hospitals. more than 200 people evacuated, including babies taken out of the nicu. transportation across the city has been paralyzed. the subway system could be shut down for days, to the carolinas, new england and beyond, cnn is covering the aftermath of this storm and taking a look at where it's going next like no other network can. it is tuesday, october 30th. special coverage of superstorm sandy begins right now. welcome back, everybody. lots to update you on this morning early before the sun comes up, lots of damage to talk about from last night. the walloping that new york's gotten from superstorm sandy. let's talk about the fires that are burning in breezy point queens. two dozen homes are actively on fire. 200 firefighters are on location there. they are trying to battle the fire. the fire started from downed power lines. you're looking at some of the latest pictures coming in to us this morning.

downed power liens started this fire. the big problem for the firefighters, a lack of water appreciate your. 50 homes have burned to the ground. two dozen more are in the process of burning. we are following the story for you as the day continues. we'll have more information on that. more to tell you about, including floods and power outages. new york city brought to its knees in a large way. superstorm sandy was an epic weather event, many people are calling it. millions of lives have been disrupted now. a transformer explosion happened at a con ed plant about 15 blocks from where i'm standing right now. what that has done is put basically this neighborhood in lower manhattan completely in the dark. they were concerned about this transformer so they've shut it off as well. that has plunged tens of thousands, people here but more than 600,000 people across new york and into westchester county are without power today. backup generator failed at nyu langone medical center, probably about 35 blocks from where i am.

260 patients had to be evac waited. some were newborn babies. you can see the pictures here as they bring these babies out of intensive care, carried by their nurses. in some cases they walked down the stairs with the infants because the respirators, obviously those need electric power. when the power failed, the nurses had to take the respiration on by hand using massive pumps to get the air into the lungs of these babies. they walked down flights of stairs to be able to get the babies out into the transport vehicles and into other hospitals as well. some of those patients were carried down 15 flights of stairs. there was 12 feet of water in the elevator shaft of that building. city transportation shut down, it cowl be days, maybe four days, before the subways re-open here. want to show you a loop of sandy right now. for new york city, the storm has finally blown through, although the winds are high and we're seeing intermittent rain here. if you look at the loop here, for places north, sandy's

officially a post tropical cyclone. according to the national weather service, wons between 70 and 90 miles an hour still possible in the tri-state area, 13 people are killed here in the united states in the aftermath of sandy so far. 5 of those fatalities took place in new york, one in connecticut, three in new jersey, one in west virginia, two in pennsylvania. one on that "hms bounty." 13 people had to make their way on to life boats and were eventually rescued by the coast guard. one crew member has been pronounced death in the wake of that tragedy. across the northeast, 6.5 million people without power. predictions were saying it could be as highs a10 million people. let's continue to update you on some of the things happening where i am, lower manhattan. lots of darkness all around us. this is area "a" which means

they were evacuated. this is a low-lying area. there's roughly 75 feet, the water has been going back out into the river. not far from where i am. about a block away we have the fdr drive under water massive flooding there as well. lots to tell you about this morning in addition to where i am, we have mike galanos, deb feyerick with us on the south shore of long island, lindenhurst. brian todd is recovering rehoboth beach which is in delaware and sandra endo is reporting for us in ocean city in maryland. so let's get you updates as well from philadelphia mayor michael nutter. going to get first to deb feyerick as we mentioned, she's in lindenhurst, long island. yesterday was water was in some cases waist high. how's it looking there this morning, deb? >> reporter: you know, it's

looking better. a lot of the water receding but, again, full moon, waiting for high tide. so it's yet to be determined as to what will happen once daylight comes. we can tell you, the smell of gasoline very, very strong. a number of homes in this area beened to the ground. you have this dichotomy between floods and fires and people trying to fight both, trying to figure out what's going on. a police officer walked this up road, just a short time ago, he was going to work. he said all the homes at the end of this block are about three feet of water saturating the entire area. you can see some of the boats that are here in this boat yard, they are now in the water as well. again, it's one of those situations that's so fluid, strong winds still, not a lot of rain. but, again, with so many people who have been mobilized, we spoke to one official earlier who said sources right now, resources are stretched to the max. that there are certain areas where they simply can't get resources because there are not

the people to mobilize. here in lindenhurst, the mayor called out about a thousand members of the national guard. they're on scene, ready to do what they need to do. right now, people wanting to know whether in fact we're going to see sort of a second wave of water coming up high because, again, the damage just keeps coming and coming and coming. soledad? >> all right, deb feyerick updating for us what lindenhurst, long island, looks like where they are having major flood problems. when the sun comes up, we'll get a chance to see how widespread that damage is. i want to take you to lower manhattan, a cross where i am this morning. john berman is stationed there where the floodwaters came up very, very high. john, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. that's right. where i'm standing right now, last night was part of new york harbor. the floodwaters came in from the hudson river and the bay right behind me. it swept up and went about 30 feet back there. it would have been way past my waist.

you can see where the water came in and flattened this garden area here, these bushes were standing up much higher before the water swamped them. the storm surge unprecedented. nearly 14 feet. that's feet higher than the record setback in 1960. out in new york harbor they saw waves 32 feet high if you can believe that. the storm surge unprecedented. this area also part of zone 80 evacuation zone, some 370,000 people told to get out of these low-lying areas specifically because of the storm surge that came. we're expecting another high tide after 9:00 a.m. this morning. we don't expect it to flood quite as badly but it is of concern. there is still expected to be a storm surge as you see this morning. and soledad, i don't know about you but as i was driving down here, i never seen new york like this, just the power out from 29th street, south of that completely black and within the west side highway where i came

down, there was a great deal of debris, construction materials, lots of buckets. no power liens. because in new york city most of the power lines were underground. new york has never seen weather damage, at least i haven't seen weather damage, like this in new york city. soledad? >> yes, absolutely true. it's quite remarkable. you know what's interesting, they keep saying below 29th street. i live on 26th street. my block has power. i believe it's 25th street that doesn't have power from there. we'll have to check in on that. i went by to check on my house and there are lights on my street. as soon as you go farther south, no more. john, thank you for the update. let's go to mike galanos, he is in atlantic city where they have tons of damage, really devastating pictures from the afternoon before the storm made landfall and then when it did make landfall, absolutely remarkable pictures to talk about. mike, good morning. how's it looking now?

