irene at impact downgrade by still dangerous. the category one hurricane expected to make landfall any time now. check that out, that is morehead city that's right along a pier. you can't see much of that pier in this fog and the rain and it is lashing those waves, the surf incoming there. you've got to wonder how stable this one is in morehead city. also bracing for the storm new york city still in the path of irene. thousands ordered to leave now fearing potential historic flooding in parts. the storm still moving on its expected path along the east coast. there are key developments to tell you about this morning.

a good morning to all of you. welcome to msnbc live coverage of hurricane irene. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters. we're going to get the latest forecast for you on irene's path. it is now hitting north carolina head on. mark potter is live for us in nags head. a good morning to you, what's it like? >> reporter: hi, alex. we're getting some very strong east windows now. it's been blowing all night and it's kicking up at this hour. we're expecting it to get considerably worse as the eye of the storm approaches us. the tide as you can see behind me is coming up. we're just finishing a high tide. that's a factor in this. the good news is i'm not seeing any areas where the tide has breached the sand dunes. they're holding and that's good news. more good news is at least in this area in the upper outer banks area nags head we're not hearing any reports of serious damage. we have two teams out already on the roads. they're not seeing any on instructions on the roads. no washouts.

there's a few reports of tree limbs down and things like that. things knocked over in people's yards. but nothing substantial. from what i can see here also, the power is on still on. the emergency managers confirmed what our photographers are seeing, buttal say this is just the beginning and we have a long day ahead of us. worsening weather to come. what they're most concerned about, alex, is the prospect of storm surge and the their joe they were fearing yesterday a the one they're getting today where the eye of this storm is passing to the west of us and that means potentially a double hit in terms of the storm surge. first we're getting the winds pushing water on to the eastern shore and then as the eye passes to our west and the sounds behind us, that water will be pushed up and squished across the shoreline to the north and as the eye passes the west wind will push that water back on the western shoreline that's where they're expecting the most serious flooding. the island is evacuated of tourists, but a lot of the

residents are still here and they're hunkering down riding out this storm and they've been through these storms before. they know better than everyone what the emergency managers said is true. we've got a long day ahead of us here. >> indeed we do, mark potter we're going to head back to you many times. thank you for that report. let's go to jeff ranieri. he joins me live with the path and the potential impact of irene. a good morning to you, jeff. >> good morning, alex. this storm system is strong by all accounts even though it went from a category two to a category one storm. still make it strong by many standards. also hurricane force winds extending out about 09 miles from the center of the storm. let's get a close up look on my satellite. around the center of the storm there's a little burtt there in terms to have cloud tops. we could be seeing a little bit of strengthening. we have to wait for the 8:00 a.m. update for word on that.

look at this storm winding up. it's piling anywhere from three to six inches a i krogsz north carolina for the inland areas right into virginia. that is our other big concern inland flooding. woef a tornado watch box as this storm system is producing some rotation. as we siem in you looking at the very ragged center of the storm. the eye wall has it starts to move in near morehead beach. right near atlantic beach as well. they're getting the worst of it at this point as we saw in kerry sanders' live shot earlier. the pier pretty much washing away right near where they are with the wind whipped waes anywhere from 15 to 20 feet. towards virginia beach there was a tornado warnings earlier this morning. those are expired. -hour, you are still under that

tornado watch and we'll likely see the tornado watch boxes extended through the duration of this storm system as it continues to produce rotation. now let's get to something else. look at the winds. it's been almost two hours of wind gusts. close to category one strength here. right now wind gusts at 77 miles per hour at cape hatterras. right now down towards atlantic beach in the 60s and 70s. the worst of the storm is happening now where kerry sanders is and his crew. hopefully we'll get more updates from him. then we talked about inland flooding. look at this projection and bull's-eye across maryland, philadelphia, delaware, new york city where we could see six to eight impls on already saturated ground. that's why we're monitoring the river levels as well with hurricane warnings all the way up including long island into the cape right over massachusetts.

here is an overview of the path. what you're going to find is the timing has not changed too much temperature model con sense sus is right on track as we head throughout tonight we're going to find it is moving out from the carolinas back into the water by early tomorrow morning near the delmarva peninsula. then sunday morning right up against the new jersey coastline and then impacting areas right over new york city still expected alex as a category one right over long island at this point. >> i know everyone is keeping a close eye on things on new york city, long island in particular. real quick, it is the storm surge on long island that could be the most battering? >> there's a particular model called the slosh model. it basically give you the best estimate of what a storm surge would be across long island maybe into the harbors as well. some of those prediction show with a category one storm it could be from four to six feet.

