fox news alert. we have dire warnings and we are waiting to find out if the warnings are right. i'm bill hemmer and special programming continues now. we can confirm five dead as a result of irene thus far. it's 4:00 in new york. how are you doing. i'm doing well. i'm glad you are here to monitor it.

it slammed some of the most populated cities and new york is in the path. its category 1 hurricane and crossing about 85 mile-an-hour winds. >> bill: hundred miles an hour earlier and a little less than that. there are tens of thousands of people out of their homes. more than 400,000 without power. emergency officials warn those outages could last for days. there are other it's mats that already suggest 750,000 people, three-quarters of a million without power at the moment. we are watching this here off the coast of north carolina. this has taken a shot today. >> that is our symbol. that pier has been hit hard. we do have a situation where you have five people who lost their lives in this. you have varying degrees of people thinking it's a big deal. obviously we have a loss of life that is bit difficult and that

is bad news. let's go to john roberts in kill devil hills. how are you doing? >> reporter: we're doing pretty good. the hurricane took an unexpected jog to the right about an hour ago and ever since we have been in the thick of it. we think the eye passed us as the hurricane makes its way up the coast. reflecting on the pictures on atlantic beach. we were there wednesday or thursday and i remember walking out that pier. they lost half of that hurricane six years ago and was wobbling. it didn't seem it was going to last in the storm. here at kill devil hills, on the eastern side of the banks. surf is getting higher at the same time the tide is coming in, high tide is expected two hours

time. so if the eye doesn't move too far away, on the back side, the storm has been pushing all the water inland, laces like new burn and elizabeth city. that water is starting to make its way back out. it will be soon and i walked out there myself. in kitty hawk bay. it's a surreal thing to do. you have shifting three, four feet water and there is nothing. people wait for these storms and they retrieve the item. here is what we know what is going in hyde county, we talked to emergency county management, i think you mentioned 400,000, there are no reports of injuries. there is minimal flooding there. there were reports that a dike or levee had been breached in swan quarter which is one of ferries from okakoke island,

apparently it was not breached and there has been ocean overwash. as the wind continues to churn, this is what they are in star for and absolutely new york city thank you very much. quite a picture as he ining in income. we'll have an update a little down the road here. some of the video shows the force of hurricane irene's impact. a sailboat in morehead city, rocking around in the surf there. it looks like a pretty good mooring but we don't know if it's still holding on. you want to anchor these boats with a longer rope in a looser way so they can float over these waves and hopefully can survive the storm intact. just a few moments later -- i have an answer to my question. it was swept away. look at this.

it's no match for those waves and it did reach to 85 miles an hour. that is look. if it's 85 miles an hour up to the new york city area. there are a lot of boats out in the hudson river. a lot of rain in this hurricane and a lot of wind crossing along the streets. >> bill: homeowners they are like homeowners, they decided to leave it there and that time they lost. we heard the storm surge in places like new york city. it happens when a hurricane hits the coastline. the storm's rotation causes low pressure and that creates a sucks. did suction. but it forces the water and it floods it will take some of that water and move it around with it. what is happening with irene right now just in the last 60 minutes it has made a right turn and obvious on the radar.

our chief meteorologist is tracking it live. it's tracking to the northeast it appears, rick? will it stay on that path or why would it do that now? >> storms take a little jogs, but it did take a little bit of a jog and kind of corrected and went back to the northeast. overall no change to the direction that the storm is going. you have to look at the storm. it's very well intact. generally you see it break down a little bit, the land it's interacting with, there has been a lot of water around the sound on the outer banks. it hasn't had any reason to weaken. the pressure has dropped a millibar. made landfall took a jog and kind of corrected itself. no overall big changes to this.

we'll continue to see all of the exact same impacts. fact it's 85 mile-an-hour storm interesting and more concerning for folks across the northeast. we're going to continue to see bigger threat for more of the storm surge and stronger winds, probably 75-80 mile-an-hour storm as it gets to new york city. rain making it close, heading up to the newark area. you can see the showers up across parts of connecticut, as well. take a look at the time line, 1:00 a.m. we're dealing with hurricane-force winds across parts of north carolina. hurricane-force winds in the purple there. tropical storm force in the blue. it takes us a while along the jersey shore. in the morning a lot of long island, will it move into parts of connecticut and rhode island and areas of southeastern massachusetts. so we have a long ways to deal with this. and where it makes landfall and that is where we talk about the storm surge, just the low

pressure but most of the storm suction is from the wind. wind to pile the water and that is where you see the biggest storm surge. we had two splits on the models but they are close together. somewhere around new york city, maybe a little to the east, maybe a little to the west, it does make a difference, if it's goes more to the west. we get more of a storm surge into river bay into new york river and that is not good news. and let's say around breezy point, maybe long beach. any way you slice it 4-8 foot storm surge along long island and areas around rhode island. >> bill: if we were watching this hurricane in the gulf of mexico, there is a pretty good chance that storm would actually gain in intensity the closer it got to the land because the water is so warm in the gulf of mexico. conversely, the more north this

storm moves, the colder the ocean temperature is. can we say whether or not that will have any impact on the intensity of this storm as it moves to the north? >> i have to say two things, generally when it gets closer to land, it weakens, they like warm water really deep not just at the surface. farther out in the gulf is very warm and warm at deep level you have a stronger storm. any time you get closer to the coast it generally will weaken but the farther you are, the water is colder. it's not 88 degrees, it's in the 70s range. it is moving so it's not going to have too much, 14 hours across the water. >> bill: don't go far. now i want to show you a live look at north carolina. there are roof collapses being reported including one at a mall. we are working this information.

it's the far reaches of the outer banks in north carolina. a roof collapsed we'll reach out to local folks. earlier we were told some of the giant satellite trucks, one of them at least maybe two were ripped off earlier today. those things way a ton literally. if the force of that storm is able to rip off one of these discs you can only imagine what it could do to a home or roofing on a building or one of the houses we're talking about in goldsboro, north carolina. >> hurricane irene has forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights you all up and down but one plane that is headed straight into the storm over and over again, that is the air force 53rd reconnaissance

squadron. joining me on the phone, shawn peers, director of the squadron, good to have you here today. welcome. >> welcome. it's our pleasure. >> tell me about. we've seen amazing video of you at work. you went up on thursday. what did the storm look like then and what can you tell us? >> we've been following irene since we picked her up 55 west all the way through the u.s. virgin islands. on thursday we were over the central bahamas as she started to gain in intensity. a category 3 back then. one thing that we noticed, it had an extremely large diameter.