>> good morning, soledad. right now and, again, you mentioned intermittent rain, gusts of bitter cold wind kissing me right now. to reset the scene, you talked about some of those pints. i was standing in it. about a half a block behind me, soledad, that was basically a raging river hn me. it all came together about 8:00 last night, the storm surge, high tide. that water was up to my knee. if a car drove by i'd get a wave of water over my waist. that's what we were dealing with here in atlantic city. i mentioned the storm surge, the high tide, the wind gusts practically knocked me into the water. that's what we were dealing with last night. and again, governor chris christie not happy with the mayor here in atlantic city, lorenzo langford. in a press conference yesterday evening he was intimating that

he gave people permission to stay. he was flabbergasted that one of the shelters was a block away from the water. the hotel to my last is the sheridan. that's where i stayed last night. some families thought they could ride it out, realized they could not. they ended up at the sheridan here. there were a lot of families, dogs and that's what was going on. as i'm walking to my room, people are hanging out in lobbies, talking, commiserating. a few dogs growling and banking at each other. that became the new normal here in atlantic city and i'm sure other places as well. >> mike galanos for us this morning. watching what's happening in atlantic city. we'll be seeing what the damage is this morning when the sun comes up. thank you, mike. appreciate it. let's get right to zoraida sambolin at the time warner center. we'll start with the crane here. take a look at these live pictures. a powerful winds from superstorm sandy causing a partial collapse

of this construction crane that is now dangling high above midtown manhattan. on the left is what the crane looked like before the collapse and on the right it's what it looks like now. as it dangles dangerously from a high-rise building there. the fear here of course it could plunge to the ground at any time. last night piers morgan talked to a crane expert about the potential danger here. >> there's several different scenarios. if you see that boom hanging down, let's say the house swings around and the boom gets into the arms that are holding the crane up, that come out of the building, if it hits that, there's a possibility they can break, then the crane's coming down. >> that's a xaerry proposition. this building is called 157. it's supposed to be the tallest

residential property in manhattan once it's completed at 90 stories. it's a pretty expensive building. the penthouse there sold for over $90 million. here's what i can tell you about the crane itself. city records say that at that site, there's 158-foot crane. it includes the 108-foot boom and then the 50-foot jib at the tip of that. and typically when they secure this, it looks towards the building. now it's dangling away from the building. they did, take a look at this to make sure it was safe on friday. the engineers took a look and deemed it was safe. mayor bloomberg is saying maybe it was a crazy gust of wind that caused it to shift that way. they are bringing in a crew today to continue to look at this. they have evacuated people from that area. there was a hotel that was evacuated. i believe it was the one soledad was staying at. they secured that area. to make sure that nobody comes by. it is incredibly unsafe.

soledad, back to you. no, i have one more story. a sudden rumble and a cloud of debris when the facade of a manhattan apartment building is ripped off. take a look at this. this is happening as sandy's enten winds tore through. it left apartments completely exposed. one firefighter did have minor injuries there, soledad. >> that's remarkable, about ten blocks from where i live. what a remarkable site to see, the whole front of that bulling sheered off. we'll get a chance to check that out and see how it looks when the sun comes up. i want to introduce you to leroy lindsay. he was walking by this morning. we were asking him what he's

doing out this morning. he said he was going to check on his mom. she was supposed to evacuate. why didn't she? >> she's stubborn. >> you wanted to check on her. >> she's doing good. she has candles on and everything. she's all right right now. trying to get us uptown a little further. >> let's show you the building. if you look at this building that's behind me, they shut down as i mentioned because of the exploding transformer. they -- she's in there, she's in her 70s. there other people in there? >> no, she has her neighbors. >> what's the plan? you said you wanted to go further uptown. it looks like the power will be out for at least a week. >> we can't deal with that. if you see me on news i'm coming

to the crib. look out for me. i know you have power and you're probably watching this right now. i'll get up there. you know how i do it. >> you're warning your friends? >> yes, yes, yes. >> how about your home? >> my daughter and my wife are home right now. they are doing what they can. they know i'm out here. a couple blocks up that way on avenue c. i'm doing good, though. just trying to pass the time. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> we certainly appreciate it. we have some other news to get to, breaking news this morning. there has been a dam break, authorities are now on the scene. they are rescuing people in three new jersey towns because a dam has broken. we're going to bring you more information on the towns where this has happened and also we'll bring you some information on the rescue efforts there right after this commercial break. stay with us. [ male announce] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy.

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welcome back, everybody. we're bringing you special coverage this morning of the aftermath here in new york city of hurricane sandy, superstorm sandy. now we know that authorities are conducting rescues from homes in three new jersey towns after a dam has broken. it occurred, the dam break that is, after midnight in the town of munake in burgin county in new jersey rescues are under way in munake, little ferry and carlstat, new jersey. people may need to be rescued because a dam has broken there. we're following this story for you as it develops. this is breaking news that we're just getting in to cnn. we'll continue to monitor this story as it unfolds if thousands of people do require rescuing from three new jersey towns in burgin county, new jersey. time too turn now to chris

olhert, he's with con edison. i want to talk to him about the power outages. tell me the numbers. we heard that hundreds of thousands of people were without power. what are the latest numbers on that? >> soledad, right now, there are 670,000 new yorkers in the city in westchester without electricity, courtesy of hurricane sandy. this is the worst storm-related damage in con edison damage. >> what's the strategy now? i'm on the lower east side, avenue d at east houston street. the transformer on 14th street, con ed power plant exploded around 8:30 last night, that you've shut down this area. when can folks here and across lower manhattan and even those folks in westchester, too, hope to get their powerback on? >> at different times, soledad. what we have to do with underground equipment is make sure the water has receded and

make sure it's safe to restore in areas where there's salt water we have to clean that out and then just make sure it's safe to get the electricity back there. on the overhead systems, we have to obviously get access. there are around system, for example, 180 roads in westchester county are closed. for your view her don't know the area, westchester is directly north of the bronx. it's a suburban community. a lot of trees but 180 roads are closed. on staten island, there are more than 200 wires down. so safety is a huge issue. and unlike police and fire and emergency medical services, we can't go lights and sirens. we just have to take our time, make methodical restorations for

the overhead system. it could take seven days or so. access will be a big issue. >> so if you had -- i know it's hard for you to give a number but would you say no one is going to get power on back here in this city for four days, seven days? >> no, soledad. >> two weeks. give me a guess. >> some people will get it back sooner than later. we will stage powerback into areas. some people could have their powerback in a day or two once sandy gets out of town. >> chris olert from con edison talking about the most devastating damage they've had in this storm, hurricane and now superstorm sandy. thank you for talking with us, sir, we appreciate it. obviously they have lots of work to do across westchester and new york. we're sitting here without power because they've shut down the power on the lower east side. we have to take a short break. when we come back, we have a lot

to get to. 50 homes have already burned to the ground, we'll tell you about the dam break that's happening in burgin county, new jersey, evacuation of homes now under way. we'll update you on rescue efforts there as well. 1,000 people might require rescuing from their homes. those stories and much more as we ten to cover hurricane superstorm sandy as it makes its way forthnorth. back in just a moment. ly, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people

