i'm thomas roberts. thank you for staying with us for our special coverage of hurricaned. keep it right here on msnbc this weekend for the latest on this hurricane. as it makes landfall. and then travels as we've ban talking about, up the east coast. it's one to watch. hurrice irene, that's for sure. >> i saw some of these news feeds that i've been watching upstairs of people sitting on the beach in asbury park, get the hell off the beach and get out. you're done. it's 4:30. you've maximized your tan. get off the beach. get in your cars and get out of

those areas. >> a stern evacuation order from new jersey governor chris christie. this morning irene is bearing down on the east coast as a category one hurricane packing sustained winds on 90 miles per hour. and more than 60 million americans are bracing for the storm's worst. welcome to msnbc special coverage of hurricane irene. let's get to the headlines. more than two million people along the east coast have been ordered to move to safer areas as the national weather service issues a hurricane warning stretching from north carolina all the way to nantucket. irene is expected to make landfall between 8:00 and 10:00 eastern today in north carolina's outer banks. it could weak on the a tropical storm by the time it reaches new england, experts say irene could be destructive. president obama returned to the white house last night. but not before issuing a warning to residents in irene's path.

>> i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. don't wait. don't delay. we all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. all of us have to take this storm seriously. you need to listen to your state and local officials. and if you are given an evacuation order please follow it. >> the president signed an emergency declaration authorizing fema to provide all necessary resources to assist in storm relief. the declaration will provide federal funds to areas that have been designated as states of emergency. that i know clouds new york. the city's entire subway system is largest in the country will shut down for the first time because of a natural disaster. additional airlines have cancelled more than 2,000 weekend flights and amtrak has announced it is cutting back

service today and cancelled all northeast bound trains tomorrow. the national hurricane center is just now issuing its latest advisory for hurricane irene. joining us now is jeff. >> as we heard, winds are still 90 miles per hour. this does make this a category one storm. it has weakened a little bit here over the past 12 hours, it is still a large storm in respects to the overall strength and size of this storm down to the center and the heart of the storm. right now the central pressure is at 952 milli bars as you can see on the current map as the storm system gets very, very close to a landfall right in north carolina right along the outer banks. you can see it winding up on our radar loop. a lot of vong rain bands starting to move in. we have tornado watch box for north carolina as well. we're going to zoom in. take you down here finding our latest tornado warning that just expired near virginia beach.

that's the scenario of what we're finding especially throughout north carolina as this does continue to make landfall throughout north carolina over the next couple of hours. the wind speeds is ramping up along the coastline. cape hatterras a category one strength sustained wind at 74 miles per hour. then you go a little bit inland, we're seeing sustained winds at tropical storm force strengths. by all accounts this storm system is starting to make its mark on the carolina coastline. we have a hurricane warning not only for north carolina but for those of you along the delmarva peninsula right up boo new jersey and up into long island also for the cape of massachusetts. this is a wide reaching storm system that is not only going to bring wind impacts to everyone along the coastline, we're talking about a widespread inland rainfall that could be in upwards of eight inches in some cases that's where our main

flooding threat continues to exist. as we take a look at our forecast track, as we continue throughout the next couple of hours it's about north carolina and virginia with the peak of this happening through 6:00 p.m. today. as the storm track moves up saturday night tonight, right near the delmarva peninsula, maryland, delaware, new jersey and that peak this storm will be about 4:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. and then still expected to move right across long island here. very close to new york city on sunday morning. the peak of that happening from 4:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. still a large storm by many accounts. look at this the models they're not wavering at all. we're definitely going to be impacted up and down the entire coastline as we continue throughout the next 72 hours. >> one of the concerns as hurricane irene comes ashore is storm surge. just because this storm has been downgraded storm surge is still a big concern. >> it definitely is. some people are wondering it's a

category one we don't normally talk about storm insurgency as well. what makes this storm so unique and so different is those hurricane force winds extending 90 miles from the center that's pretty unique with a category one hurricane. then you factor in the coastline it's very sbrikt right at the atlantic seaboard you have no way of predicting how that water is going to slosh up into some of these inlets, some of these bays, that's why the mandatory evaiks are in place. even the best come computer models, the most experience scientist really have no idea how the water is going to interact with the coastline. >> jeff, we're going to be checking back with you in a bit. kerry sanders joins us from atlantic beach, north carolina, where hurricane irene is expected to hit around 8:00 a.m. this morning. kerry, i see that you've lost power out there. >> reporter: yeah. that was predictable. the tropical force winds took the power out pretty quickly here. we've had some very strong gusts already.

