>> very, very cold. >> reporter: i'm not going to hold you back, ma'am. you got your most precious possession here, right? >> yes. >> reporter: are you doing all right? >> yes. >> glad to be safe. thanks for talking to us. >> a lot of these people coming out dob the have shoes on their feet. >> reporter: they don't. they must be freezing. >> this is one of their live reporters on the scene right now in a place called little ferry, new jersey. there was a breach of a levee, a berm of some sort overnight that flooded this neighborhood and a few other neighborhoods actually within moments. almost no warning at all and many of these people have had to be rescued. governor chris christie of new jersey took to the airwaves not long ago to talk about the state of the state in terms of the emergency and mentioned these communities specifically and how the live rescue is ongoing not

only by helicopter and surveillance but as you can see, on foot and by rescue boats as well. just a few moments ago a live reporter watching as rescuers brought out a small baby, a child, and an elderly woman all at the same time. we're going to be listening in throughout the next few moments. let's hear what's happening now. >> reporter: -- every time there is a major emergency and these guys are just stepping up and women stepping up to the plate. let me see if i can get somebody -- gentlemen, can you -- sorry. actually just trying to figure out if there's more coordinated effort. let me walk over one more time in the staging area and show you some of the faces here, mike, if we can over in the area with some of the people who are waiting here to be rescued -- should i say to be taken away and find emergency shelter. you know, there's a woman who is just standing there with -- the

one we saw earlier with her dog and her little bag and she looks so cold. and, you know, as we said earlier, the people holding the babies and it's just -- this picture really says, i think, so much about the devastating impact of this hurricane. >> sara, can you make out who is coordinating the effort there? does it look like it's little ferry police? is there a county presence? a state presence? >> reporter: it's a multijurisdictional task force is what we're told, and, you know, i just don't know if i can stop and get anybody here. >> right, because clearly they have priorities of rescuing folks. we do hear the coast guard helicopter that's been hovering above you and you can only imagine they're probably surveying the damage and the extent of all the flooding from the sky and there it is. is it a coast guard helicopter or perhaps a state police helicopter? >> reporter: you know what? i'm just trying to get this gentleman right here. hang on. bear with me for one second. sara wallace, channel 7.

>> as we continue to watch the pictures coming out of the local affiliate wabc, channel 7 in new york as we watch those helicopters hovering and speak to those local officials about their rescue efforts, we also have the mayor of new york city, this is a multistate emergency and the mayor of new york city, michael bloomberg, is getting ready for a live news conference to update this city as well. he has a number of his staff behind him and a lot of different moving parts for the crisis. notwithstanding a terrible fire and flooding. let's listen. >> thank you. we're joined by senator chuck schumer and council speaker christine quinn and we're here to update you on hurricane sandy which has now officially left the new york city area, but i think it's fair to say that the path of destruction that she left in her wake is going to be felt for quite some time. make no mistake about it, this was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced.

our first responders have been doing a heroic job protecting our city and saving lives and they are still fighting fires and conducting life-saving search and rescue missions, and we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. the storm bought something like 23 serious fires to parts of staten island, brooklyn, queens, city island and the bronx. the terrible fire on breezy point is now under control but we believe we lost more than 80 houses. and the search and recovery operations there are ongoing. if any of you saw the pictures on television, it looked like a forest fire out in the midwest. the winds were just devastating blowing from one building to the next one and those buildings were close together. we are hoping and praying that there was no loss of life in those fires, but even if we can save every life, which kn we kn people have lost their homes,

and i want them to know they have our full support in the days and weeks ahead. the 76 shelters we opened will remain open today and we will continue to keep shelters open until people displaced by the storm can safely return to their homes or find temporary housing. our first priority in this storm was and continues to be protecting lives, and that's why we ordered an evacuation of the areas most at risk and why we worked so hard to get people out. sadly, the storm claimed the lives of people throughout the region, including at least ten in our city, and tragically we expect that number to go up as information continues to come in. and i did want to extend my condolences to all the families who lost loved ones in the storm and ask all new yorkers to keep them in their thoughts and prayers. in addition to the lives we lost, the damage we suffered across the city is clearly expensive and it will not be repaired overnight. the two biggest challenges