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welcome back. i'm christine romans. 27 minutes past the hour. we're tenning our coverage of the effects of superstorm sandy. the new york stock exchange will be closed for a second day in a row due to weather. the last time that happened was the blizzard of 1888. nasdaq, also bond markets closed today as well. stock futures, though, are being traded electronically until 9:15 a.m. eastern. right now futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are all down. but again, the markets will not be opening again today. economic losses from hurricane sandy could add up to $20 billion. that's according to early estimates. these are early estimates from the catastrophe modeling firm equicat. that includes up to $10 billion for insured losses to

residential and commercial property. sandy would be one of the most costly hurricanes of all time if these numbers are accurate. a note here to home owners affected by the storm. because sandy landed as a hurricane, your home owners insurance deductibles will not be what you think they are in the northeast. hurricane status triggers different deductibles for homeowners that are a percentage of your house value, not the $1,000 or $5,000 deductible you think you sign up for. please be sure to check your insurance plan here. very, very important, because it was a hurricane, soledad, at landfall, that makes a difference for how you will be covered for your losses. soledad? >> all right, christine, great advise. thank you. coming up this morning, we'll update you on breaking news. there has been a dam break is what we're being told. it's happening in bergen county, new jersey. a thousand people could have to

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welcome back, everybody. they've been calling it superstorm sandy and for good reason. there's been a massive amount of damage in the wake of this storm here in new york and the storm continues, of course. want to get to breaking news that's happening in new jersey, bergen county, new jersey. we are told there's a dam or levee break. there's been some kind of breach and people in three new jersey towns have been affected. apparently the break happened at some point after midnight in bergen county. authorities say they might have to rescue a thousand people.

the towns are moonachie, also in little ferry and carlsbad as well. there's been a breach. every single street we're told in the town of moonachie and little ferry have been affected. four to five feet of water in the streets. moonachie has a trailer park, parentally. people are standing on roofs waiting for help. the new jersey state police are helping in rescue and the bergen county office of emergency management, they're using boats and high trucks to pluck some of the people off the roofs of that trailer park that has been affected. that is a dam or a levee breach. it's unclear and they believe it might be from the hackensack river. we're trying to work to confirm those detail. we do know it could be a thousand people across those three towns that are in serious, serious trouble today. i want to remind everybody, it's cold. you cannot imagine, it's also been raining intermittently. imagine sitting on the roof of

your trailer park waiting for someone to rescue you in the dark in these freezing cold temperatures with water all around you and rain. absolutely devastating situation for the folks who are there this morning. lots to tell you about this morning. let's continue to update you on other stories. the big fire happening in breezy point, queens, that's in the rockaway section of queens. we know that 50 homes have already burned to the ground there. there are two dozen more homes that are actively on fire and 200 firefighters are on the scene. they're trying to fight that fire, very difficult, of course, because water pressure is a major problem. ironically in spite of all the flooding the water pressure that's a big problem, that fire we believe started when downed power lines then sparked that fire and took out those homes. these are our latest pictures. look at that fire under way. it is just unbelievable to see the extent of that damage, that fire is absolutely raging out of control at this point. we'll continue to follow this story for you as well, obviously. transformer explosion, we saw

that happen last night around 8:30 in the evening, con edison power plant on 14th street in lower manhattan, it has knocked out power. you see that there. the sparks, many people were on twitter asking what has happened? what are the flashing lights i'm seeing? it was that, a transformer explosion. that caused this hem to shut down the power plant. that shut down of the power plant has shut down power to people where i am in lower manhattan. we were just talking to a spokesperson from con edison who said it could take a while. there are areas across manhattan and into westchester county, in total 670,000 people are without power and they're hoping to get around some of those obstacles like downed trees, and even for the upground wires to get to them as well to be able to restore power as soon as possible. let's take you to nyu langone medical center. dramatic evacuation there when their power failed and backup generator failed as well. they're bringing out babies, 260 patients in total, many of them

newborn babies from an intensive care unit. keep in mind, some of the nicu babies were on respirators. the nurses carrying the babies working a hand respirator. just to make sure they could save their lives as they brought them out of the hospital in the middle of this storm. 12 feet of water reported in the elevator shafts at nyu langone medical center. that's about a mile and a half north of where i'm standing. transportation, subway system continues to be shut down. it cowl be four days, maybe even more before they decide to re-open the subway system. that's because of flooding in some of the subway tunnels. the transit officials say the worst problem to ever hit the system in 108 years. i want to show you the satellite loop if we can. they're calling it not a hurricane anymore. it's called a post-tropical cyclone. national weather service is warning that the winds, though, still high, 70 to 90 miles an

hour gusts, still possible in the tri-state area. sandy's already killed 15 people in the u.s., 6 1/2 million people aa number of states that sandy has hit are without power and insurers are estimating at this point the damage at $10 billion. obviously that number could be adjusted upward dramatically as the sun comes up. we're expecting to see much more damage. areas like atlantic city damaged significantly as well as where mike galanos is reporting for us this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. to set the scene here in atlantic city, hen me last night was basically a raging river. these are the streets of atlantic city. it all came together when this storm was at its full roughly 8:00, 9:00 last night. we're talking about the storm surge, high tide, the water up to my knee. if a car drove by it would splash above my waist. throw in that with the rain, gusting wons, 70, 90 miles an

hour that could have knocked me into that water. chris christie wanted mandatory evacuations. in the mayor's press conference early last evening chris christie said that the governor gave people comfort to stay. governor christie wanted mandatory evacuations. some ended up in a hotel, makeshift shelters. i stayed in the sheridan. they were able to get here and commiserate with each other, there were dogs and kids and families in hallways as they were trying to make the best of the new normal here in atlantic city. we're waiting to see what going to look like as day breaks. back to that flooding. when it was at its worse, high tide, storm surge, there were reports that 70% to 80% of atlantic city was under water to some degree. back to you. zblf we're told here, mike, that

the cars behind me on the street, this is east houston street, the cars behind me are submerge as you head down toward the fdr drive that runs up the east side of new york city. obviously because of the light, we can't really see it. as soon as we get light, we'll have a chance to get down there further and take a look. i got an update from a friend of mine at nyu langone medical center. we showed you the pictures as they brought the babies out of the nicu. the power failed, so they took the babies and had to hand rto respirate them. the i.v. machines started failing. suction machines have started failing as well. so many of the nurses are doing it manually. there's not much information being given to the patients but

they started. the staff is working hard under very difficult conditions. so that the situation at nyu medical center where it looks like they will be evacuating every person in that hospital at nyu langone medical center. we saw some of the pijts of babies being taken out and also people in intensive care as well. let's take you across the other side of lower manhattan from where i'm standing. john berman was stationed there yesterday as the storm surge and the tide waters were a big concern. those big concerns really didn't go far enough. the water much higher than expected, right, john? >> reporter: unprecedented levels of water, soledad. you said some of the cars near you were under water. this area was part of new york harbor overnight. the storm surge was 14 feet. 14 feet, which is 4 feet higher than had ever been recorded

before. that record set in 1960 before. the waves in new york harbor were 32 feet high. water levels here simply much higher than anyone anticipated which caused this massive, massive flooding in a part where i'm standing, of course, where you are, soledad, on the other part of the island. seven of the subway tunnels that go from manhattan to queens and brooklyn, those have been flooded. it could take a week to pump that out. they simply don't know. they've never seen anything like this with the water here before. soledad? >> john berman, updating us on what was a big concern in the city. rightfully so. the storm surge, the floodwaters, obviously wind also a big problem. debrises with a problem. you saw pictures of that crane that we talked about yesterday morning, eventually that crane did partially collapse. very precarious. they've had to evacuate some of the buildings around that crane. the expectations from the storm, very, very tough. they were certainly met. we have to take a short break.

when we come back in just a moment we'll continue to update you on breaking news we're following. we talked about that dam or levee break in bergen county, new jersey. we're trying to get information on that story. we have crews heading that way as well. a thousand people may have to be ev rescue. the rockaway section, we know 50 homes have beened to the ground. there are another two dozen homes actively on fire. these are the latest pictures coming in to us on cnn. we'll monitor both of these breaking news stories and update you in the aftermath of this region of what is superstorm sandy and tell you where sandy's going next. that's all ahead, stay with us. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety.