that's just kind of our best guess because you know how intricate the coastline is. it's so hard to pinpoint that. that's why those evacuations have gone out and they're closing the subways. >> sub waist, trains, erg here for new york city as of about noon today. many thanks for that. let's move to kristen this morning in kill devil hills, north carolina. good morning to you. what's it like there? how bad is it? >> reporter: good morning, alex. things are giping to pick up. we've seen some pretty high gusty winds. right now it's not all that bad, but the win and rain has been picking up all morning and lovbly expected to get -- obviously expected to get much worse. we need to remind people that hurricanes are not just about the winds, they're also about the water. take a look at there, you can see the atlantic really just churning behind me right now. the waves growing as we go

through the day. take a look at the beach and there is not much beach that isn't covered in water here. a combination of high tide and then all of that water being pushed out ahead of the storm. that happens when it's a cat three, cat two and now all of that water has to do someplace. storm surmg to our south beginning to be a problem. the estimates are we could see a storm surge in excess of ten feet here. that's a problem along these low lying areas. that's why they have mandatory evacuation orders in this area. we did see a lot of people pack up and getting out of here. a lot of people do stay throughout the storm. they are hunkered down emergency officials not going to be able to get out to them if something were to happen as we go through the day and things get worse. so that was the worning from officials. if you choose to stay, yur doing so at your own risk. right now the power where we are is still on. but we've got reports of about

0,000 customers through the carolinas and virginia without power. that number really expected to grow as we go will you the day. as arein comes ashore. we're expecting to be on sort of the dirtiest side of the storm. the windier, northeast quadrant. so things here really going to get worse as we prove through the next few hours here. >> where do you guys stay? >> we're in a hotel that's a big concrete structure. we think it will be pretty safe. we've got some upper rooms that will keep us away from the water. i get a lot of people asking me what i do, they say you're one of the idiots that stand out there in the storm. we do it so people at home don't have to so they know what's

going on so they can see just how windy it is. how bad it is. and they know it's dangerous and to stay inside. a lot of people wondering why are you outd there? that's why. so people at home can be safe. >> you're able to give visual warning as to what's going on. many thanks for that. taking a look at major u.s. airports in irene's path. all five of the big new york city airports are closed. the washington, d.c.' reagan and dulles airport wills not operate flights to new york city after noon eastern. the d.c. airports are staying open for flights as is maryland in the's marshal and massachusetts boston logan. individual airlines are cancelling many flights. travelers are being told to check with your airlines. here's a look at mass transit. the biggest story is the one in new york city because starting at noon, the metropolitan

transit authority, we're used to calling it the mts is suspending all service that i know clouds new york city subways, the buses, the long island railroad, ne troe north railroad and the statin island railway. at noon, new jersey transit will stop running trainings through trips in progress. they will finish their routes. then the path trains to and from new york city will also stop running at 6:00 p.m. eastern new jersey transit will suspend bus and late rail service. philadelphia, the trains to the city are going to stop running at 11:30 tonight. trains from the city to new jersey are going to stop at 12:05 a.m. sunday morning. at 12:30 a.m. sunday the septa service is to be suspended. further north to connecticut, there's where the governor plans to close the merit and wilbur cross parkways. further north in massachusetts

bay transportation authority buses and trains will operate on a normal weekend schedule unless the conditions deteriorate. there was a lot of information there. we're going to try to get that up on our website for you. president obama is monitoring the storm from a white house. he returned a day early from vacation last night. joining me now our msnbc correspondent. >> reporter: good morning. >> things look okay thus far? >> reporter: the wind's are picking up. the president prudently coming back. they were scheduled to be up there for ten days. they came in last nigh ability 11:15 eastern time. the first family did a lighting for marine one on the south lawn of the white house. it wasn't a safety issue as far as the white house was concerned. the president thought it would be better at the white house to monitor developmentings. to oversee the emergency

response at least on the part of the federal government and especially fema. late last night the president declaring state of emergencies in virginia and massachusetts. and yesterday in an appearance on martha's vineyard urging americans -- he was like the mayor in chief, urging americans to stay prepared, to heed the local authorities when they tell people to get out to evacuate some of these low lying areas, hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated here. in certain low lying areas of the chesapeake bay. the president back in the white house today monitoring the situation. certainly mindful of the fact of what his predecessor went true when he was on vacation. president george w. bush at the offset of katrina and flying back home and that picture that turned out to be unfortunate for george bush gazing out the woin of air force one. the president monitoring the situation from the white house. >> we remember that photo very

well. the weather channel's jeff moros is in atlantic beach, north carolina. it looks windy. i can see the waves behind you. >> reporter: this is one of those days. there has been some dang here in atlantic beach. this is the crystal coast. i don't know if my camera man can pan over there and she it to you. part of the pier has been taken off about the last 30 years or so have been sheered off overnight. looking at it from my perspective there's probably more in danger of coming down as well. we have had tremendous amounts of beach erosion here. i can't even see more than about 50 yards out in the water because of so much spray and rain in the air. the surf has been trem all night. the center of this hurricane is just now passing to our east.

we're starting to see the binds switch around more toward the west. that's an indication that the center is passing us by. we're catching the worst of it right now. it should start to improve here as we head on through late today and tomorrow will be a much better day while you guys are catching the brunt of it. a nasty tay to to say the least. i always seem to get caught in these things. >> you sure do. jeff, overall would say that area the faring pretty well? can you give that kind of assessment given you've been dealing with the ef was and the winds for a while? >> reporter: we have done okay. the power is out along the coast. there's the damage that we can see in front of us. haven't been able to go t and assess any ordamage.

my speculation is we're going to hear about flooding from the ocean and some of the sounds here. there may be some more of that damage. we'll find more of that out later today and tomorrow. >> okay. thank you very much for the report from tlikts beach, north carolina. in new york fearing irene you been precedented steps have been taken. what are they and how bad could it get? plus, irene from space, a spectacular view of a very dangerous and huge storm. these pictures just in from nasa. we'll be right back. s or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion.