we had a lot of activity further out on our route. we typically will get through the eye storm and then 110 miles and then back through it again so -- >> i am so fascinated about this. tell me what it's like to be in the plane as you go through the eye, sit calm in the middle. what is the to your lens like on the way in and out of the eye? >> yes to all of that. i think any given opportunity that you have to present an entirely different circumstances. for us, it seemed to be fairly stable. so conditions at the flight level... as the storm begins to interacts with land so that can introduce another set of circumstances that create a more

difficult environment. >> how do you get into this line of work? it amazes me that has a little bit of turbulence on a plane. obviously, you have to be one of these people who think it's fun to be in this kind of environment that lot of us see as dangerous and scary? >> well, it's very specialized. i can't say that anybody has a direct path into this. for me, it happens to be an opportunity that was presented. it's very rewarding because of the impact that we make in the science for people. in that sense, it's really good. thank you. that is fascinating. you are so right. you look back at hurricane of 1938 and one of the biggest problems they had, no

information. we have so much information thanks to very braver people like you, thank you colonel sean pierce. >> julie: from a briefing for their citizens. different governors giving the updates. trying to let folks know what they need to know. we haven't heard out of connecticut. we heard from mayor bloomberg and now from the governor of new york this is andrew cuomo announcing he has delayed 1,000 national guard troops to help in the efforts with hurricane irene. this is a storm that is still seven on eight hours away. they shut down the trains and subways for the first time ever in new york history because of a natural occurring storm. >> the mayor is telling us they won't be back up and running until midday monday.

that is extraordinary and they closed five airports in the area. no more flights coming in. they are taking it seriously we hope in the end that all this saves lives. there is no way for us to tell what you see on that radar be will be the storm that hits new york later tonight and goes up to boston and the coast up there. we're waiting and watching and we'll find out together. this is a telethon. fox news confirming five deaths reported as a result of irene. i think there were two in virginia and three in north carolina. we'll get more details. >> and all the things you worry about. trees falling, someone hydroplaning on the road. another man had a heart attack. so please do be careful. these are 85 mile-an-hour winds that are on a path of destruction right now. big apple gets ready. we'll tell you what they are doing. >> i don't know, i've been

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>> bill: the bulk of the storm creeping toward the big apple. they are urging people not to take any chance.

at some point the mayor says parts of new york could actually be under water. is that the case if we wait to find out. here is the man. >> if you are in an area that has been designated an evacuation zone either in new york city or on long island people should take it seriously and they should evacuate and evacuate early, not late. that is the citizens responsibility. >> bill: that i can that the governor. julie banderas, they call it zone "a" i should mention the governor has called out thousand to 19 guard troops. >> julie: he has added an additional 1,000 national guard troops that after the mayor evacuating zone "a" as you described. that is battery park. that affected about 370,000

residents. that was going into effect. they are not arresting people but please don't ignore them. also a lot of steps being taken in precaution of the storm. in fact more than 24 hours in advance they want ahead and announced that the mta due to weather conditions be shutting down. now all of the mta is shut down. what does that mean? that means subways and railroad and transit authority and buses are shut down. we are hearing buses are being put to good use that is to help the evacuated residents out of low lies areas like the queens or buses we are told being lined up. school buses be bees used by the new york fire department, those are being helped to carry away the elderly and many residents that have to evacuate out of hospitals, zone "a" and hospital residents were evacuated out and

el determine a great concern. now, you are wondering if you live in new york city, how are you going to get around? monday morning it will be nightmare commute because we're told that public transportation will not resume until late on monday. the ferries are still up and running right by battery park. we've got the staten island ferry that has been going in and out behind me. i don't know if you can catch this, that is the staten island ferry, that is running until 10:00 tonight. there are certain standards it will stop running and that if the winds reach 45 miles an hour or more. also the bridges, all will be shut down once the winds reach 60 miles an hour. there is time for people to get out as long as you don't plan on using railways and airports are shut down. no planes going in and out of the new york area. >> bill: tip of the hat to the staten island ferry. we were watching cameras

midtown, there is no one out there. is anyone where you are in lower manhattan? >> julie: i have to say, as a new yorker you kind of pressure hurricane reap, my commute today was a breeze but there are a bunch of people watching the live shot but they are not wearing rain gear. hey, what the heck. the hurricane haven't arrived here but are you going guys going to evacuate or are you going to sit and watch me on tv. you might want to get out by tomorrow morning. the winds are supposed to be reaching up to 70 miles an hour. that is a category one. that may not seem very serious in places like florida. we are talking very high wind gusts and obviously high skyscrapers with windows that could potentially blow out, missiles potentially in the air. winds topping 70 miles an hour and knock out power.

so we could become a mess. >> bill: be well down there. julie banderas in lower manhattan. times square, you see people milling about out there. u.s. airways just sent a tweet. all their flights into washington, philadelphia and new york boston in and out are cancelled. so far we have racked up 8300 cancelled flights. 3,000 or saturday alone. it has to be a heck of story to close newark laguardia and j.f.k. the same day. >> and how long it takes to cancel flights. they have done so much preemptive action in this situation. also you think about it, its week a lot of people that are away. it's a big vacation week. new york is quieter than it

otherwise would be. my own trip it has been lighted over the course of this week. a lot of folks aren't here anyway but it's very surprising you are not seeing more new yorkers out on the street. >> the history of katrina, public officials do not take a chance to stories like this. they learned that lists in a big way watching the mayor of new orleans and former governor down there. they have watched the criticism and ridicule they took. michael bloomberg in new york was out on thursday afternoon with a plan already in motion. he was out again about an hour and a half ago. >> a lot of trouble not responding to the snowstorm. that is lot people are seeing a little bit of an overreaction but we'll see. heed their words in the meantime. how about new jersey which is also bracing for the impact. time is running out for people in the evacuation zone there to get to safe place.

governor chris christie made another plea telling people to take him seriously and goat safety, folks. listen. >> if those teams are out there watching this on tv, i would ask you to please allow us to help protect you. you are correct, but i can't make you leave your home and push you under arrest to make you leave. but we really have your safety first and foremost in our minds. lets us walk you down the stairs put you into one of these buses, we'll take you directly to a shelter where you have food and something to drink and a cot to

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all right everybody. you have joined us for special coverage for hurricane irene. we are watching the path. it's moving north a little bit. right now it is really pummeling parts of north carolina and

parts of maryland. everybody is getting ready for it. some people think you can't be too cautious and you have to stay inside and all of that. >> bill: five dead so far. we can confirm that. also the storm seems to be slowing down which is not great news either. team fox coverage, laura ingle is out in long island. doug is out, first doug in ocean city where things are getting worse by the moment. what is happening? >> reporter: you are right about that over the past live shot we shot earlier, things have gotten progressesively worse. it's got to be up to gusts around 50. when we get steady at 50 miles an hour a duration of ten minutes, we're calling it quits.

