>> good saturday morning to you across the united states and around the world. this is fox news channel coverage of hurricane irene. i am shepherd smith from new york. the national hurricane center with the latest update on the storm. they come out with updates every three hours. not a lot of change. maximum sustained winds at 85 miles per hour . gusts are higher around

hundred have been logged. it is a strong category one at the moment. when the storm made landfall it snapped trees in half. these are live pictures coming to us from atlantic beach. power cuts in 400,000 homes. resort town in maryland, virginia and new jersey are turning into ghost towns. more than 42,000 people in southeast virginia have lost power. in new york city officials are shutting down the mass transit system one hour from now. it serves 15 million people over 5,000 square miles, the largest transportation network of its time. it will shut down for the first time in my lifetime here in an hour. city ordering 400,000 people in the five burroughs was new york city to evacuate. live look in dc, no

politicians are left. they have a camera there and federal emergency management folks to keep us safe will be offering a briefing. we'll hear the latest from fema. first the fox extreme weather center and chief meteorologist rick wright, it is charting a course and appears to follow it. >> it makes it easier when the models are in good agreement for a number of days, you can feel good about it it is on within 20 miles one direction or the other and you don't see that often. we feel good about what is happening to it. by tonightble care and maryland and virginia getting pounded . surge in the bay and rapid water going into delaware bay. hugging the jersey coast and underneath that icon right

there is new york city. tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.. look at the models. it gives you a good idea of what is happening. this is a pretty good model. you like to look at it. when it is so far opposite of what it is doing, you don't count it. >> where is west hampton right there. >> it is not that far. >> that's about right. yeah. but they're all right here. i cannot believe, we'll be talking about a landfalling hurricane or tropical storm around brooklyn and jfk airport. >> that's so weird. >> it is hard to imagine. anywhere to the east of it, getting pummeled with the storm surge and that is a lot more water in the hudson river and that is concerning the city officials and made them close down the transportation sytem and evacuate low-lying areas.

that scenario pushes more water up in the hudson river and the salt water going down in the subway systems and such. >> north carolina, sitting over land, break up or not break up. >> not break up. it is over kind of land and kind of water . so the right about that is over the water. it is all flat. mountainous terrains breaks it over. and land doesn't give a fuel source. it has enough of the water around it. look at the size of visible satellite imagery and people are saying it is a category one storm and weakening and not as big of a deal. look at that. it is a big deal shepherd. >> it is a big deal. >> you said it. >> as it continues to track up, rick. is there anything about the atmosphere that can ditin mish the storm? >> it will diminish a little

bit. it will start to move over colder water, relative, a few degrees cooler and wind shear that will break it up and farther north it goes. there is a storm that is strengthening. we'll see slow diminishing by maybe 10 miles per hour sustained and by the time it gets from there to there and that is neglibble. the storm surge is the same and amount of rain is the same and you will have a prolonged period over saturated ground that you are dealing with 50 or 60 miles per hour winds and trees are down and power is out for a lot of people. a lot of people are not believing it is going to happen. people up here, skepticanew yorkers, it is going to happen there as well >> convincing people who never get it. they get warnings and they never get a storm. this is not that? >> this is not that.

my blackberry and iphone, people texting, is it really going to happen? it is coming and it is really going to happen. you think it is not raining and fine. but it is coming. it is not there yet. this is not the doomsday scenario. there is one for new york city and that would be a category three or four storm that comes from here toward new jersey and you are on the wrong side and that water goes up in the huson. >> i will not here that day. >> none of us will be. we would do it from somewhere else. it is a big sceniarco and strongest storm anybody has seen in their lifetime. >> you talk about the huge rains in the northeast we had a couple of weeks ago that. is a compowning problem with flooding. >> if your ground is saturated and can't more water in and hold it, it comes to the top

and sits there. we had 10 inches was rain in jfk airport and eight everyones in new york city and 12 inches around it and now another 10-12 inches for 24 inches and a period . adding winds 50 or 60 miles per hour and hitting your trees. there is leaves on the trees and more surface area and means they will topple. >> you make it so easy to understand. thank you, rick. i want to go to the federal emergency management agency. fema directors are up and the homeland security janet napolitano. they are holding a new's conference to let us know where we are. >> i spoke with governor perdue this morning, she said they were hunkered down. and they are ready to do damage assessments as soon as possible for assets like the bridges and the roads. irene is a large dangerous

storm and people need to take it seriously and be prepared. as we suggested in the week, think of this in three phases. preparation and reponce and recovery. some of our states are now moving in the response mode, but other states further north in the atlantic sea coast are in preparation mode. if you receive a warning to evacuate, please do so. even if you haven't received a warning during the sphorm, please stay inside, hunker down until the storm pass stay off of the roads until they are cleared for emergency vehicles and first responders. we anticipate heavy rain and potential flooding and significant power outages throughout the area of the storm. which means all up and down the eastern sea board. so with that let me turn it to bill reed who will give you an