facing our city going forward are getting our mass transit system up and running and restoring power. this morning we have begun the work of clearing and reopening bridges and roadways, both of which will take some time, and the best ways new yorkers can help us get this done quickly is to stay off the roads. the work is well under way. east river bridges have already been reopened. the work of getting our mass transit grid and our power grid restored, however, is going to take more time and a lot of patience. mta ceo joe lohda has described this as the worst disaster in the 108 years the subways have been running and con ed has described the damage done to its power systems as unprecedented in scope. so clearly, the challenge our city faces in the coming days are enormous. the mta and con ed both have very strong leaders and extraordinarily dedicated workers. they're working extremely hard and they will continue to work

around the clock to get their systems fixed. our administration will move heaven and earth to help them so we can get back up and running as quickly as humanly possible, but the damages that they face really are enormous. here is the information that we have as of this moment. regarding con ed and the mta, the most recent report has three-quarters of a million new yorkers without power. there are something like 326 buildings and 59 public housing developments without power. that's about 60,000 people in more than 26,000 apartments and many of them are in zone a. the steam system in manhattan south of 42nd street was shut down as a preventative step by con ed. that affects heating, air conditioning, ventilation systems, including many of our honts, and because they shut it down pre-emptively, wire hopeful the steam system can be restored fairly soon. i spoke to con ed's ceo.

any assistance we can provide we will talk to him again later on, but i think it is fair to say that you should expect given the extent of the damage, power may be out in lots of places for two or three days and maybe even a little bit longer than that. there is extensive flooding in all under river subway tunnels, subway yards where rail trains are typically stored also flooded, and i think that shows the wisdom of joe lohda in moving trains out of there to higher ground. i don't think there was any damage done to the rolling stock, but the tunnels are flooded, and that's going to be a big problem to get them back going. public transportation remains closed until further notice is a good way to think of it. there's no firm time line for the reactivation of bus or train service, but i'm sure the mta will do everything it can to have limited bus service perhaps this afternoon and hopefully we'll be able to announce or joe

lohda will be able to announce restoration of most bus service by tomorrow. we certainly think the roads by tomorrow will be clear and free of water. all major airports serving the metro area are closed today. runways are flooded and there are no flights leaving or arriving. how much damage was done to the navigation equipment and lighting around them we don't know yet. to help people get around i've signed an executive order that the permits cab drivers to pick up multiple passengers even if a passenger is already in the cab. it will also allow livery and black cars to pick up passengers off the street anywhere in the city. these measures will be in place as long as mta service is out. if you use one of these cars, please make sure that the car has a tlc license plate. now, let me bring you up to date on our hospitals. we reported last night that nyu downtown and the manhattan veterans hospitals were closed. nyu langone also had to be

evacuated overnight. that is virtually complete. bellevue hospital has lost power, but at the moment is operating on backup power. coney island hospital has been evacuated. the department of health is sending people to each of the hospitals and chronic care facilities in zone a. we have had significant challenges at many of our hospitals and health care facilities. fortunately, as of now, there has been no storm-related fatalities at any of them. there are more than 6,100 people in our emergency shelters, and i'm happy to say there are more than 2,200 city staff working in those shelters right now. a number of our shelters lost power last night, but we were able to get backup generators to those that didn't have one. we received almost 4,000 tree service requests since the storm began. those are for damaged or fallen trees. the majority of those are in queens. let me just urge everybody, 311 for downed trees please or text

311 to report damage. they represent a real and serious danger and we have seen tragic proof of that today. yesterday a partly damaged crane at a site on west 57th street required evacuation of the immediate vicinity. the department of buildings has determined that the crane is currently stable. however, we can't fully secure the crane until the wind dies down. the procedure is when the winds die down to try to get the boom and strap it to the building and then we could reopen the streets and then over a period of time the contracting company will have to figure out a way to build a new train on top and take that one down. schools, as you know, are closed today and i'm announcing they will also be closed tomorrow. as to city employees, here is what we've told them. new yorkers need your help today work -- >> as the mayor moves into some of the more local issues now concerning the people of new york city, he just mentioned 1.1