the last live shot on the beach. we had about 50 yards before it hits the dunes. four wheel driver, would you please get up on the sand dunes. we would hate to lose you. i'm keeping one eye on the ocean and one eye on the camera. i have moved up here because the waves are now are lapping at the base of this dune i'm standing on right now. it seems as if the winds are steadily increasing. we took a trip a little while ago across the island, this barrier island on the bay side. what john roberts have been reporting, where somebody city fates a dual threat. not only for the potential of a breach in the dunes or the seawall but also flooding from the inland bay. it has about five or ten minutes it's stable but there is serious

situation we have giant ocean waves pouring in from an inlet and winds coming from the other direction making giant spouts. we'll have video of that later on. >> it sounds like it is a very spectacular sight to watch. are there folks out there watching it with you? >> reporter: i see absolutely nobody. i'm the only one out there. there are a few reporters in the hotel and making live shots but that is it. the mayor had a press conference in which he said you are on your own you have ignored the evacuation notice. in fact, 200,000 summer beach residents and they figure 200 to 300 people are stuck behind. no damage we have been able to see. the winds are picking up. thank you so much. doug mckelway, bill, obviously, this is a big week for all of these towns.

last thing they wanted in the economy was to have to send them out of community add beaches and stores. that is going to be rough things for a lot of these places to manage, as well. they will encourage people to come back, come back labor day weekend. >> bill: last two weekends to make money before they go into the fall. new damage, extensive roof damage. looks like a gas station to me. also we're getting reports of a roof collapse in the town of goldsboro. there has been three storm related deaths in north carolina so far and two others in virginia. sad story, 11-year-old boy pinned underneath a tree after the tree collapsed on the apartment building. mom got okay but the 11-year-old boy paid for w his life.

next stop for irene, new jersey and then new york and folks along coast are hunkering down or getting out all altogether. laura ingle is far end of island. what is the scene there? >> reporter: it's pretty much a ghost town as police and fire officials had hoped. mandatory evacuations up and down dune road, west hampton beach. this is an area prone to flooding. they have been going door to door asking people to take your valuables and get out of here until we say it's safe to come back. this is an area as you've mentioned that is prone to hurricanes, dune road was wiped out decades ago. many people are fearful it could happen again. for people that will not leave the cowboy of this barrier island say they have to fill out

this form. police wanted them to fill out a form they know who is left on the island in case they have to come back and identify residents if it gets that bad. here is the way this information that we're getting from the police chief here. we're expected to get tropical force winds around 9:00 p.m. overnight hours is when, 1:00 to 4:00 and high tide and storm surge is when we're expected to get the worst of it. >> bill: i can see the waves kicking up behind you. there is a chance you could get two high tides before everything moves out. storm is slowing down a little bit. we'll get back to rick riechmuth >> so if you are watching us now and you are procrastinateder and you haven't done anything to and joining us is i had david samson president of property and

casualty of america. former deputy secretary of department of commerce. good to have you with us. let's assume for parts of maryland and new jersey and new york, perhaps a little further than that, if they haven't done anything yet, what can they still do? >> we know there will be a lot of property losses. insurance companies are prepared to pay those. what we don't want to see a life insurance claims that have to be paid. those are avoid amp. people need to make sure they have garbage cans, patio furniture, get that stuff inside because when those hurricane-force winds come, those become missiles and they break windows and you get so much potential damage to both people as well as interiors of housing. listen to the evacuation orders from your local officials. get the outside stuff in.

stay close to home. >> it doesn't take that long. to gather that stuff outside and put it in your living room. what are your particular concerns about new york city? >> i think you've mentioned quite a bit this afternoon. potential storm surge is a real concern. what i think people need to know insurance companies have already pre-positioned an army of claims adjusters. they will ready to surge into the area as soon as its safe to get there. i encourage people to monitor the social network tools because insurance companies are using facebook and twitter to push out information on how to contact field claims offices. we're going to be in the areas as soon as it's safe to get in so people can put their lives back together.

>> good to know. everybody hopes for the best. good to talks to you today. >> bill: how bad will it get? >> good question. >> bill: how bad irene will be. we're about to find out. some folks are riding out that storm. what it's like to have winds surging by your home at 70 miles an hour. live on your screen and we're back in a moment as our special programming continues on hurricane irene. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids.

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>> shep: welcome back. we are watching hurricane irene. let's go to north carolina. first u.s. state that that got slammed by irene earlier this morning. at least three storm remitted deaths so far in the state of north carolina. in addition, serious property damage they are dealing with including reports of roof collapses. jennifer is in morehead city.

what is the latest from there? >> reporter: we've been battered going on nine hours from the storm. it really is packing a punch, even if it was only a category 1. you can see the surf. this the sound that separates the beach from morehead city. what you can't see is the seawall down there. it is taking a serious beating from those waves. in fact, huge chunks of the wall have broken away and in those areas it is eating away at the ground. you can see the storm has had quite a strength to it. a lot of people over here in morehead city riding this out. really interesting thing, it hit at 7:30 about 30 miles from here. we had strong winds and rain and then there was a lull. a lot of people came outside and one of salvation army shelters they had 200 people. a lot of people headed home.

then we got hit with the second half of the storm. i talked with the salvation army are headed back to the shelter now. second half really feels a lot stronger than the first half. that is interest can and it speaks to the sheer size of this hurricane. we've had reports from early on from up above the storm, folks that are watching it from plane saying it's just enormous. i think that is why we're going feeling the bands. it's extraordinary large storm and hung in there as category 1 for quite some time. so folks are still hunkered down. we thank you very much jennifer. >> bill: 7 hours and still going. back in 2004 there was a hurricane florida, hurricane jean. she dumped rain for 36 hours. it was only a category 1 storm

but up through new jersey up to the state of virginia there was records amount of flooding as a result of that storm. >> it could very well be this one will be like it. it has a lot of rain and moved very slowly. >> bill: so mandatory orders to evacuate they are out there. the governor of new jersey one of the million people, they wanted million people to move but some are staying at home. including a familiar face on fox news channel, scott rasmussen, it's not polling, scott. its long way from polling and politics. >> it sure is. other area is not under a mandatory evacuation. we had a property good dose of rain and right now we're getting gusts of wind. >> you are in new jersey?

>> i'm actually in ocean grove new jersey right now. >> can you see the surf where you are. have you seen any of your neighbors or talked to them? what are they talking about? >> everybody you saw today, the question was are you staying or going? anybody that has left is staying. we're a block from the ssh. i can see the surf from here. again, right now we're waiting. yesterday was a beautiful day. we got and my family got all of our preparation, got food and water and ice. today we're just waiting. >> bill: we have pictures on the screen while you talk to us. were most of businesses board up? >> most of them are boarding up at some level. i think all the pictures that you have within a couple blocks of my home, different people responding in different ways.