update on the storm and then you will hear from craig fuigate. >> thank you, madom secretary. on the image here the satellite visible loop of irene the center of which is 50 miles to the west of cape hatteras and moving north, northeast at 15 miles per hour and the outer banks, and outer bank areas are impacted over the next several hours and next in line is the tight water of norfolk area and adverse conditions will be there. and talking to several relatives in the area and the rainfall is incredibly heavy and water levels are coming up now. i would like to report that a good story coming out of that. the information they have gotten in advance of the storm from the local officials of what to do and not do is outstanding. it fits in with what they should be doing. next picture, please.

radar imagery of these bands coming around the top here. one of those will take on -- they are issuing tornado warnings. you will not get the time line -- [inaudible] the storm surge, tides in the upper of the sound here in the seven and half foot range. by tonight the forecast depending on where you are in the upper edge of the sound here, storm tides will be high and add to that affects of the high waves and beach erosion that is going on. it is a dangerous time on the islands. heavy rain, and large areas was heavy rain, since late yesterday afternoon, we'll see

5-10 and isolated 15 inches in north carolina before the storm exits later today. next slide please. here is the latest forecast track with wind field information on it. by late this evening, it should be moving past norfolk and east to the northwest as it comes past norfolk. hurricane-force wind gusts in the location. sustained may be mostly over the water. remember, there will be a lot of tree damage in that area. i expect to have many reportos that in that area also. and overnight hours, weather on the coast past ocean city and impacting the delaware bay and storm surge and high winds . by early morning moving up the

coastline of new jersey affecting all of the resort areas in new jersey, and in the morning hours and making its next big landfall in new york city. i don't want you to get too carried away. you saw in the radar and satellite imagery. it is a broad area, hurricane-force wind and we'll keep them in the forecast at least for now. right up to final landfall into new england. next slide, please. tropical storm probabilities as we talked about. this gives you an idea of how large of an area likely to be impacted by tropical storm-force winds while hurricane irene makes its trek up the eastern sea board. those last for hours. that's the area we'll focus on

for the wind damage associated with trees coming down and the like. next slide, please. >> if you get higher than a four foot storm surge, right now, the high surge is where it is happening. also point out the likelihood of exceeding four feet in the james river and chesapeak and the ocean and upper chesapeake on this forecast is not looking like it will have the kind of flood issue you saw with isabelle. then the winds will swing the other way. not so fortunate for delaware bay. north of dover, all the way

down to beth any and then of course, into ocean city, we have a high probability of exceeding four feet in storm surge coupled with the waves and beach damage, property at low levels will be damaged. further up the coast looking at the same issue on storm surge in the long island sound and new york metropolitan area. our forecast from the hurricane center, a broadforecast of the four-eight feet. [inaudible] we'll have information to pin point the problem areas on the coast and bays and rivers. it will be in the four-eight foot range. next slide please. of course, the storm we show now. it moves northward and rainfall shifts from being in the northwest corner of the torm. coming in with the weather

features pulling it off to the north. we are expecting 5-10 inches of rain in the midatlantic and new york and metropolitan area. and western part of new england. all of these areas have had excessive rain in the past and ground is saturated and issues with flash flooding and river flooding before it is all over. craig, i am going to turn it to you. >> as we talked about the hazards, i want to key on couple of points. categories of hurricanes doesn't explain all of the rick. you deal with four principle risk with the hurricane. high winds, storm surge and they are tied to the center of circulation and bill talked about rainfall and tornados, they are not tied to the category storm. it may be a category one

hurricane rainfall amounts is not tied to the storm. it is due to the size and speed of the storms. other thing, tornados are quick. bill said they will not be on the ground and the type of tornados we saw this spring but they are devastating. we ask people to stay inside and stay away from the windows and just like you would prepare for a tornado but you will be there for a longer period of time. make sure you have supplies with you. in the immediate aftermath of the storm, we are going to start the response phase in north carolina as irene moves north. best thing people can do is stay home and inside. it is has douce is with power lines and trees down and responder and utility crews don't need to get behind you

when they are trying to help. in the aftermath of a storm many people lose their lives and injured after the storm came through because it is dangerous. finally yesterday, we had announced over the blog that we released one of the apps for the android. we have information coming over the app. and again, what is good about this, it has the information that if you lose connectivity it has the information about what to do during and after the hurricane. it is on the market on the android. go to blog.fema.gov. it will give you the link to that. >> we apologize, they are good at fema, but getting that audio from bill is not one of their strengths that. is not our fault and apologize for how weird it sounded. but we are lucky to go to cape

hatteras in north carolina . jeff is in the hurricane van. update us, jeff. >> if is amazing. i am on the north shore of cape hatteras. right now, i can walk across the sound. it is empty. but in the bottom, it looks like six inches at the most in the entire sound. i can see for three miles, there is no water. i can walk across the sound. there is a hundred yard wide and 15 fot high and four feet deep on high 12 on the outer banks of cape hatteras. and the locals tell me winds swept around and hurricane passing by. we come around southwest.