million school kids out of school again today and here are the other highlights from where mayor bloomberg just said. new york city is known as a traffic hub for the entire world, not today. all three airports remain closed, the three major airports, newark and jfk and laguardia, those runways all flooded. not only that, but the public transportation this is he is known for, the subways, the tunnels, many of them all still closed. the priority is to get that mass transportation system back up and running and also to get power back to the 1.5 million people -- excuse me, at least 1.5 million people who are without power in this city. that is also a priority for the mayor as well. he also said stabilizing that crane, which is really a perilous situation for so many people who live in that very, very concentrated neighborhood, that arm literally bent all the way from the left-hand side of the screen to the right bottom of the screen in the heavy winds

and that is dangling and that's 70 stories above the skyline of manhattan. you can imagine with gusts of wind, that is very frightening. i drove through those streets last night. they are closed off with a large va sin ivicinity. for now that remains a dangerous situation. many faces of the superstorm unbelievable. one of them in queens, new york, a massive fire overnight. you heard the mayor updating the number of homes, 80, 80 homes burned to the water line. the flooding, in fact, was hampering those efforts to fight the fire but they seem to have gotten it under control. our cnn's deb feyerick is there in the breezy point neighborhood. some of the pictures we're seeing from overnight just such a sad story. most importantly though, deb, do we know that everybody got out alive? >> reporter: yeah, ashleigh, we're having a little trouble hearing you. i know you're talking to us here at breezy point. right now let me just bring you up to date a little bit because

it looks like some of the reinforcements have arrived. members of the national guard who are here, some ambulances, firefighters are on scene, the nypd's emergency services units also now. they're sending divers just to scour some of the homes closest to the water to see if anybody is inside and just to sort of assess the damage. a lot of people have arrived really within the last 45 minutes to an hour. as you see this wind and this rain that's just kicked up, this is what's so crazy about it. you almost feel like this superstorm just keeps kicking and kicking and kicking. i don't know if we have enough cord, you can see boats, they're planning on putting some boats in the water. we shot some video earlier, i don't know if you've got that, but it really looks, ashleigh, as if this storm just took a massive sledgehammer and just started pounding away at the homes. some of the entire fronts completely shattered.

homes off their foundations. you have others sinking into the sand. water continues to rush back out into the bay. we were walking in some of those -- the thing about breezy point is that you've got homes, wooden homes side by side. that's why you lost so many homes in one go in part because one home caught fire and then the rest just started coming down afterwards. you had a combination of floods. you had a combination of fire. one man said it looked like a war zone. another man said it was almost like a mini hiroshima. you look and the houses have been raized to their foundation. we're not talking about one or two cars, we're talking about more than 50 submerged. the damage still has to be assessed. members of the national guard, this is a very tight-knit community. folks are trying to get into their homes. some are able to and they're not finding too much damage. a little bit of water and flooding, but others, there's significant damage, and there are those clearly who don't know whether their homes are still standing. so that's where we are.

probably about 20 after 8:00 this morning when the impact of this began to dawn, that we saw this incredible rainbow that sort of lit up the sky and for a brief moment everybody paused and everybody caught their breath because it was so moving, but a lot of people right now just really trying to process this and it's hard. >> and, deb, the mayor was just giving a news conference talking about the death toll, which is ten people in the new york city area, but he said he believes that toll is expected to go up. i don't know if you can hear me, but do you know if all of those people got out alive? >> reporter: no, ashleigh, i'm having a little trouble hearing you. that's one of the things. these winds are knocking out a lot. there's no electricity. we want to let you know that they turned out all power here. the reason, of course -- >> we're getting some signal breakup on deb feyerick's line and obviously she's having trouble hearing. i will get that question

answered for you. i think it's critical and i'm sure that they're trying to get that information as well as they start to go from house to house and neighbors start to confer with one another. we're going to get a quick break in just before i do though i want to let you know, we have a lot more to cover. there are a number of states that are in this emergency and millions of people without power. more after the break. >> the ocean heights marina inform egg harbor township, we saw another boat that ended up after sandy in a different spot from where the boat started before sandy because you wouldn't have parked a boat across a road like that. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy.