>> bill: you decided to stay for what i believe is probably a simple answer. that is, you want to see what is left of your home after the storm goes. if there is a problem, homeowner wants to thereby to fix it. is that your reason? >> that is part of it. i have been through hurricanes in this town several times before. we know what to expect. we are prepared. and yes, i would rather be at home during this knowing what we can deal with and getting ready for the cleanup after the fact. >> bill: good luck, scott. something tells me there is an online poll for that question. >> and excuse me, are you going stay or leave or think about leaving. >> bill: results on monday afternoon. >> the eye of the hurricane is moving up the east coast. we're going to show you what it actually looks like if you slide

through the center of the storm, fortunately we can provide this video. it is unbelievable. then they put this thing through the wing and drop it through the storm. it's extraordinary. we'll be right back. very busines is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what 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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we are about to get the

latest track and the information comes right at the top of the hour from the national hurricane center. they are ready to give that at the top of the hour. it shows you when it's going to hit in each area. those will be coming out. and fox information is coming in from the hurricane hunters as well showing the dangerous path and monitoring conditions and phil keith sk live at national hurricane center. how many times do these planes fly into hurricanes to get this information for us. >> twice a day at 4:00 in the morning and 4:00 at night, these guys 12 people on plane fly an eight hour mission to take off in tampa and fly a butterfly pattern through the hurricane. they do this zigzagging

northeast and south and west and going through the eyewall at least three times. out the window of these planes, these are p-3 orion operated by noaa, they fly and gather information as well as physical ig ix data that is passed down to scientists at noa a a and national hurricane center down on the ground. all of that is disseminated to the emergency management centers to states up and down impacted by the area. all of this data includes one interesting thing. it's a 6 inch cylinder that is full. it's dropped into a tube and out it goes out through the wing and drops through the storm itself with a little parachute that is deployed. it spirals all the way down providing everybody down on the

ground incredibly important data. >> it goes right into the center and where is the storm what the pressure building and what are the winds doing. >> reporter: today's second hurricane flight currently on their way. it's an eight hour flight and lots of information will be passed through tomorrow. thank you as always. >> bill: we're moments away from a national hurricane center advisory on irene, how fast and how strong and where irene is heading next. you'll see it. >> i row boat. >> man runs the show. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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>> martha: welcome back on this saturday afternoon. about 5:00 o'clock on the east coast. we're watching hurricane irene as she was moving up the east coast. it claimed several lives in north carolina as it moved through that area and virginia. one of those stories is very tragic. it's the kind of thing we all worry about in these situations. a boy who was killed when a tree crashed into his home. you've got evacuation orders

that are in effect for nearly 2 1/2 million people and now 600,000 homes have no power. we need to take this seriously as we head throughout the course of the day. we welcome you to a brand-new hour of our special programming this afternoon. i'm martha mccallum. good to have you with us. >> bill: i'm bell hemmer -- bill hemmer. feels like 9:00 o'clock at night. it's been dark. you mentioned 2 million. 2.3 million people have been order to do evacuated. that might be a record in terms of a single storm or event. >> martha: we are waiting right now. deputy director at the national hurricane center has our latest update. let's go to that. >> at this hour the center of irene is about to emerge back into the atlantic near the north carolina and virginia border. a track that will take the center very close to the east coast and up into southern new england over the next 12 to 24

hours. there are three threats to be seen from hurricane irene. along the track as shown here, expect to see strong winds, tropical storm to hundred force winds. the area in blue is the size of the storm. this area of tropical storm, the hurricane force winds will be moving you have the coast in the next 12 to 24 hours and a long period of strong winds for much of this area shown here. these winds will cause potentially minor structural damage and bring down tremendous numbers of trees. a second risk from the storm is going to be storm surge. the winds that we mentioned are going to be pushing the water toward the shore line. the east coast with the areas at greatest risk in storm surge. those include the norfolk area as well as the southern delmarva

peninsula, delaware bay, jersey shore, new york harbor, and long island sound. the regions that we're most concerned about and flooding will be greatest during the times of astronomical high tide. we also have concern for the amount of rainfall that will be occurring in association with irene. the storm track is forecast to move northeast ward within 100 to 150 miles of the center, mainly to the west of the center, there will be very heavy amounts of rain, in the in order of six to 12 inches. locally up to 20 inches of rainfall. hurricane warnings are in effect from north carolina up to just south of boston and southern new england and preparations there should be rushed to completion. >> martha: headlines we got from ed and that is that there will be a tremendous -- expect a

tremendous number of trees down and that's a very dangerous element to this storm. also he said up to 20 inches of rain. this is a huge, huge rain maker. the other thing i would mention in terms of the wind and trees is when it gets into this area, there is a lot more trees near the coast line. it's a much more densely, green area as you go through new jersey, along the shore line and up into areas around the suburban areas around new york city as well. he talked about tremendous storm surge coming into new york harbor, long island, along the way and up across the jersey shore. there is a lot to be concerned about. he also encouraged people at the very end to please, please evacuate those areas if indeed you haven't done so already. very sober assessment of how things are going from ed. >> bill: and when you talk about significant participates of long island, that is an island that consists of sand. especially the eastern half of it. it's very little dirt. these trees have grown for 20,

40, 50 years, because it's so rare to get a storm of any size, much less a category 1 hurricane that impacts that part of the country. back in the 50s, 40s, 30s, it was a different story. but over the past years, we have not seen them. he mentioned new jersey, starting to take a pounding right now. evacuations, turn popular summer destinations into ghost towns. this is the high season before school begins. rick leventhal, they are closing the casinos. that's something that does not happen every day. how goes it? >> it's a rare occurrence. it's been raining since 7:00 o'clock this morning. they're warning the ocean could meet the bay here in atlantic city. that's a main reason why they wanted to evacuate all of these barrier islands up and down the jersey shore. for the most part, people did heed the evacuation. you can probably see the boardwalk completely deserted. more than 90% of residents in atlantic city and the

neighboring communities did, in fact, get out. but they're worried about hundreds of senior citizens who have stayed behind because they were worried about going to some shelter or worried about what might to their homes if they left and they have sent buss and police officers to clear those residents, but we have not heard whether any of them left. another apartment building they found full of people, they told them write your name, your information down on a three by five card and put it in your shoe. 'cause after the stop, if we find you dead, we want to be able to identify your body. we are here high tide, a couple hours away. you can see a very violent surf here, the water reaching up to the very edge of this sand dune. as you pan around this way, look at that pier out there that's been getting pounded by these very significant waves on a regular basis. the water is up and over that pier, in many case, as those waves hit the pilings. again, we're still a couple hours away from high tide and this is not the top of the