areas from frisco west under five foot of the water is what the localls told me. we evacuated and just 30 minutes going. and comes back in to frisco and entire sound has mow water. it is an amazing sight. it will come back rushing in. >> four feet of the sand on the highway. >> that is correct west of the frisco between cape hatteras and frisco. it is a major breach on the sand do you know about hundred yards wide. it is like a wall of water knocked the sand do you know down and deposited if west of frisco. a lot of people were squared when the water came rushing

back. there is no sand do you know on the west side. and it could be big problems. >> jeff with the hurricane van traveling along. we got word of the first death in the storm. north carolina man went outside of his home to look around . a tree limb blew down and killed him. authorities are warning, to stay in the house. a serious storm. fox news channel continuous coverage after this. t if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

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>> shepard: it is past 11:00 in the out are bankings in north carolina. hurricane irene coming ashore. these are live pictures from the hurricane hunter. jeff is in north carolina. i will update you where the storm has come ashore. worst of wins and rain from hurricane irene raking the outer banks was north carolina. sheets of rain flooding streets and winds gusting to near hurricane-force ripped off signs and fences. ocean water is rising and the beach and waves are lapping at what is left of the dunes. wind gust of 84 miles per hour reporting in a pier in duck, north carolina. further down the outer banks.

sustained wines at cape hatteras. itate officials closed highway 12 south of the bridge water is covering it. people are parking their vehicles on the highest part of the island. there is four feet of sand on one part of highway 12 and the bay there, and the sound has emptied out of the water. you understand how they move in a counter clock wise. it is pulling the and bays on the left hand side of the storm. that sound is on the left hand side. and as it moves by. wins will shift and then hit from the other side and then the sound will fill up. it will happen minutes from now. and the question about the storm, we have word from the state of virginia, that they are closing down roads and shutting off mass transit.

it is scheduled to end at 5:00 with a light rail in baltimore. bus service to end at 9:00. all of they shore. jersey shore. they are expect being high wind and heavy surf and do you know problems as well. and then as the storm move further to the state of new york, it is a tomorrow morning event. the question will be east or west of the new york city? our models have it going in to lower manhattan. probably it will go on one side or the other. right to the city it will empty out through new york harbor and in the hudson river, i don't know. it is great. to the left of it, it will fill it up . either way the city of new york warned that it plan to shut off power to the vulnerable areas which means the west village right by the hudson river and souther tip

of manhattan where battery park is, the area filled with the dig out of the world trade center and they built land on the end with battery park city. that's the pot where you can see new york harbor and see the brand new world trade center. that is where julie ban daras is. tomorrow morning, you will have a front row seat. >>reporter: yeah, absolutely and storm surge is the biggest concern. we are talking category one and 70 miles per hour winds many in florida laugh at us and think it is no big deal. they go through it all of the time. in new york city we haven't had a direct hit since 1821 and the last hurricane passed near the area was hurricane gloria. mayor bloomburg issuing strong warnings and a mandatory evacuation for what they call

zone a, battery park behind me. it is new york harbor and the statu of liberty. however, all of this area evacuated last night includes 400,000 people. shelters are set up to accommodate 70,000 people. but the mayor are urging people. to head to the shelters as soon as possible. we have experienced light rain on the harbor side. obviously the situation will get more serious which is why people need to head north to get out of the area. mta is closing down all subway and buses and public transportation and as a new yorker. many people don't owncars. after noon today, if you don't have an mta ticket and on the way out all you have is your two feet and car and taxis. i am sure taxi service will be slowed down as well. new jersey transit is shut

down. this is the first time that subways have been shut down due to weather in new york city history. a category 1 70 miles per hour winds is not sounding serious for those in the south, it is for new york. we should mentio the five burroughs including coney island and battery park city and rockaways and the queens, they are under mandatory evacuation . the bridges are a concern. manhattan is an island. in order to get to manhattan and out. you have to travel over a bridge or through a tunnel. bridges will shut down if the winds get to 60 miles per hour or over. think about air travel. five major airports and the three biggest is newark in new jersey and jfk international in new york where rick wright said may be where the city hurricane touches down and then la guardia airport.