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rob. >> reporter: well, i can tell you we'll start with the good news. first of all, there's no serious injuries or fatalities here in asbury, but a tremendous amount of damage. we're at low tide now. the ocean is still churning pretty good, the sun is prying to break through but the winds are pumping. we have a lot of debris on the beach and boardwalk. this line of what used to be stores and probably souvenir shops, now it's just used really to store stuff. that's pretty much gone. these holes are kind of strewn throughout the boardwalks. they're designed to pretty much relieve pressure as the water goes underneath them so it doesn't rip the entire boardwalk off. this stretch has done okay. where our cameras can't get down to the south, the southern part of the sound, that part of the boardwalk has seen tremendous damage. where the we're walking right now, this is where the brunt of the storm surge came through last night around 8:00, 9:00. it really started pouring down

here with huge waves taking all sorts of debris, ripping up parts of the sidewalk and sea debris as well. here is just a piece of concrete, we have logs, and then rocks. these lamps a lot of them were just completely torn off. this brick building, the backside of it seeing a decent amount of damage. so it's going to take some time for these folks here in asbury park to pick up the pieces. two roofs of senior citizens did not evacuate. they were without power but they're okay, but, again, lots of damage here in this scene likely echoed up and down the jersey shore. >> among 2 million of their neighbors without power. rob marciano live in asbury park. thank you for that tour. it really helps to show how far that surge went. we also have an update for you on a story we started telling you about yesterday. it was a crisis yesterday, and it is a disaster today. the sinking of the tall ship

"hms bounty." you're looking at the rescue effort right now. the u.s. coast guard saying the search is still ongoing for the missing captain. the captain "the bounty" was one of the people who was missing yesterday. that ship went down off the outer bank. he's been identified as 63-year-old robin wallbridge. he with 14 crew members were on that boat. the 14 crew members were pulled out of the water in those dramatic rescue shots that you saw the coast guard and their helicopters, you know, out in this terrible weather during the hurricane. but they were forced to abandon the ship because look at the condition. the ship ultimately going down. the guard says that one missing deck hand identified as claudene christian was found, but we are sad to report that miss christian did not survive. they did recover her body and took her to the hospital but she was pronounced dead. man these guys are slow.

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also be watching road conditions so they can advise ems personnel and other emergency services here is where the problems are. >> there is a reason we're calling this superstorm sandy.

it's not hyperbole. it truly is an amazing event. flooding isn't the only concern. we're also watching snowfall because sandy mixed with a cold front to produce this. it's a blizzard, and it's a dangerous one. one of the reasons we have so much coverage that extends inland as well. cnn's martin savidge is in kingwood, west virginia, about 100 miles south of pittsburgh, and the snowfall there, i have been watching you all morning, it looks as though you're in the rockies. what's the expectation where you are? >> reporter: well, ashleigh, i mean the expectation is anywhere from a foot, with he clearly have that already, you can just take a look, but it could be two feet, three feet depending where you are in the upper elevations of the state of west virginia, and right now we're under a blizzard warning. pretty easy to see why. it may look like fog but this is heavy snow that's coming down. we're also dealing with very strong winds. that's why we're under a high wind warning, and then if you can believe it, we're also under

a flood warning. so it's a triple whammy here. and this snow is a really thick, heavy kind which is the problem when you look out there. you have the high winds blasting into the trees. these ones are doing okay but we went down the road a bit and it is very, very difficult driving, plus the tree limbs are coming down, they're exploding literally, the branches, and cascading down. that is just making it extremely dangerous to be out. dragging down the power lines. power is out for the entire area here and also for about 240,000 people in the state of west virginia. so truly very difficult, but, you know, that's what's so amazing about this storm is yesterday you saw it coming ashore, the storm surge, up in the mountains this is what it looks like, and it's a full-blown blizzard all the way through today, maybe even through tomorrow depending on what area of the state, many of the roads impacted. i could go on and on but you can

see for yourself. >> it's amazing, martin. look, you and i grew up in canada and there are a lot of communities that can handle snow like that but you're in west virginia. do they have what it takes to clear that let alone the flooding that's now possible? >> reporter: yeah, no, they do. these areas are accustomed to heavy snow. they just aren't accustomed to getting it say the day before halloween. if you want to talk about any bright spot, and maybe we should just to try to lift some people's spirits, there are a couple ski resorts, including snowshoe which is a big one two hours to the south, they actually plan to or think they can open. if they do, it would be about the earliest opening they have ever had. that's the good side of the storm, but otherwise it is predominantly bad, and here getting worse, ashleigh. >> cnn's martin savidge in the bid blidst midst of a blizzard.

people are without power in wrve and this is not going to come as a surprise to you. this is one of many areas that has been declared by the president as a disaster area. >> we thought it was going to be a normal florida hurricane and then we started looking at the weather and things aren't the same as a normal hurricane.