storm. the expected hurricane -- the highest point of the storm surge expected tomorrow morning at high tide. that's another reason why they're currented about the surge. i want to show you video we shot of the atlantic city expressway. anyone who has been here, this will give you an idea of how deserted this town is. the expressway, completely empty. police have set up checkpoints. they won't allow vehicles unless they're essential personnel down the expressway into atlantic city. so no cars getting in. very few people here. we go to a local tavern called duck town where they are serving police officers and firefighters and anyone who needs a meal who stayed behind. the owner told me he's been up for 36 hours. he's going to stay up through the storm. listen. >> why are you open? there is nobody open in this town. >> that's why. my family and i have a great rapport with the local police department, fire department, local governments and for 30 years, since we've been on the shore, that they depended on us, including the utility companies to provide whatever service we

can with great food. they have to eat as well, too. >> he promised us if we go by there at 4:00 o'clock or 5:00 o'clock tomorrow morning, he'll give us burgers, beers, whatever. >> bill: if he has power or generator to start some electricity. rick, about 30 minutes ago, we talked to scott rasmussen. he's two hours north of you. he says he's not in a mandatory evacuation zone. but you clearly are. what would be the difference along the jersey shore? >> well, they're concerned about the surge. they're concerned about the fact that this is a low lie area, it's a barrier island. it could be cut off if the weather got bad enough. the officials made the decision that people we spoke with here didn't question that decision because you don't really know and obviously they're trying to be safer than sorry. you mentioned in the intro about the 11 casinos shutting down.

it's the third time in history that they closed all the casinos. they're losing a lot of money. i spoke with an executive who told me they could have made 3 to $5 million last night alone, just at caesar's, which is completely empty except for a few employees and they've allowed us to stay there. so we have a safe place to stay through the storm. but there is virtually no one there. it's an erie feeling to see an empty casino. all of the buildings empty, all of them losing a lot of revenue on what would be one of the busiest weekends of the year. >> bill: best to your crew out there. going to be a long night, one way or another. >> yes, it is. >> bill: they're in southern new jersey. >> martha: they are right on the tip and very exposed at the bottom of new jersey there in atlantic city. we'll check back with rick in a little while. let's go back to eastern north carolina, flooding several towns, knocking power out to several hundreds of people.

mr. oughten, welcome. how are you guys doing there? >> we're doing well. we're near the end of the beginning. we got a couple more hours of this and it will be out of here. we're looking forward to that. >> martha: i'm sure you'll be happy to hear that. what's it like -- how good a handle do you have or been able to get out to see exactly what you have to deal with? >> we haven't been able to get out and see. we've had our people on the ground, our first responders are out. our damage has been mostly minor in terms of structural damage. we've got lots of trees down, lots of power outages. we've got water over the roads, streets closed. but we haven't lost cottages or houses and that's good. >> martha: that's a very good thing. it seems to be very indicative of the nature and the character of this hurricane is that it's going to be one that knocks over trees and the damage to buildings will likely come from that and also flooding is a major concern here. i guess you are getting a sense over the coming hours in terms of how much flooding damage there is. >> we are. it's starting to occur because

what happens is it blows the water out of the sound and the water is now returning. so we're just now starting to get the reports from the villages of what the water is doing as it comes back in. that typically does flood and come back over the roads and into people's yards and houses. >> martha: of course, the most tragic element of all of this is the loss of life. we understand that you have had some fatalities in this, two or possible three fatalities. when will you get a better handle on that? >> to our knowledge, we've had no fatalities. there may have been some -- there are a couple of fatalities that they aren't sure in other parts of the state are related to the storm. but right now we're looking good. we don't have any calls or 911 calls that would lead us to believe we have any of those concerns. >> martha: that's good news. how much longer do you think you have before it will be safe to go out? >> we're thinking we can go out probably about 2:00 o'clock this morning, all the storm force winds will be out of here and we'll be out with our damage assessment teams at first light.

>> martha: are you still getting rain in that area? >> we're still getting rain. we're in the bottom part of the hurricane and we still have wind and rain and still raging along down here. >> martha: all right. bobby, we thank you. we wish everybody well there and we hope when you are able to get out and look around that you're heartened by what you see overall. good to have you with us. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> bill: we've got a report that the associated press that a surfer was killed off the coast of florida earlier today. that goes along with what we've been reporting in north carolina. also in the state of virginia, trees toppled by the hurricane, killing two in virginia, including an 11-year-old boy who was inside an apartment building. he did not get out. his mother did. the 11-year-old dead as a result. the mayor of norfolk, virginia is on the phone now. paul frame. hello to you? >> hello, how are you? >> bill: doing fine. thank you for your time. i know you're up to your eyeballs in all kinds of things to get done right now. give me a sense of what you're feeling, what's happening in your town.

>> we've had pretty heavy winds and rain for hours. but the situation is going to start to deteriorate here pretty quickly. the winds will accelerate. the thing that most concerns us is the storm surge. there is at 8:30, we will have a high tide here in the chesapeake bay along the elizabeth river in our tributaries. that water now is just about the time the heart of the hurricane will be here. it will be pushing water from the ocean into the bay and then into the rivers and we'll experience record floods. >> bill: record flooding, you believe, 3 hours and 15 minutes from now? >> about 8:30, it will start really about 7:30, we think, and last for an hour or so. it will be nine to ten feet high. >> bill: flooding in your area? >> that's right. that will be a record flood for us. >> bill: they took some of these navy ships out to sea. i take it that was a smart move.