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sandy that's rolled through new york. it's now rolled out about the the winds picked up, we've had intermitt ents rain. lots to talk about. let's start with the fire in breezy point, queens, the rockaway section. this fire burning completely out of control. we're told that 50 homes have burned to the ground. what you're seeing now is an active fire of two dozen other homes that are in the process of burning to the ground. look at this. the problem is the water pressure, because of the flooding and the storm, the water pressure is not effective in fighting this fire. they're having severe problem in even getting access to the fire. fire we are told started in the breezy point section of queens when a downed power line sparked the fire. we continue to monitor what is happening with this fire as it is clearly burning out of control in breezy point section of queens. we have to take a short break.

on the other side of this break we'll bring you more information about our other breaking news story, the levee break happening in bergen county, new jersey. an update on what's happening there. back in just a moment. 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

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this is cnn breaking news. welcome back, everybody.

breaking news to get to. we've been talking about this levee break that has happened in bergen county, new jersey. let's get to the bergen county police chief of staff. thank you for talking with us. we appreciate it. i know this is taking place in three new jersey towns. can you walk me through which towns and what's happened? >> it's taking place in three towns in southern bergen county. moonachie, carlstat and little ferry with most of the damage in moonachie. moonachie has been devastated. every street in moonachie has 4 to 5 feet of water on it. right now we're in rescue mode. >> you're rescuing the folks in moonachie. we heard it was a dam that broke and maybe it was a levee that broke. do you have more information on that? is it the hackensack river? >> we don't have confirmation of

that right now. something happened, because within 30 minutes those towns were under 4 and 5 feet of water. we're not sure if it was a levee compromised. something was compromised there. we don't know what it is and we're not fixated on that right now. right now it's a rescue operation and we're trying to get boats in there, high vehicles that can go through the high water that's there. to get those people to safety. >> let's talk about that rescue effort. so my understanding is that there is a trailer park in moonachie and that folks there in order to literally keep their heads above water have now climbed on the roofs of their trailer park homes, waiting to be rescued, is that correct? and how many people are we talking about? >> that is correct. i don't know how many people are there. when all is said and done, we're talking about hundreds, possibly a thousand people that we may have to rescue. yes, there's a trailer park in

moonachie and the people are on the roofs of those buildings. in other areas, people have been told to go to the second floors of their homes and await rescue there because the first floor has 4 to 5 feet of water. we're hoping that water will recede but right now we have cooperation from the bergen county police department, bergen county office of emergency management. the state police are here. all the local oems who have asked to help us, both large vehicles, even dump trucks that we can get into flooded areas and get these people out. we're bringing them to route 46 in cheataborough. we're also bringing the people that we're rescue iing there. it's a school, we're able to use the gymnasium to evaluate these people, get them the help they need.

we have adults here, the elderly children, we're having them bring their pets with them. we're accommodating that as well. >> right, right, right. so how many people have you been able to pull -- i know this thing happened at midnight, i believe. the breach happened at midnight. have you been able to rescue people already or has it been time spent trying to gather all the resources to make what is going to be a challenging rescue? >> we started doing rescues about 2:30 this morning. and they're just ongoing. we're going in and out of there. we're bringing more assets in, getting more help from the state. more help from the municipalities, the local rescue squads. it's a wonderful effort with a lot of people coming together to rescue these people in moonachie, little ferry and carlstat. >> oh, my goodness. thankfully for the rescuers and getting into the water to help out with their boats. >> absolutely. >> final question for you,

jeanie. it's brutally cold out there. i cannot imagine what it's been like for people wading through water to get on the roofs of their homes waiting to be rescued. it has to be horrible conditions. >> it absolutely is. we're asking other people to please be careful. only essential travel on the roads. people shouldn't be going out into those areas. it's extremely dangerous and people go out there, they're just hampering the rescue efforts. we're begging people to stay off the roads. it's very dangerous and there's a lot of high water out there. that will surprise you. we don't want to have to be rescuing more people out there. >> jeanne barrata with the bergen county police chief of staff. we appreciate the update. thank you for your time. obviously we'll continue to follow this story, this breaking news out of the southern part of bergen county as miss baratta

was telling us, it looks like rescue efforts have been under way since 2:30 in the morning. they're pulling people off the roofs of their homes, very reminiscent of what we saw with hurricane katrina. we have to take a short break. when we come back in just a moment, we'll continue to update you on the breaking stories we're following in the wake of this severe storm and tell you where sandy is headed next and assessing the damage left in her wake. back right after this. [ female announcer ] a classic meatloaf recipe from stouffer's starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner.

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morning. welcome, everybody. you're watching a special edition of "early start" as we ten to monitor superstorm sandy, the storm sweeping through new york. massive damage to talk about continues on. this storm has not gone away. it continues up north. going to tell you exactly where sandy is going and look at some of the damage in her wake. first we want to tell you about some of the breaking news that comes from this storm. rescues under way in new jersey right now in the southern part of bergen county after a breach in a levee has 1,000 people possibly in danger. also enormous fire burning right now in queens, new york, in the breezy point section of queens new york. 50 homes already burned to the ground. another two dozen are at risk. historic record-breaking flooding. it's consuming new york city and parts of the northeast, as well. homes now under water. 6 million people are in the dark with power has been lost. transportation is at a standstill. could be days before things get back to normal. cnn's covering the storm like no other network. tuesday, october 30th, and

special coverage of superstorm sandy begins right now. welcome back, everybody. let's get right to some breaking news this morning. there are people in three new jersey towns in bergen county, the southern part of bergen county, who we're being told might need to be rescued from their homes because there has been a levee break. let's get to zoraida sambolin. she has the latest news. good morning. >> good morning to you, soledad. that break happened after midnight in bergen county. authorities say there's four or five feet of water in the streets right now. and they're using boats and high trucks in an attempt to rescue people in the towns of carlstadt, little ferry and from trailer park in mon aceh where people are said to be standing on their rooftops waiting to be rescued. cnn has a crew on the way. you can imagine it's cold there, as they await that rescue. we're going to get more details for you. another big story we're following for you this morning. 24 homes burning out of control

at this hour. take a look at these pictures. this is rockaway park, queens. 50 homes have already been burned to the ground. more than 100 firefighters are on the scene right now. and the flooding is making it impossible to get close enough to fight the flames. we also have a crew on the way there. and we'll get you more details as soon as we get them. soledad, back to you. >> oh, wow, zoraida. those pictures just in to cnn are amazing. that fire completely out of control those firefighters really stuck, unable to get in there to get it under control. thanks for that update. this storm has in a big way brought new york city to its knees. the city's transportation, as i mentioned, shut down. has been shut down since sunday night. is expected to be shut down for many more days. maybe as many as four days or three days. let's take a look at the satellite loop. we know that sandy is now what they call officially a post-tropical cyclone. the national weather service says that the damaging winds of