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chris christie, just spoke to reporters within the last hour. >> units from central and south, middleto middletown, belmar, are beginning search and rescue operations. we saw significant tidal flooding in several areas. everywhy were jersey city to new york bay area, sayreville, none mackie, and little ferry. in moonachie and little ferry we have dispatched state and federally assisted teams to assist in rescues. >> cnn's maggie like is at an evacuation center within that community right now. tell me what you're seeing where you are, maggie. >> reporter: ashleigh, we are seeing people pour in still from emergency vehicles that are being rescued from their homes. i want to turn to a family that just got out of one of those vehicles. they were rescued from moonachie. what can you tell us, what happened? >> last night we were about to go to sleep and actually we were

like in the bed and my husband heard something loud and he woke up, and he saw in the backyard and i think he realized that water started to come in the house and we just ran downstairs and i checked the garage door and like literally we have in the five minutes we actually took out the stuff as much as we can. >> it came up very quickly. >> just five to ten minutes like the whole ground floor was flooded. >> reporter: you have been waiting all night to be rescued. you're here with your two children who are being so brave about this who just drove in on the truck. how scared were you? >> i was scared last night really and i was about to say that like we actually tried to call in the town but nothing was working last night and in the morning i think my husband called two people and let them know that we were in the house and we actually scared and some people responded that, okay, somebody will be there and they

will take you out. >> reporter: thank goodness he was able to get a call out. how much water is still near your house and how were you taken out, by boat, by truck? >> the water you mean? >> reporter: how high was the water? >> like now it's almost like one foot i think i would say in the house. >> in the house. and how were you and your family evacuated? how did you get guys get out? on a boat? did a boat come get you? >> no. >> reporter: in a truck? >> truck. >> reporter: they're being very brave. where is your husband now? >> he's in the mouhouse with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. >> reporter: these people are coming off, some of them barefoot, holding a diaper bag. >> that leads me to ask you what about the earthen barrier that was breached? we still have high tides and

flooding concerns. is anyone fixing it and will they be able to get those neighborhoods back to at least a condition where they can go and get their things? >> reporter: not even close to that, ashleigh, from what i understand from a bergen county executive we spoke to earlier. they're not even exactly sure why this happened. this is not a zone that sees this type of flooding. there was no evacuation called. this took them completely by surprise. their best guess is it was multiple factors combined that caused this. right now they're not doing any repairs. they are strictly on search and rescue. no fatalities so far but they do not believe they have all the people out. we are watching these trucks still stream in full of people. they say they will go house to house until they get everyone. >> let's hope these numbers stay where you said they were with no fatalities. maggie lake live for us with the rescue efforts ongoing there. more in just a moment. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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this spot right here is considered to be one of the most vulnerable spots for flooding not only today, not only this morning, potentially later today and into thursday and friday as a wall of water comes in from pennsylvania. i will tell you though, we are buttoned up tight here. the floodwalls are up in georgetown and the waterfront and they're going to stay up during this situation. >> what a situation. just a remarkable series of events that this map, which may look innocuous to you, but on the ground in reality has been deadly and very, very damaging. i want to update something that we told you at the top of the hour. mayor bloomberg said all three new york area airports are closed, and i can tell you that at least one of those airports, laguardia, will not be opening