>> and they normally do that and they did that sometime ago. that is a smart thing. >> bill: what about the people living in your area, are they there? have most packed up and gone? are they staying behind with boards on their windows? >> we had mandatory evacuation for folks in the low lying areas. that was about a third, maybe 80,000 folks of the population that we tried to move to higher ground or move out of here. most of them did that. we have police going door to door. we're at the point now where we're about to pull public safety folks off the streets for their own safety and then ride the rest of this out and then just as soon as we can, we'll put them back on the streets. we're already cataloging the damage, the downed trees, the lines. first light we can begin a rapid response. >> bill: i assume that decision is based on the anticipated flooding there? >> that's right. that's right. the additional rain and the

winds. it will be a rough three or four hours here. >> bill: i bet it will be. the damage assessment at this point is what? can you assess that? >> we don't have that yet. actually it hasn't been too bad, quite honestly, 'cause the winds have not been nearly as strong as we thought they were going to be. but this is going to be a heavy -- we've had strong rain, but really what we're most concerned about is the storm surge. >> bill: mayor, good luck. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> bill: what he is describing now is a high tide that will coincide with the worst of the storm, hitting sometime around 7:30 local time. that's two hours and 15 minutes from now. and then climaxing at 8:30 p.m record flooding of nine or ten feet in the low lying areas of norfolk, virginia. that will be a mess. the other thing that's important about what he describes there is this storm is 500 miles across. so if you're starting to feel the impact earlier this morning

as he described, this will be a rain maker for a minimum of 12 to maybe 14 hours. then they're going to figure out what's left of their town after that. >> martha: the other thing of great interest in norfolk is the naval base there. the largest naval base in the world. we had very dramatic pictures at the end of last week of 27 warships being moved out to sea. those war ships are out in the ocean, bouncing around, far out to sea in a place where they feel they're stable. others are secured at a pier. it has so much impact on the naval families based in norfolk, virginia. our thoughts are with all of them as they handle this. >> bill: we mentioned all the flight cancellations. 8300 over the next two days. you think of the people traveling. this will be a major mess. no matter what irene eventually does or does not do, the impact on tens of millions of people is already being felt. new details in a moment. two devastation in north

carolina. the damage and the rising death toll there, irene is making her way up the east coast, a minimum of five fatalities to date. >> it's the first time i heard of a hurricane coming to new york city. so it will be exciting coming from miami, florida. i'm used to hurricanes. but i don't know what it's going to be like in new york city. w? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic.

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>> martha: it's 5:19 on a saturday evening. we're coming to you from new york city and that's a shot of the washington monument. what a week it's been on the east coast, folks. on tuesday, we had an earthquake. 5.9 magnitude earthquake. that rocked washington monument. has four huge cracks in it that they're trying to figure out if it has affected the integrity of the building. they wait for hurricane irene now to add a little more intensity and drama to the weather situation that mother nature brought upon us on the east coast this week. then you got new york city, which is bracing for a direct hit. the city has not seen a storm like this in 20 years. i know a lot of folks in texas and florida have been sending me tweets saying this is not a big deal for us. it's a category 1 hurricane and we understand that, of course. we're glad that you are better at handling these things than some of us on the east coast. but new york city has not seen

anything like this in quite some time. it's been raining for hours here. there are some concerns about storm surge and flooding in the lower parts of manhattan. a lot along the jersey shore. listen to these people scrambling to protect their property right now. >> we're boarding up the windows, preparing for the hurricane. >> this is a lifetime event, you know. this never happened. three days ago, earthquake. now this. mother nature, what are you going to do? >> martha: what will you going to do? mother nature. she's so right. julie banderas is dealing with mother nature down there at battery park city in lower manhattan. how is it going and how are new yorkers getting ready for this event? >> let me tell you, our new york officials have been very busy for the last 24 hours. in fact, andrew cuomo's office releasing a statement moments ago that there has been an earthquake in new york, southwest of there, 2.9. not a strong one, probably most

likely after aftershock. but certainly you would never think as a new yorker that you would be experiencing a hurricane and earthquake all in one week. but that is indeed what new yorkers are being prepared for. andrew cuomo's office releasing information regarding the national guard and how they plan on tackling the hurricane. they have told united states there will be 1900 national guard, extra national guard that will be out there helping with evacuations, they're mandatory being issued yesterday by our nature, michael bloomberg. zone a, all being evacuated. that's 370,000 people and obviously they needed to get out by noon or else they really would have a tough time. that is because the mta for the very first time, unprecedented move, shut down all public transportation. if you're a new yorker, that's all you really know. most new yorkers don't have cars, unlike many suburbs around the country. without the mta railroad, you can't get into the tri-state

areas like connecticut, for example. all tri-state areas are under a state of emergency. that includes new jersey, new york, and connecticut. and as for evacuations, those will stay in effect and public transportation will not resume until monday. if you haven't gotten out by now, you better do so soon and the taxis are actually price gouging right now. one of my friends tried to get in a cab and they were charging $10 a person. they know they can because there is really no other way to get around here. martha? >> martha: that's shocking. i cannot believe that the taxicab drivers, knowing that there is absolutely no other form of transportation around the city, are actually price gouging. unbelievable. nobody would believe that happening in new york city. let me ask you about the surrounding areas -- only in new york, kids -- talk to me about the surrounding areas, new jersey, as they prepare for this as well. >> well, like we have here

experienced in battery park, low lying areas have been evacuated. right across the river, hudson river to my left, you've got hoboken, they have evacuated low lying areas, also for newark, new jersey. but again, these mandatory evacuations don't mean people will be placed under arrest if they don't get out. they won't spend money and resources. the nypd has several small boats, much like they used in new orleans on stand-by just in case to rescue people. they've also got bus in rocka way and queens. they're evacuating the elderly. there are some who want to ride it out and watch the cool views. but the authorities are saying please don't do that. this is serious. category 1 or not, 70 mile-per-hour winds in new york city is really serious stuff, martha. >> martha: it sure is. thank you very much. julie banderas at battery park city reporting for us. we'll check in later with her. it's interesting because when you look at the last time that a hurricane like this happened in

this area, a lot of the building that now exists along the shore line and places like hoboken wasn't even there. we've built and expanded. we look along the west coast of manhattan, there are so many buildings that have been built in areas that didn't exist in the early days. >> bill: 1985 was the last big one came through. 6th avenue, there is a cab. about all you'll get out there. so irene is coming this way. but not before it goes through virginia and new jersey first and the streets have been quiet today, which is -- on a saturday afternoon in august, it's an unusual sight to see. the subway system was shut down 5 1/2 hours ago. for the first time in the city's history, mandatory evacuations are in effect. what will happen in the big, big city soon? >> there were a couple of close calls. i'm a lifetime new yorker.

eventually it's a matter of odds. it has happened before. it's been a century, but it's happened before. it will happen again. >> board up the windows, preparing for the hurricane. >> this is a lifetime event, i guess. you know? this never happened. three days ago earthquake, now this. but mother nature, what you going to do? we have to be prepared. it's hard to beat double miles! whoa dude. [ male announcer ]et the venture card from capital one and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capilone.com. what's in your wallet? two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has