70 to 90 miles an hour are still possible in that tristate area. 15 people are dead in the wake of this storm here in the united states. 6.5 million people are without power. insurers are now looking at a bill of between $10 billion and $20 billion in damage. cnn is covering the aftermath of this epic storm. we've got mike galanos. he is reporting from atlantic city, new jersey this morning. john berman is in lower manhattan. brian todd is at rehoboth beach. sandra endo still in ocean city, maryland. she's been there since sunday. we're also going to be talking to philly's mayor michael nutter. delaware's governor jack markell. maryland governor martin o'malley will be our guest, as well. that's a little bit of a lineup that we have for you this morning. all right let's tell you where we are this morning. the wind has picked up pretty significantly. i guess that's kind of the bad news. also bad news for the folks here in lower manhattan. i'm in east hudson and avenue d. lower east side. the other bad news, as you can

see around me, except for the lights that we've brought in, there's no power here. that is due to a power plant about 14, 15 blocks north of that exploded. so they shut it down. by shutting it down they've knocked out power intentionally to this area here. this is a flood zone area. which means area "a" they call it. people here were already asked to leave their homes. some didn't. earlier this morning we spoke to a gentleman who was going to check on his mom, 74 years old. she decided she was going to wait out the storm. she didn't want to evacuate. these buildings, pitch black but she's in her building with her neighbors and they've got candles going and they've just decided that they're going to stick it out for as much as they can. the water is receding and that's good news, as well. where i'm standing right now, this was under water 10:30 last night. it's gone back out behind me. i guess i should point this way. that's fdr drive. saw very dramatic pictures of it under water. there's still water back there. every hour it is receding more and more. there were cars that were

submerged back there. as soon as the light comes up we'll move down this way a little bit more to give you a better picture of what's happening here on the lower east side in manhattan. let's get right to mike galanos. he is in atlantic city, new jersey. he's been following this story from there for us this morning. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. and same with you. in the situation here in atlantic city the water has receded. where i'm standing now the water was lapping over my feet. and as i was walked back and standing in it last night a few short hours ago, it was a foot deep, foot and a half, two feet and continued on, and as you continue walking you're heading into the ocean here. that's when it was at its worst last night. 8:00, 9:00, the storm surge and the high tide met with the wind and rain. it was absolutely brutal. that's why new jersey's governor chris christie wanted mandatory evacuations. he is not that happy with atlantic city's mayor lorenzo langford because governor christie is saying he gave the folks here comfort to stay.

most got out of here. 500 or 600 people had shelters here and then the cherton hotel where we were staying, that became a makeshift shelter for some families who thought they could ride it out. some had pets. the next thing you know, their dogs and families and people just trying to make that a home as they continue to ride it out. the wind continues to howl here and we're waiting for daybreak in atlantic city to see how bad things are, soledad. >> all right, mike. thank you for the update. want to get to a phone call with chief ralph verdi from little ferry, new jersey. thank you for talking with us, sir. want to update everybody on what's happening in this breaking news story in bergen county. the southern part of bergen county, new jersey. we know that there are three towns, one including little ferry, have been affected by this levee break. any more information on exactly what happened? >> at this point, ma'am, all we know is that a levee located in moonachie broke at the height of the storm.

start getting extreme heavy floodwaters somewhere around 9:00 p.m. we had to evacuate our shelter that we had set up. we used those people to a building which also began to flood. now the shelter in bergen county oem set up a shelter teterboro and shipping people there. we are still doing rescues. full rescues from houses. we have between four to six feet of water in different sections of town. and right now about 75% of the town is affected. >> so talk to me a little bit about some of those rescues. i know that moonachie is really the focus there. there's been a trailer park that's completely inundated so people are on the roofs of their homes waiting to be rescued. can you tell me a little bit in more detail about some of the rescues that you've been a part of? >> myself, i've been in here working from the inside but i

know the different fire departments and police departments that are assisting us with boats have made rescues, the same thing, we've had a couple houses where low-lying areas, people were up on second floor, they had to take them out the windows. had several medical emergencies we had to take people from the house, put them on a boat, take them to land that was dry enough to turn them over to medical personnel and transfer them to hospital. it's been an extremely difficult night. power is still out and we're doing the best we can. >> i'm sure it is. thank god for the rescue workers getting in there helping these people. this sounds so reminiscent of hurricane katrina which is a storm i cover. that same idea of people on top of their roofs waiting to be rescued. has anything like this ever happened in this region? >> we've had several floods over the years. the nor'easter of '92 which was pretty bad. but nothing that came through this fast. when that levee let go the water

gushed through streets and parts of town that never got water before. so i'm really feel strong that -- and devastation, it is our town in real trouble right now. >> oh, my goodness. oh, well we'll certainly think of you. how many folks do you think have you pulled out and how many folks do you think you still need to rescue from these three towns? >> ma'am, i couldn't speak for others. here in little ferry we're just continuing. we have lists and lists of people who have to be removed from their homes and apartments. and again, we're doing the best we can. so far we know of no injuries. so that's one thing we can be thankful for. but as far as the other towns, i couldn't even tell you. >> well, thank goodness for no injuries is great news. chief ralph verdi little ferry, new jersey, chief of police. thank you for your time. i know you're very busy.