at least tomorrow. according to the governor, andrew cuomo of new york, there's been extensive damage to new york's laguardia airport, and if you have ever landed there, you know it is right at sea level. so the chances are that flooding may not just affect the runways, as mayor bloomberg was suggesting, all three runways for all three airports were flooded. there may be damage to the structure of that airport as well. we'll continue to watch that for you. in the meantime, the destruction elsewhere has been inflicting misery from west virginia to the western great lakes. that is a huge swath. the death tolls have been sort of moving and they are a difficult target, but we can tell you 16 deaths definitely confirmed, solidly confirmed, since this one-time hurricane hit the new jersey coast last evening. 7.5 million homes and businesses without power in 15 states and the district of columbia. hundreds of people in northern new jersey and new york city are

surrounded by floodwaters. many of them are having to be rescued, and when we talk about misery, consider this, a disabled waste water plant in maryland. it is spewing 2 million gallons of raw sewage every hour. 2 million gallons every hour into the river. so that's another crisis they are looking to resolve as soon as possible. natural disaster of this magnitude, the sandy situation, it really leaves many people in awe of the extraordinary efforts to help those people who are in the direct path of danger, and that was the case at new york university langone medical center last night. among the 260 patients who were evacuated after the center lost power yesterday, four tiny newborn babies, each of them on a respirator. you can see the nurse holding that baby. those nurses had to hand pump

those respirators so those babies could breathe. there was no power because the basement was flooded. and some of those babies had to be carried down nine flights of stairs. there's 15 flights at that hospital, so you can damage just how perilous that is for those who were trying to save those little babies and get them to a safer place. at times the only light source going down those stairs were just flashlights, and new york university says that it didn't anticipate that there was going to be such heavy flooding from this hurricane. it didn't evacuate all the patients before the storm hit. most of the hospital's power was knocked out because the basement and the lower floors and the elevator shaft filled up with up to 12 feet of water. one hospital official says the flooding was simply unprecedented. sandy is still a very dangerous storm as well. for some the worst isn't even over yet. meteorologist alexandra steele has had a busy time trying to

track what's been happening and what is about to happen. she's in the extreme weather center for us. so who needs to be worried now? we've got so much damage that we're reporting. you need to take us forward, alexandra, if you can. >> absolutely. we know the damage, the destruction, the death, the flooding. this storm going down in the history books on myriad fronts from the surface pressure, ie, the energy of it, through the rainfall, the snowfall totals. so we know the damage that's been done. so where is it going? right now the latest advisory has it down from 65-mile-per-hour peak winds to 45. that's a good thing. this number, too, though coming down not such a good thing. this is the movement. west at 10 miles per hour. again, continuing to slow, and that is not good. meaning it will take a long time for this to get out. so here is a look at the radar. 9 inches of rain on the eastern flank, the tropical flank of this. 9 inches at the very least on the western flank of this. more snow in charleston, west

virginia, with 8 inches, than they typically see with october, november, and december combined. today through tomorrow, by tomorrow it's only in western new york. as we head from thursday into -- wednesday night into thursday, it's in western new york. western pennsylvania to western new york, still though even on thursday, ashleigh, washington, new york seeing wind gusts 20 to 30 miles per hour. it's not until the weekend this thing filly moves out and our winds completely subside. it's going to take a while. >> did you just say up to 30 miles an hour for new york city? i'm just thinking of that because of that crane that's still dangling up there. >> absolutely. without a doubt. even today winds still gusting at laguardia earlier 59 miles per hour. and it's moving so slowly away that the winds are slowly going to subside. they will subside, but because it's going so slowly, it will take a few days. >> hopefully we can get someone up at the 70-story building to secure that sooner rather than later.

alexandra steele live for us, thank you. keep an eye on things, if you would. i know if you have been watching this, probably been a lot to take in and a lot to process, especially if you're a long way away from the storm, but you can help, and people really do need your help. so if you want to reach out, with he have a great way for to you do it. check out cnn.com/impact. again, cnn.com/impact if you want to help out your fellow americans who are in need right now.