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>> bill: irene is making a bee line for the nation's largest city. but before it gets to new york, she's got to go through new jersey and virginia and maryland and delaware. we saw what happened in north carolina earlier today. >> martha: it is, though, according to the latest track, they do expect it to maintain that category 1 status as it slams into new york city. we'll have live team coverage of this massive storm. it's 500 miles across. it has a lot of punch to it. jonathan has been watching it from atlantic beach in north

carolina. let's go to doug who is live, we'll go to him first, in ocean city, maryland. as it turns out, doug, apparently you're not alone out there. >> no. we just missed it moments ago. about 30 seconds ago, two young guys, two teen-agers were going for a little bit of a dip in the ocean. actually incorrectly, that's just an absolutely fool hardy thing to do right now. these are life-threatening conditions in the water out here. i have never seen waves in the mid atlantic as big as they are right here right now. i was approached by a beach patrol officer a little while ago and he implored me to get up here on the dune. he said all it takes is one rogue wave and you're a goner. in addition to that, he said that the beach patrol, once the waves start lapping at the dune, which they have begun to do, they can't patrol the beach at all in their four wheel drive trucks, so now they're gone. luckily the two kids, at least ankle or knee deep, have now gone, too. one of the concerns here in

ocean city is not just the ocean and the rainfall that we're getting as much as a foot, potentially, but the other side, the bay side. we took a trip over there a little while ago. here they are. ocean city faces the threat of flooding from not just the ocean waves or from a possible foot of rain, but also from the back bay on the western side of it. it can't seem to make up its mind. we've got giant ocean waves rolling in. it almost looks like a ski boat or a jet ski or something like that meeting the wind blowing from the opposite direction. this is the amusement park in ocean city. electricity is not making that ferris wheel spin around right now. on the other side of me, hurricane irene did not cause jaws to interest that building. but it looks like it's trying to make him wiggle his way out. this is one of the great vacation lands in the mid plantic region. a lot of amusement parks like that, putt putt golf, things

like that. a lot of them have -- we'red designs that i can't believe will survive this store. the economic impact is going to be severe. we'll lose a lot of those boardwalk kind of businesses and amusement arcades, i would imagine. we are having damage in our hotel in the sense that the wind is pushing the rain that virtually all the floors are dripping wet inside the hotel, with the exception of the fifth floor, which is where i am. >> martha: you stay up there where it's high and hopefully dry for the time being. i would imagine that folks are concerned about this really important weekend in terms of the economy in ocean city, which as you say, should be packed right now. there should be people all over that beautiful amusement park and having fun and all of that. >> yeah. that's right. this is a community during the winter time has a population of about 7,000 or so. it swells during the summer months to over 200,000. it fluctuates as people come and

go from their vacations. of that 200,000 people that were here, we understand from police that only about 2 or 300 ignored the evacuation warnings and two were just taking a little dip, as i told you. they're collecting sea shells now. >> martha: sea shells are safer. safest thing is go back to town and find something open and hang out at the bar for a while. have a hurricane or something like that. thank you very much. >> bill: irene is making its way out of north carolina. the state's governor warning people to still be careful as the storm makes her way out. listen here. >> please stay inside. we've had reports of folks who are beginning to venture out. it's just really dangerous. you endanger your safety and the safety of the first responders who might come to try to rescue you. >> bill: invariably what you find after these storms is that the trees go down, the trees take the power lines down. a lot of those power lines are still live. that can kill you.

jonathan is live in atlantic beach, north carolina, with the impact where you are and how are conditions at this hour, jonathan? >> bill, we're surprised. it's roughly half a day since the eye passed by within 15 miles of here and still we're feeling these strong, gusty winds. as you look behind me, you can see the fishing pier. a third of it is missing and the middle of it is buckling and we anticipate that more of it is going to be drifting in the atlantic before the storm system moves through here. walking around outside our hotel we noticed mostly minor damage to the surrounding buildings. not a lot of major structural damage, but just things like roofing materials, shingles blown away in the wind, siding blown away in the wind. so not a lot of serious damage, but a lot of wide scale, minor damage scattered throughout the

entire island community. not a lot of severe damage. you're not seeing structures completely destroyed or anything like that. but there are going to be a lot of people and a lot of businesses conducting repairs over the upcoming week. >> bill: we just heard from the governor, what lies ahead on those streets around you, jonathan? >> people are obviously going to be anxious to go back, check on their homes, check on their businesses. unfortunately, it's probably not going to happen tonight. they may have to wait until tomorrow. that's because the bridge that links this island community with the mainland, morehead city, the closest metropolitan area, is closed. authorities are worried about the heavy winds. they don't want people driving up on that bridge and being blown around. so they're keeping the bridge closed until the winds die down. once they do, people will no

doubt be coming back, assessing the damage and beginning the repairs. begin, individual businesses and individual homeowners, it's not replacing entire home or an entire business, but it's all of these piecemeal repairs scattered throughout the island that will be going on throughout the upcoming week. >> repairs on that pier. the pier looks like it will make it, perhaps a little damaged through the storm, but still standing. jonathan, thank you. we'll check in next hour. atlantic beach, north carolina. >> martha: let's go further north. despite the mandatory evacuation order, some people are refusing to go and they say they're going to ride out the hurricane. joined on the phone by one of those gentleman, rich early. lives in breezy point queens, which is right along the water. he and his family were there, they were hunkering down to kind of stay put. he's on the phone with us now. hi, rich. >> hi, martha, how are you? >> martha: i'm doing okay. did you hear mayor bloomberg

earlier today? >> i'm pretty much just -- got a good book, couple of newspapers with the crossword and just getting ready to ride it out. sort of out of our control and trying to hope the power stays on and the pumps keep pumping because we got quite a bit of rain last week and i understand we're getting the same amount today. >> martha: are you alone? did the whole family stay or did some of them leave? >> i shipped them all out. my wife is staying at a friend's house and my daughter is up at a wedding upstate. >> martha: did your wife try to get to you come with her? >> yes, they did. i got calls from the other daughters and sons to leave, but i figure i'd be more help if i'm here. this moves out of here early tomorrow and we don't lose power, try to get things done to

repair anything. >> martha: how close are you to the water there, rich? >> well, we're right between the bay and the ocean. we're probably about couple hundred yards from the ocean. >> martha: i want to ask you, why did you not heed the warning, given that there may be very little that you can do physically to help the situation once it gets started. why did you feel so strongly about staying? >> it's more or less what's going to happen afterwards. probably have a very difficult time getting back in here after the storm and i want to try to repair as much as i can as quickly as i can after the storm. it's all contingent on us not losing power. i've been through a lot in 67 years. i don't have control over most

things, but i can fix them afterward. it's my house, my property, and i sort of want to be here to try to protect it or do as much as i can. >> martha: rich, we wish you well. stay safe. >> martha, thank you very much. you guys take care and say a couple prayers for us. >> martha: we sure will. many thanks to you. stay well. and best to you and your family. tough decision sometimes, you know? when you have -- you can -- >> bill: livelihood there. >> martha: yeah. >> bill: as long as the cable works, stay tuned. okay? we'll be here for you. >> martha: he mentioned a crossword puzzle. >> bill: we're helping to conduct this telethon, rich. so hang with us. stay here, live continuing coverage of hurricane irene. the northeast waiting and watching for the next one. five to ten inches of rain expected to fall in so many places, including the city of baltimore, maryland.