we appreciate the update and get it out to our viewers. thank you. want to check in now, across town is john berman. storm surge was the big story in lower manhattan and their latest fears came true. john? >> an unprecedented storm surge, soledad. 14 feet high. four feet higher than the record which was set back in 1960. and out in new york harbor they were measuring waves 32 feet high if you can believe. six feet higher than the worst they've ever seen. now this was the -- this is the evacuation zone in here. some 370,000 new yorkers told to get out of this zone where i'm standing, and also where you're standing, soledad. many did stay. we're seeing people start walking and biking by here on occasion. but if they did stay, they're without power. the whole lower part of manhattan, as you've mentioned before, without power with that transformer explosion. no word yet when that power will come back on. some 250,000 people without

power right now. but the floodwaters here were worse than they even expected. mayor michael bloomberg, city officials said they knew there would be a storm surge that would be epic. it was beyond epic, really. 14 feet. soledad? >> all right, john berman updating us with what's happening in lower manhattan. he's literally across town from where i am. i'm also lower manhattan. but on the far east side. let's go to zoraida sambolin. she's got a look at some of the other stories weather-related stories making news this morning. "z," good morning. >> good morning to you. a collapsed construction crane is still dangling this morning. it's high above midtown manhattan. we're going to take a live look here. on the left is what the crane looked like before the collapse. and on the right we're going to get that up for you is what it looks like now as it dangles dangerously from a luxury high rise building. the fear here, of course, is that it could plunge to the ground at any time. last night piers morgan talked to a crane expert about the potential danger here. >> there's several different

scenarios. you see that boom hanging down? let's say the house swings around, and the boom gets into the arms that are holding the crane up? that come out of the building. if it hits that, there's a possibility they could be -- they can break. then the crane's coming down. >> let me tell you a little bit about the building, if we can put the picture back up. it's called 157. it is to be the largest residential property in manhattan. about 90 stories when it's completed. the building -- the penthouse in there, this was a super luxury building, for about $90 million. and the crane that's dangling up there is about 15 8 feet tall. it has a 10lele 8 foot boom and a 50 foot jib. it was actually facing the building. with the winds, it somehow came loose and how it's dangling over the side. mayor bloomberg said on friday

they did take a look at that and they deemed it safe at the time. they do have a lot of experts working on the structural engineers trying to figure out how they can secure that. they're still concerned about the winds. but they do have the situation kind of under control. they have cordoned off an area. they have evacuated a hotel in the area, and some other buildings, as well, in order to ensure safety. but still rather unsafe situation there. it's right near carnegie hall, to put that in perspective for you. a sudden rumble then a claude of debris when the facade of a manhattan apartment building is ripped off. just incredible pictures there. this all happens as sandy's intense wind tore through this area. left apartments completely exposed and one firefighter did suffer some minor injuries there. soledad, back to you. >> all right, zoraida, thank you

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welcome back, everybody. philadelphia mayor michael nutter was talking to us yesterday as the storm was approaching. today the storm has come in, and passed. let's talk to him a little bit about how his city fared. thank you for being with us. >> good morning, soledad. >> -- information on how your city is doing. >> sure. well i think the short version is we got through it. and pretty much all plans worked well. we've got trees down. unfortunately, which comes from, of course, intense rains and heavy winds, roadways that are blocked because of trees. and some damage to a variety of properties. but, overall, we have nearly 400 people in shelters. so folks did heed those warnings, and the morning today is really all about assessment, cleanup, and try to get the city back in operating order. so city is closed today. schools are off. and mass transit will not be in

operation, at least in the morning into the early afternoon. but citizens are safe. we have the flooding on the delaware. record flooding on the delaware. and so we're monitoring that, and you know, with the cleanup, as well as schuylkill will continue to rise and crest about 2:00 this afternoon. again, overall, we really did come through it well. proud of my citizens. and great public servants out there doing the job. >> we're glad to hear that. quick question for you before i let you go, give me a time line of how quickly you'll be able to get the city back? some of the pick you'res you're looking at are downed power lines. it looks pretty messy. >> we've got 65,000 without power right now and over 500,000 in the region. our utility peco energy is an expert at getting people back up and running. we've seen that time and time again. so i would expect through the course of the day, we should see

significant decrease in those numbers. but, as you well know, it will take some time. this is tedious work. it's dangerous work. and once the sun comes up, and everybody could see really what's going on, that should help to speed things up. but what we ask right now is really mostly patience, and just an understanding that we're doing our best and we'll do it as quickly and as safely as possible. >> mayor michael nutter. the mayor of philadelphia. thank you for talking with us, sir. appreciate your time. >> thank you, soledad. >> let's head back indoors. christine romans has an update of some of the financial impact of this massive storm. christine, you heard in philly it looks like, knock on wood, and so far the damage has not been terrible. but still, it's going to cost money. >> it is. and you're going to see several days, soledad, of basically depressed commercial activity. so a lot of people who rely on the day-to-day work in these towns are going to have a few days before business is going to

get back to normal. and that really includes transportation, as well, soledad. here in new york, the mta says it could take up to four days to get water out of new york city subway tunnels. seven east river tunnels are flooded. the chairman says the city subway system has never faced this kind of disaster in its 108 years. check out this picture of a train station flooding, tweeted by the port authority of new york and new jersey. the port authority saying it shows floodwaters gushing into a commuter train underground station, up through an elevator soft in hoboken, new jersey. it's unclear when the trains will resume service. there's still a lot of water there. and speaking of floodwaters, this is what it was like inside the vent building at the holland tunnel yesterday. officials closed the holland tunnel yesterday afternoon as the threat from sandy loomed. but as you can see, soledad, there's a lot of work to be done, a lot of work to be done overall here. also we talked about money. for the first time in over a century the new york stock

exchange will be closed for a second day in a row due to weather. the last time you had the nyse closed for two days because of weather, it was 1888 and it was a blizzard. the nasdaq, also bond markets are closed today, as well. and stock futures are being traded electronically for about the next three hours until 9:15 a.m. eastern. future, soledad, for the dow, the nasdaq and s&p 500 are all down a little bit. but you will not have regular trading today of some of those major financial products. soledad? >> you won't have a lot of regular lots of stuff today. as lots of the city is shut down. christine romans, thank you for the update. come back in just a moment. we're going to talk about snow. yes, this storm, remember we talked about the reason this is a superstorm is because it's actually joined up with other systems. one of those systems bringing snow to parts of west virginia. we'll update you on what's happening there. we're back right after this commercial break. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

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welcome back to our special coverage of the devastation that is caused by superstorm sandy. you've seen the storm causing massive flooding. but it is also causing snow. martin savidge is right outside kingwood, west virginia and these are the things we know about sandy. she is fierce and she is wide. you are surrounded by snow.

