ate? >> very concerned and when i see the rivers on the map, and they are targeting it, i am nervous. but i think that i'm in good hands here. i think that i am safe. >> reporter: i think that you are, too. michelle has mentioned that she brought a pet here. this shelter is pet friendly, and in fact, we will have a look at what they are doing in the back room. >> we have dogs, cats, birds and a couple of hermit crabs.

>> the cops came around and said that if you don't leave, you will be arrested. so i had to find a place to have my animals and everybody said, they are windows, just open up a window, and if it gets bad they will climb out. but i had four of these little guys and i was not leaving them behind. >> dogs and birds and kitten and people hunkering down to ride out hurricane sandy. michael holmes, cnn, toms river. >> you have to think about the pets. they are family members to most people who have them. and think about them when you make your evacuation plans. let's not forget that there is an election going on right now. we are selecting the president of the united states in about a week. this storm threatening to ingit this election and some swing states on the eastern coast, but

what about ohio? critical swing state where the weather will be bad there as well. and this is white house and people are vying to live in that home right there. this storm is really impacting both campaigning. they are having to make some ground changes to the campaign. so we will be on until midnight covering this, but we want to talk about the politics of the mega storm after a quick break here on cnn. the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling.

and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc

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this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, don lemon here at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. we would like to welcome in all of the viewers from around the world, and listen, this storm is going to make landfall very soon and the very latest information has just come in. our meteorologist chad meyers to report the latest information. what do you know? >> it did, don. the storm is still a hurricane. we expected that. still a category one hurricane, and still 15 or 20 hours from landfall. here is monday 8:00 and somewhere in the vicinity of new jersey probably. not as far south as virginia, but still in the cone all of the way to long branch, new jersey, and as far south as ocean city,

maryland. that is the forecast, and it is not going to change very much, and now the center is not going to move after it hits land very much. it is not so much that it is a category one hurricane, but it is that the wind field is huge. that big orange blob direct from the national hurricane scenter shows where the tropical force sustained winds are right now. we know there are tropical force storm gusts already. there is massachusetts and florida and this entire orange area with the tropical force winds sustained in that area. those are the only hurricane-force winds that the airplanes can find. that is going to make a big curve like that and curve up like that in the zone. it is going to be raining or for that matter snowing over here for quite some time. don. >> chad myers, thank you very much. he is going to be here and again, welcome our viewers from