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so once again the job of being president is crowding out the job of seeking the presidency. one short week before the election, president obama is occupied instead with disaster relief and disaster response. and cnn's dan lothian has been watching how this has been unfolding at the white house. this is obviously a delicate situation for any candidate who is on the stump and the stump hasn't been mentioned. tell me what the president is doing at the white house, dan. >> reporter: it is a delicate balance. just to tell you that noise behind me, the leaf blowers, working here to clean up some of the leaves and brachbs kno bran down in the wake of the storm. i'm competing. the president has been getting briefed on the situation with surrounding hurricane sandy. at the same time trying to figure out when he'll be heading back out on the campaign trail. latest word from the white house now, in fact the president will not be heading back out

tomorrow. he'll stay here at the white house. the president was to have gone to ohio, an important battleground state to campaign tomorrow. that has been put on hold. the president can continue to get briefed, stay on top of the situation. he wrapped up not long ago video conference from the white house situation room with a number of top senior members of his team, including defense secretary panetta. also secretary geithner updating the president on the financial markets, vice president biden, we're told, also on that call. based on the readout from the white house, the president got a sense of the coordination ongoing between the federal government, state, local officials. the president also promising that the federal government will continue to assist in any way possible. this comes in the wake of calls that the president has had with state governors and local officials overnight and the impacted areas, new jersey and new york, also declaration --

disaster declarations that were assigned for new york and new jersey and emergency declarations for additional states including virginia and west virginia. the situation remains fluid. unclear beyond wednesday when the president will be heading back out on the campaign trail. it's a critical time, days to go before election day, so the president, the campaign, they want to get back out to encourage early voting and perhaps try to deliver their closing arguments for those voters out there still undecided in those critical battleground states. >> dan, i'll tell you what, as if to say politics does come it a screeching halt in the face of disaster, republican governor chris christie lauding the president's efforts, the disaster relief today, maybe not something that everyone expected but it's a relief to us to not have to hear campaigning on a day like this. dan lothian live at the white house. thank you. what mitt romney is doing as well today. he rebranded what was to be the campaign rally in ohio.

instead it's called a storm relief event. he's in the suburb of dayton, ohio and alongside him is his list of the a-list guests that were scheduled to attend the same venue, the time has changed, the tone has changed. race car driver richard petty is there, country star randy owen is there. mitt romney spoke a few moments ago. we will rerack the comments and let you know what he said about the victims of super storm sandy. >> the trucks, send them into i think new jersey, as a site that we've identified that can take the goods, dispute to people who need them. we won't be able to solve all of our problems with the effort. a lot of people it will be looking for goods though we've gathered these things, as you know. i know that one of the things i've learned in life is, that you make the difference you can. and you can't always solve all of the problems yourself but you can make the difference in the life of one or two people as a

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jumped on a truck to go to the structure fire regular engines couldn't make it down the street we started pulling people out trapped in homes it and was rising in their house and they wanted to get out. very, very brave first responders have been working very long shifts in a lot of states. and helping people who today find themselves displaced. thank god for the red cross, is all i'm going to say as i introduce our next guest. joining me live on the telephone now. ann marie borego, the director. can you give me a status update in terms of number of people, shelters and how you're managing? >> sure. thanks for asking. we actually had almost 11,000

people spend monday night in more than 250 red cross shelters across 16 states. we believe numbers could increase as the storm moves into cleveland, detroit, chicago, and milwaukee with heavy wind, rain, and snow. >> 11,000 people. how long can you manage with that many people? >> we can manage as long as needed. of course we couldn't do the work we do without the help of the american people. put in a plug for donations, i'd appreciate that. >> absolutely. 1-800-red-cross is on the bottom of our screen i want to let you know. >> great. thank you. they can also donate texting red cross to 90999. or they can go to our website redcross.org. >> i want to ask you something else developing last night. as i was in the field i heard word could be a blood shortage. so many blood drives that had to be canceled because of the disaster that was looming. is this really a looming crisis?

>> well, we did preship some blood to the east coast in advance of the storm. you're correct, we've had nearly 300 red cross blood drives that have been canceled due to the storm. we're expecting more will be canceled as well. this represents a loss of as many as 9,000 units of blood and platelet products. we're asking people eligible to give blood, especially in places not affected in the storm, schedule a blood donation now. >> ann marie borega, thanks for joining us, and for all of the work you and the volunteers are doing to help out. if you want to help out or get information 800-red-cross or go to cnn.com/impact. we have a lot of different connections for you to help neighbors as well. don't forget, we're working hard to confirm number of people who have lost their lives and millions of people without power who are struggling to get their lives back up