>> absolutely. yeah, we are in the middle of a blizzard here. we're in the higher elevations of the mountains of west virginia in preston county, one of 11 counties in this state currently under a blizzard warning. this area is under a triple threat. a blizzard warning, a high wind warning and we've got a flood warning all in effect right here. it's only going to get worse and it will go, at least that blizzard warning, until about 6:00 tonight, we are told. the only way you're seeing us is the head lights of our vehicle. the power is out here. about 120,000 people in the state without electricity. but the big problem, you can see, it's just piling up behind us. the mountain already forming in the back of this parking lot here. this is really wet, heavy, thick, difficult snow. we've got huge chunks of it here and it's coming down faster than the plows can really take care of. the other problem, of course, with that heavy, wet snow it's pulling down the power lines. there was plenty of light when we first got here.

now it's totally dark. no lights out in the stores. so we know that the power in the media area has gone out. the winds are going to build. the snow is coming down faster than the plows can move it, and it's like this in much of the higher elevations of west virginia. what sandy looks like here. not a flooding event. it is a whiteout event. zoraida? >> martin we saw a graphic that went up next to you that says one person is dead. how are folks holding up? >> well, they're doing well. i explain this state is faring better than some of them. but this is really where they're going to start feeling it. they've got about 30 counties that have closed down schools today because of the potential danger of both flooding and snow. they're also telling people not to go out if they don't have to go out. so i think that the real danger is going to be traffic accidents. that's the one fatality they've had so far in the state. they hope that people will just heed the warnings and stay inside. but right now out here, once the sun comes up it's going to look even worse than it did. >> all right, martin savidge

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from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. morning, welcome, everybody. it's 6:30 in the morning on the east coast. we begin our coverage with some breaking news to get to. there are thousands of people across three new jersey towns who might need to be rescued from their homes because there has apparently been a levee break. it happened just after midnight in bergen county, new jersey. right now they're using trucks. they're using also boats. they're trying to rescue the folks in the towns of carlstadt, little ferry and moonachie. i spoke to the chief of little ferry police department, ralph verdi and he talked a little bit about some of the rescues that are under way. here's what he said. >> we are still doing rescues.

full rescues from houses. we have between four to six feet of water in different sections of town. and right now, about 75% of the town is affected. >> so what we are told is absolutely devastating. that there are people who are on top of their roofs of their home, if they are in a trailer park in moonachie, for example. apparently that has been inundated with four and five feet of water. those folks have climbed onto the roofs of their homes and they are waiting to be rescued. they have called for help from other counties to help, as well, and it is really cold out here. so once can imagine just how horrible it must be for the people. we've got a cnn crew heading there. we will bring you pictures of what is happening there across those three towns in the southern part of bergen county, new jersey, as soon as we can get our crews there. another breaking story to tell you about. 24 homes are on fire. it's happening in breezy point in queens, the rockaway section of queens. 50 homes already have burned to

the ground. floodwaters and also the dangerous winds are keeping the firefighters from getting in there. some issues with the water pressure, we're told. they can't get in to put out those flames. big problem for them. look at those pictures new this morning. you can see how that fire is just burning out of control. that is the breezy point section of queens in new york. take a look at sandy now. and the satellite loop. it's officially what they're calling a post-tropical cyclone. according to the national weather service, winds of 70 to 90 miles an hour are still possible in the tristate area. sandy has already killed 15 people in the united states. 6.5 million people are without power this morning. we had predictions that there would be as many as 10 million people could that number could grow. and insurers are estimating for us the damage will be somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion. we know that president obama has apparently signed an order that will free up federal dollars for folks who are dealing here in this section of new york where i

am, who are dealing with the aftermath of this storm that has now passed through. so a little bit of good news where we are, which is that it stopped raining. the winds are not as high as they were hours ago. not even in the last two hours when it was still pretty breezy. also the water is receding. this area where i'm standing right now on east houston street avenue "d" for the far lower east side of manhattan. it's actually that the water has receded a lot. a couple of downed trees but there's not very much damage behind me. but straight back there is fdr drive. that was completely flooded which meant all of this was flooded, as well. as every hour goes by this morning the water is receding more and more. we're hoping to be able to get a shot for you when the light comes up a little bit. there are cars down there that were submerged when the floodwater came in. we're going to get a chance to get down there a little bit later as it gets lighter out and you can see what we're talking about. mike galanos is in atlantic city, new jersey. hard-hit. we saw some of those pictures as early as yesterday afternoon. what are you seeing this morning?

>> you know, kind of echo what you had to say, soledad. a lot of water has receded. where i'm standing now the water was lapping over my feet and the further back you go, and i was standing in that, as well, last night, as this storm hit in full, i mean it was a foot, foot and a half, two feet deep, as you continue to walk back. and the mayor of atlantic city saided same thing. he took a drive to check on one of the shelters, couldn't get back. he said when it was high tide, 78% to 80% of atlantic city was under water. that was the concern here. two or three feet earlier in the day but as high tide hit, the storm surge hit, it was five to six feet deep. most folks got out of here. there were 500 or 600 in shelters. the makeshift shelter next to me, the hospital workers who live nearby tried to make the best of it, they were all together as friends but there was one lady, and i asked how

her home was and she just looked at me and tears were beginning to well up in her eyes and she said my home's under water and she did not expect that. i don't think anybody expected that. just this severe. as they walked off she was trying to dry her eyes. the new realization, indeed, her home is under water and what's next. soledad? >> oh, my goodness. that is so sad. 24r are so many people who are dealing with that in the aftermath of this storm. we'll get a better picture of it, as you mention, mike, as the sun comes up. we can see what's happened here. let's get to brian todd in rehoboth beach which is in delaware. see what the damage is where he is this morning. brian, good morning. >> good morning, soledad. right now the concern is power outages in delaware. nearly 44,000 customers in this state without power this morning. and officials are concerned about their well-being for a number of reasons. but a primary reason is because of temperatures in delaware have dropped fairly significantly overnight. it's a lot colder this morning than it was last night when we

were out here. even during the storm. so, the concern of the people without power is pretty prevalent here. and the governor, jack markell, told me last night that his concern about power outages was that the power crews may not be able to get to them as fast as they want to because of wind gusts. wind gusts this morning are not too bad. hopefully the power crews in delaware will be able to deploy fairly quickly. but the governor was concerned about that. one thing that they are grateful for this morning is that the boardwalk and the beaches have held. there's a little bit of a breech here, some of the dunes were breached but overall the rebuilt beaches have held and the board walk is mostly intact, soledad. they were really worried about that. >> that is excellent news. let's get to governor jack markell. brian todd was mentioning him. he's joining us now. nice to talk to you, sir. brian was saying that the pouter outages are your big concern. what can you tell us about that? and really what people want to

know, as you know, is when will it be back on? >> well, as brian mentioned, at this point, about 44,000 homes or businesses without power. it has been a significant storm, serious flooding and the like. but we are as he mentioned the big concern was how long it would take for the utility crews to get out there. back and forth and they've got a lot of people here, they're ready to go as soon as weather conditions make that possible. i said even though the weather model didn't have us squarely in the center of the path we appeared to have escaped some of the worst consequences of this storm. although we have a lot of places flooded out and the power issues. >> any idea, i'm looking at pictures now which we really saw yesterday afternoon of the rush of water coming in to some of the streets, and into frankly some of the businesses. is anyone giving you a number estimate of how much damage that your state has suffered here? >> not yet. we've got people out literally

as we speak checking out damage. emergency officials, local police, state troopers, highway crews, and the like. the good news as the winds subside, they end up being a little bit less than predicted. and just looking at some of the devastation in other states, obviously our thoughts and praisers go out to them, as well. to these delawareans who are suffering through this. >> let me ask you a question about fema. as you know one of the issues in this political climate has been big government versus small government. fema obviously part of big government. because fema writes checks for people who have been hit by devastating storms. would it be possible for the state to cover your governor would it be possible for your state to cover the damages in the state of delaware as you know, governor romney, has mentioned that he thought the states could pick up those costs, and he could remove some of the costs of fema from the -- from the government, federal government to the states? >> you know, i think that's ridiculous.