>> sandbags, as many as we can get. we got four doors on the little restaurant around the corner. >> we've been working on this all week. we have a moving truck coming in the next 15 minutes. we're going to move this entire ous out of here. motorcycles, boats, even rv's. nobody knows where he got his love for racing. all we know is, it started early.

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>> bill: what now, irene? our meteorologist is with us. nice to see you. long hours. this is what it's all about. >> yeah, it is. >> bill: and this image here gives the viewer an idea of just how large the storm is. >> yeah. >> bill: category 1, but 500 miles across. >> so many times we focus on those categories 'cause we like to keep things in order somehow in our heads. but you can have a really small storm that's a category 1 or 3 or 5, or you can have a really big storm that is any of those, either, the bigger the storm, the bigger impact, more people ask a lot bigger area getting storm surge. >> bill: we have maps here. what we're trying to figure out

here is where this storm goes next. what's clear that you've talked about over the last two hours is it jogs to the right at the end there. does it stay to the right? >> these storms wobble just a little bit. that's what we saw. you saw a couple of frames there. you think, god, it took a right-hand turn, and then it came onshore around cape lookout, made this jog right there, you see it, then it continued back up toward the north. what you can see here, though, on this image is right there, the last few frames, just a little to the north of that. it's exiting. it's about to get back over the main body of water. >> bill: is goes back over water. does it gain strength? what the hurricane center told us 45 minutes ago was that it dropped from 85 miles an hour to 80. >> it does not gain strength 'cause water is not that warm. the water is in the upper 70s right there. but it doesn't allow it to decrease in its strength like it would if it were spending time just over land. so it won't decrease in as rapid

as a fashion. >> bill: do you have lined up here what you could show us for the possible projection for new york city? >> yeah. this is why the track up in new york city is really important. the models have been really in good alignment bringing it right at about new york city. but if it goes to the west of new york city, say 20 miles to the west versus 20 miles to the east, it has very different impacts. >> bill: how so? >> you never want to be on the east side of a storm. that's where you get your biggest storm surge. so there is a lot of water that is being funneled in here in towards new york harbor that eventually then gets pushed up into the hudson river. and that water, if you are on the eastern side of this storm, ends up being -- >> bill: the upper right-hand corner, that's your danger zone? >> this is your danger zone right there. so all of this water continues to be pummeled in right into new york harbor and that ends up then funneling into the hudson river and lower manhattan then takes that big hit from the

storm. >> bill: we got millions of people right now, they haven't left the city. they're living in the 10th floor or 20th floor or 30th floor. what the mayor did on thursday was he talked about the potential for damage on the high-rises. what's the difference between living on the ground level and, say, 0 floors up? >> it's a really -- 30 floors up? >> it's a really big difference. any of these measurements ever wind, 80 miles per hour storm right now, that is the surface winds. that's what you'll measure at ground level where we are. if you go up 30 stories, your wind is going to be about another 15 miles an hour. if you're up 70 stories high, the wind might be another 20 or 25 miles an hour. so 80 miles an hour wind gusts that you might get at the ground might be 100 miles an hour wind gusts when you get up into the top of these buildings. that means windows that are potentially unstable and i tell you what, there have been a lot of buildings that have gone up in new york city pretty quickly over the last number of years. not saying they're poorly

constructed, but they haven't been tested like this. >> bill: tested is the right word. you explained this in your previous answer. but the hudson river, this is the east river, this is meant. explain what you were trying to describe about the difference between the west side of new york city and the east side. >> it's coming into the west side, you're on the bad side of this storm, all of this water is coming up here in across areas towards lower manhattan. it funnels in towards the hudson river. it funnels up toward the east river and these low lying levels that are only seven or eight feet above sea level get the storm surge and the wind on top of this. if this cuts toward the east, that's good news for manhattan because it pushes -- >> bill: bad news for someone else. rick, thank you. working 'til 8:00 o'clock tonight. back in again tomorrow bright and early, 5:00 a.m. thanks. terrific work. >> thank you. >> bill: martha, what's next? >> martha: that was very interesting. this is sort of a weather

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>> martha: we are back, nearly 1 million people have been ordered to leave the jersey shore. irene is moving closer to that area right now. we're getting a lot of reports of wind whipping up and rain in new jersey as well. the police there shut down a lot of the flood-prone highways in that area. thousands of people have taken refuge in new jersey shelters, according to the reports we're getting. some plan on riding it out. they have been discouraged from doing that by everybody, including the governor. so what does it take if you want to make it through a storm like this safely? hurricane survival expert brian is live in asbury park. welcome. you're the man we want to talk to right now. how are you? >> thank you. i'm doing great. how are you? >> martha: good. so i just spoke to a man in queens who decided to ride it out. everybody is saying that that's a big mistake. what should people be doing right now if they're torn with that decision? >> if they're still toying with it, you want to get out.

if not and you're going to stay close to home, obviously you want to stay away from the windows and hopefully you have an eva cpac and a little gear to help you ride out the storm and the immediate aftermath. there are two types of survival. impact, when the event first happens, but then there is subsequent or secondary survival. that's what all these folk also have to do if they lose their power, lose their water, lose their ability to call 911. that's why you need a plan and a pack to help you. >> martha: what do we need in the pack? >> i grabbed one here. this i grabbed right out of the closet. the ability to filter your water. first aid kit is really important. this is adventure medical kit. the reason it's so important is this easy care on the inside has cards to tell you exactly what the different compartments do and how to supply first aid. i'm a veteran of the aftermath of hurricane katrina. as you know, if you pick up the phone, you're lucky to get a dial tone, lucky to find a

paramedic and there is too many of us for paramedics to save. you want a great first aid kit so you don't panic. you're able to apply first aid as you need to. >> martha: let's hope everybody has that and the water filter idea is not a bad idea, too, if everybody thought of that. might have been good to think of it yesterday. >> a deck of playing cards for your kids. if your kids are panicked, then you will be panicked. keep them busy. mosquitoes will be bad in the immediate aftermath. if you're opening the windows because your air conditioning is out, you don't want to be in a bad way. >> martha: good advice. good to see you. >> bill: we are watching north carolina. the governor of north carolina will be at that microphone. i believe this will be her first public comments since irene started to exit the tarheel state. we'll take you down there live. also kill devil, north carolina. the governor is on deck right here. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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