right now you caught me in a lull which i'm thankful for. some of those gusts about 45 miles per hour. if there is going to be any good news here, you can kind of see behind me the water and there's a pier behind me, some of the waves are already crashing over the end of that pier. but the good news would be that the tide is out as the storm is coming in. and so, it's summertime, we have the strongest tides. and so here we have the tide on the way out meaning when the storm surge comes in, it won't have the doubler effect of having that tidal surge on top of the storm surge. the police have been patrolling throughout the night the area. just before the sun went down, there were some folks who had ignored the mandatory evacuation orders here. and actually gone into the water and were swimming. of course, not only is this a little crazy, but there was nobody to help them if the undertoe grabbed them and took

them out. there is no rescue in place. by and large the authorities are telling us that they believe this area here up the north carolina coast is prepared for the storm. again, there's veterans here, but the best news right now at least for us is it's not hitting us that hard just yet. >> those people who are trying to ride out the storm, the die hards there who aren't leaving, what have you heard from them? what are they expecting from this storm? >> reporter: they were expecting that they had done this before. as we just heard in the forecast some of the strength of the storm has dropped off, which it's not uncommon for people to try to ride storms out when they're in the one or two categories. especially if they have a structure which is poured concrete or a concrete block house. it's the wood frame homes that sometimes are some of the more difficult structures to withstand the hurricanes. got to remember there are some

homes built in the '30s are still standing. the biggest trouble for them is erosion. at the end of the day, evacuating is the smart bet. you're probably wondering or a lot of folks ask me, you get on the air and say evacuate and we see you standing at the beach. we are out of a building which is where the police have hunkered down and it's a concrete structure that they believe is able to withstand hurricanes and they've done it before. so we're right along there with the local authorities. >> kerry, make sure that you do stay safe out there. thank you. in new jersey governor chrissiesty had issued a state of emergency issues mandatory evaiks in addition to cape may county. michelle franzen joins us live

in asbury park with the latest. >> reporter: it's relatively calm here right now. i guarantee you emergency officials are keeping a close watch of what's going on in the carolinas this hour. the emphasis was the evairks plans that they have been working on in the past few days and they're playing a big waiting game now. they seem to think that they've got pretty much things in order for when irene arrives here. there seems to be little doubt that irene is making a big impact in new jersey. it's just how much and where. there are estimates of storm surge could be anywhere between three and six feet. where i'm standing i'm told by my weather channel colleagues that the board walk here could potentially be under water by some time tomorrow if irene keeps on the path that she's on. certainly concern here in the past few days they have worked

on making sure that people who are staying here as vacationers who live here got to higher ground, got to an area where they could hunker down and be safe here. al as you mentioned governor christie taking my precautions opening shelters in all 21 counties in new jersey as the entire state braces to see what irene brings. >> michelle franzen live for us in asbury park, new jersey. a mandatory evacuation has left north carolina's outer banks mostly empty as tourives leave the popular weather vacation for higher ground. mike slidell is live for us in nags head, north carolina. what's the situation there? >> reporter: good morning, veronica. we've got the wind and rain as expected. overnight you could hear the wind howling through the hotel. water will find a way in no matter what happens it's dripping under the windows.