i mean, because the fema has resources that they can centralize, and make available to states, that states couldn't replicate. whether it's having generators staged in a nearby state. so we don't have to have our own but we can tap into that if we need. so we've been really, really impressed by the response of fema and by their, essentially what happens is they embed with our own emergency management agencies, so it's as seamless as it can possibly be and it's terrific work. >> governor jack markell joining us by phone. nice to talk to you, sir. glad that you're safe and your community wasn't as hard-hilt as many had predicted. we're glad to hear that. we're going to head back in to zoraida. she's got an update for us on some of the stories making news this morning. "z," good morning again. >> good morning, soledad. let's take a live look at the picture of the partially collapsed crane in midtown manhattan. this was knocked down by those really strong winds from superstorm sandy. the crane is dangling from the 70th floor of a luxury high rise, it is under construction

right now. the building is 157. it is slated to be 90 stories tall when it is finally finished. here's what the crane looked like before. it is on the left of your screen, and then after on the right. the concern right now, of course, is the crane plunging to the ground. new york's mayor bloomberg says the crane was just inspected last friday. reportedly there have been numerous complaints about the building, construction, including one questioning its structural safety, as well. we're going to continue to monitor that situation. they have evacuated that building, in particular, partially and have evacuated the area, as well. i know there are engineers working on this and hopefully they will be able to make that situation safe for folks on the ground. it may look and sound like fireworks but those sparks are flying from a pole carrying power lines. this is the story of queens. the result of superstorm sandy. con ed reports the storm has left more than 600,000 customers without power. this is the most in their entire history.

about 260 patients at the nyu langone medical center, including little babies and the elderly and intensive care evacuated because of sandy. there was massive flooding and a failed backup generator, and so ambulances had to transport everyone to nearby facilities. this was all last night. started about 1:30 in the morning. some of the patients had to be carried down 15 flights of stairs, with 12 feet of standing water in the elevator shaft, as well. those folks are working fast and furious. there were some children in the nicu that were on respirators and the nurses were actually manually pumping lung into their airs as they got them into the ambulances. and the storm is shattering records. the storm surge in lower manhattan peaking at 13.88 feet at 9:24 last night. that is nearly four feet higher than the record set in 1960 by hurricane donna. that is according to the national weather service.

and record wave heights as well reported at 11:26 last night. this is in new york harbor. 23.5 feet. and that broke the previous record by 6 1/2 feet. and that was recorded during hurricane irene. and that of course was just last year. wow, soledad. that is a monster, monster storm. those are very scary-looking graphics. zoraida, thanks for that update. ahead this morning, going to take a short break. ahead, we'll talk to a family that was trapped by the floodwaters. they've got photos to show us of what they went through. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v,

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we've been calling it superstorm sandy. but where is she going next? in our atlanta extreme weather center we have more on that. >> good morning, soledad. we are still tracking sandy and the last winds were at 55 and that's sustained. notice what's happening. here is the center, what's left of superstorm sandy, moving over towards the west. located about 90 miles away from philadelphia. look at all this rain out there, still. for boston, maine, we're looking at lake-effect snow affecting parts of ohio, and look at that, spreading towards areas, including indiana. as we zoom in a bit more for you, notice for washington, d.c. as well as into baltimore, look at that rain down there, trying to get a little bit of that, possibly some sleet in there. today, we do have a day where we're going to be seeing winds

gusting to 60, 65, anywhere you see this. this is going to create a danger especially for those high profile vehicles, taking down power lines. that could make the problem even worse. now the other part of the story, the snow that's been coming down in west virginia. we want to show you, we're still expecting potentially another 12 inches, 20 inches of snowfall for areas, including west virginia, the temperatures, they feel like the teens there. so yes, it's cool across parts of the mid-atlantic, as well as new york. where we're seeing temperatures in the 50s and 40s. but imagine the people in west virginia, where they don't have power, and it feels like 18 degrees right now. soledad? >> oh, it is bad. >> absolutely. >> all right, jennifer. jennifer delgado for us this morning. thanks, jennifer. appreciate it. still ahead this morning, going to bring you the story from hoboken, new jersey, a family in their high rise gets trapped. they're stuck. they're on the 14th floor with two small children, and they

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welcome back, everybody. the rosen family in hoboken, new jersey, decided to weather the storm in their apartment. it might have been not such a good idea when they discovered that they were trapped with floodwaters surrounding their apartment building. they were unable to even push the doors open to get out. let's talk to jeremy rosen, his wife amy. they've got two small children, nate who is 3 and sydney who is 1. nice to talk to you, jeremy.

why don't you walk me through your thinking. why stay when i know a lot of people around you in hoboken had decided to evacuate? >> well, you know, we evacuated after hurricane irene, and you know, we know hoboken very well. i've lived here over ten years. and this area, even though it's so close to the hudson river, it's a lot higher than some of the other areas. so i was confident that the water would stay below the hudson river would stay below the fences, and we would be safe. unfortunately, at high tide, between 8:00 and 10:00 last night the water just started crashing over the wall. it was very scary. you know the afternoon, which was kind of spent with my family and teaching them words like hunker down, and sort of enjoying nature, really turned to fear when our entire building was surrounded by water, and when we went to the lobby, started to assess the damage they told us we couldn't open the doors because there was about a foot of water above

where the door would have opened. >> so your garage completely flooded, i know. you had a foot of water on the outside. i'm showing while we talk some pictures you shot off your balcony. i think we have some photos, as well. you have two small children and then you started thinking this is actually now very scary. did you regret your decision? >> well, fortunately, you know, during the worst of it the kids were already asleep. you know, our building, we have a large building. i felt safe inside the building. you know, i don't regret my decision to stay in hoboken. i think it's -- i still think it's a very safe area. obviously in retrospect, if i had known that the river would have gone crashing over the wall we probably would have fleed. but, i think the fear was really between myself and my wife. my kids are -- they were fast asleep, and thankfully they're unaware of the amount of danger

that we put them in. >> you're on the fourth floor. and i know you're no longer trapped. my understanding is that the water has receded a little bit. you had a chance to get out of your building and walk around a little bit. is that right? >> yes, that's correct. interestingly, the area that i live is right by the 14th street ferry station. and again, one of the terrifying sights was that it was completely sub merged last night between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. this morning, it was eerily quiet. this is an area where you could have hundreds or thousands of commuters taking the path or the ferry or the bus, and for about 20 minutes i was the only person outside. and even though the water level was down, there was no water on the street, there was debris everywhere. >> hmm. wow. jeremy rosen we're glad to hear that you're safe and your family's safe. thank you for talking with us. hopefully next hurricane you'll be evacuating and you won't make a decision to stick it out. thanks for talking with us. we've got to take a short break.

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