our winds have been gusting upwards of 35 to 40 miles per hour. not horrible at this point, we're more than several hours away from the worst of the storm. there's bands, the stronger bands near what's left of the eye. this is a weak hurricane. it's a category one hurricane. it's a big storm. it's going to drop a lot of rain. the impacts don't change a whole lot from here up the coast especially inland with wind and rain there's going to be power outages. on the outer banks this whole beach was visible yesterday now with high tide coming up for the next hour, it's all under water. i can't really tell at this point how much erosion there's been, they just made this beach about 100 yards wide. that's going to help protect them. the next high tide will occur this evening after the storm goes by and we'll have an offshore wind. that will help us here. the water on the other side of the barrier islands that will be blown towards us. it's a wait and see. i'm sure that the locals, the

ones that are staying put and everyone that evacuated including the business owners are happy to see that the hurricane is not coming in as a strong two or weak three, but a category one. less wind, less surge and a her risk of any kind of structural damage. so far so good, veronica. i don't have to hold on to the rail here. i'm standing on my own free will. back to you. >> hopefully it stays that way. mike, we were listening to folks yesterday talking about this storm. people were describing nags head as being eerie like a ghost town. is there anybody left in town or has everybody evacuated? >> reporter: all the visitors went out on thursday and then it got very, very quiet. there are a lot of locals in town. a lot of these folks have been here for years and years and they don't like to evacuate. for one reason sometimes they can't get back in for several days or longer and they want to get back home and to their businesses and find out what

they need to do. that's one of the reasons you'll find around these coastal areas they may want to evacuate, i can't get back in for four, five days. there are more than a few locals here. there are 34,000 year round residents. you'll find them here. they were here yesterday on the beaches checking out the surge. >> that's an interesting point, repopulation. are there plans in place to get folks back into the city? >> reporter: you have to remember this is a big tourist area. labor day weekend is next weekend. they had to deal with earl going into labor day weekend last year. they got that out of the way about wednesday and thursday. they want to get back in and get reopened and get things geared up because the weeklies, everybody here checks in saturday, checks out saturday are supposed to be coming in today. they can't come in today. they'd like to get these folks. they're booked solid to get them tomorrow or monday assuming these roads stay open and

there's not a lot of debris. we have to wait and see once we take the brunt of this storm later on today. >> mike, liver fus in nags head, north carolina. we'll be checking back with you. hurricane irene now projected to make landfall in north carolina in the next few hours. the storm forcing more than two million evacuations. we'll talk with an expert in emergency preparation on what people need to do to stay safe. stay with us here on msnbc. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®.

you only have to look at the weather maps to understand just how big this storm is and how young it is and it's heading basically directly for us. we've never done a mandatory

evacuation before. we wouldn't be doing it now if we didn't think the storm had the potential to be very serious. if you want to be safe, now's the time to start moving. >> that was new york mayor michael bloomberg talking about his city's unprecedented evacuation plans yesterday. welcome back to msnbc's special coverage of hurricane irene. here are some of the latest updates on travel along the east coast. if you're planning a weekend get away make sure to call your carrier before heading to the airport. more than 6,000 flights are expected to be cancelled through monday. as a preoccasion against the approaching storm and the clock is ticking for new york city residents who still need to get those last minute items before irene's arrival. at noon today the city will shut down all subways and buses. it is unclear when service will be restored on the system which carries millions of people each day. the unprecedented closure. comes as some 300,000 people who live in flood prone regions in new york city have been ordered to evacuate. for the latest on irene's path let's bring in jeff.

what is it looking like right now? >> this the still on track to bring some widespread effects to the entire atlantic seaboard. it has weakened over the past update as we take my maps here. just a little bit you're going to find the winds right now are at 100 miles per hour. we've seen the pressure stay steady, though, while it is not a category two like originally anticipated. it is still very strong at the center of that storm. we've seen a little bit of dry air filtering toward the south. that's helped erode a portion of this storm system. look at it winding up. that's the inland flooding that we're concerned about. we've seen three to six inches across north carolina. now starting to enter portions of virginia. we are looking at a landfall here about 37 miles offshore, the center of that eye. we don't want you to be overly concerned with that, those hurricane force winds do stretch out 90 miles from the center of

the storm. it's going to be pushing near morehead city. sustained winds at hurricane force strength at cape hatterras 74 miles per hour. likely gusting into the low 80s. it's really winding up along the coastline where our correspondents are right now. >> jeff, we're going to be checking in with you shortly. joining us now is aon the edwards. the executive director of the national preparedness network. an organization that trains civilians on how to respond to and recover from natural and manmade disasters. thanks for spending some time with us this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> what do people need to do this morning? i have yet to can go and make a go bag and stock up and on water and supplies. what can people do? >> at this point depending on where you live in proximity to the storm because every minute counts. if you live further away from the storm you can take some measures to prepare. you can some equipment that's

available. i can tell you right now new york is shelves are stripped, the flash lights. >> they're bare. we've been looking at pictures -- >> everything's gone. you can still get things like for blackouts there are things called 36 hour candles. there are canles that can burn continuously for 36 hours. you can get certain things that you'd need like water filtration devices little trail filters. sometimes during blackouts that water treatment facility lose power, they can't treat the water and you lose the ability to have potable water available. you have to be able to treat it. there are certain things people can do to protect themselves. i think what people need to do is really to start to get certain things prepared. like for instance -- >> have a strategy in place. you were telling me about this family reunification plans. >> people get separated. they don't have any particular place to go outside of the

emergency evacuation shelters. i think it's important for people to have these plans. one of the thins the government talks about is get prepared, get a plan, get informed. people need to develop a plan. what are they going to do after the storm hits. where are they going? what are they going to have in place? they need to do that right now? >> i have mentioned earlier i have yet to put a go bag together. what goes in that? >> what a go bag is is something that you use to live outside of your home for an extended period of time. generally speaking i'd say you want to have enough supplies to last outside of your home for about a week. >> one week, really? >> they say 72 hours, it isn't accurate anymore. >> why do you feel that? >> because what happened in katrina and a couple other disasters what i saw in actually dealing with that is that the disaster that period extended for more than 72 hours. it went on for more than a week in some cases.

people were looking for food. it was terrible. when you say 72 hours, that is the critical period of adjustment after a disaster strikes, but the fact of the matter is it usually encases a large scale dart and extends beyond the 72 hour period. you have your first aid, your toiletries, food. for instance, if you have special needs medication, extra prescription medication. >> what about if you're with kids? it's always good to keep the kids distracted. >> you want to pack some toys. maybe a favorite small toy for the children. if they have video games take their video games for them. powder drink mix. they're motivated to drink more if you have ice tea or powdered drink mix that they can use. anything that's going to give them a llt bit of balance. when the kids are involved in a disaster it's a very traumatic

experience for them. if they have something that can take their mind away from that, it's great to pack that in your go bag. you're going to have all this material, your flashlights, if you have batteries, i don't like batteries too much. i like the hand cranks because batteries are very difficult to find during emergencies. these are some of the things that people need to have. you definitely -- >> what about safety at home? we've been hearing about people taping up their windows, is this a waste of time? >> no. i hope they don't think it protects them from the window breaking. when you tape the windows like that, what happens is the window breaks it doesn't fly into a million different pieces. the tape kind of holds the larger pieces together. it does serve a purpose in terms of protection if the window does break. it doesn't protect the window from breaking. it prevents the window from flying apart and scattering about. >> every little bit counts. zblefrg counts. >> aon the ewards, thank you so much for spending some time with

us. >> thank you. >> safety concerns are forcing officials to cancel hundreds of events along the east coast. we're going to tell you where hurricane irene is putting the breaks on this weekend's plans as we continue our special coverage of the storm right here on msnbc. 8gg@ú

welcome back. i'm veronica de la cruz with continuing conch of hurricane irene. the massive storm prompting evacuations up and down the east coast this weekend, but also cancellations. tomorrow's planned dedication of the newly opened martin luther king jr. memorial in washington, d.c. has been moved to september or october. the ceremony was expected to draw half a million people including president obama who was scheduled to speak at the event. in florida and south carolina officials have cancelled gambling cruises and fishing charters ahead of the storm. here in the northeast sports fans in several states will have to wait a little longer to cheer on their favorite teams. both the phillies and red sox are rescheduling home gam