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good morning. if you are just joining us our top story and it will be all day hurricane irene is working its way up the eastern seaboard. right now a category one storm

unleashing heavy wind and high rains along the north carolina coast right now. look at the live pictures. that's atlantic beach, north carolina. the storm was expected to make landfall in an hour or two just east of this area. in all, listen to this, 2.5 million are under evacuation orders along the east coast. officials are suspended mass transit today in new york city. that is a first. also in parts of new jersey and philadelphia the storm was expected to make a second landfall sunday around noon eastern time directly over new york's long island. airlines they have cancelled at least 6100 flights through monday krounding hundreds of thousands of passengers across this country. the storm could strike major airports from washington, d.c. to new york as well as boston being hit with heavy rains and dangerous winds. joining me on the phone is the town manager of duck, north carolina. a good morning to you.

give us an update of how things are going? >> things are going well right now. the storm hasn't really hit us yet. we are experiencing heavy rain and the winds are beginning. we expect the hurricane force winds to begin around noon with gail force winds starting just any minute now with conditions deteriorating and until probably about 7:00 p.m. tonight. >> okay. so christopher, certainly you've given a he has up to all the people there. have people heeded their warnings. have people taken shelter and evacuated as necessary? >> we believe that we've had much better compliance with evacuation orders than under previous conditions. but of course, there's been a lot of warning for this storm. and there's no denying the fact that it was headed right for us.

we have some hard core folks trying to ride it out. the vast majority of visitors have left and a good portion of residents. >> what are you most fearful? is it the flooding from the storm surge or the continued high winds? this storm is a monster in size? >> sure. you're always concerned about the winds. in our particular shichgs here in duck our biggest concern is from sound side flooding. we're concerned that the storm surge will essentially break up into north and south. we have some low lying roads that's our greatest concern. >> the town manager of duck, north carolina, things are going well right now. as you said, the head of that storm has nit hit you quite yet.

best of luck. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> let's head now to peter alexander. let's hive for us in new york city in lower manhattan. battery park city. a much different picture than it is in duck. >> reporter: good morning to you. we fear that picture in north carolina is one we may see in this area really within the next 240 ours or so. we're right on new york's harbor. michael bookberg evacuate, mandatory evacuation orders 375,000 in and around new york city especially this lore manhattan yai. it's so low lying the fear is it could be swamped by a surge of water perhaps four to eight feet. come with me as we bring the camera up this way. one of the concerns is the skyscrapers that exist in this city, the fear is that people on

the streets below haven't evacuated or in orparts of the area could be schorred with broken glass, tree limbs and other debris and to give you a sense of how seriously new york city is taking this, an unplus dented move. today the entire subway system will shut down at noon. that's five million people that take it on an achblg weekend day. twice the size of chicago. train service will shut down at noon. in case the winds get strong enough there's the potential they will shut down bridges to traffic as well. the tunnels could be swamped by water, too. world trade center another concern for authorities here. the cranes there have been heavily secured. construction throughout the city is shutting down as well. the real problem itz sound like heavy and heavy rain flowing into the city in many large parts of the area. >> peter alexander i know you have a lot of stuff coming. thanks for the heads up. >> in our next hour, we're going

to hear from home lan security -- homeland security secretary. we leave you with pictures of atlantic beach, north carolina, it's coming on strong. there's hurricane irene for you. [ male announcer ] heard this one?

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edition. welcome back everyone to this special edition of msnbc sunday. i'm alex witt. we're tracking hurricane irene now as the category one storm whips the east coast. this storm is zeroing in on north carolina with listenedfall expected in the next hour or two. even though it has been downgraded to a category one hurricane, officials are saying it remains dangerous. here is the latest, irene is causing my jor power outages in parts of north carolina. it has spawned at least three report report tornados in coastal areas. storm surges are expected to be six to 11 feet. evacuation orders are in effect for 2.5 million people. that covers more than half a million, 550,000 in new york city. there's a million in new jersey.

100,000 in delaware. 315,000 in maryland, 200,000 in virginia and 300,000 in north carolina. let's go to jeff ranieri who joins me live with the pavitt and potential of irene. >> this storm system may be a category one. it's a fierce category one. we're talking about a wind field that's very healthy at the core of this hurricane. winds about 90 miles from the center of the storm. we are expecting our next update within a half-hour from the national hurricane center. everyone is being impacted not just where it is making landfall. let's get you the latest winds at 9 r 90 miles per hour. we could see a change with that with our new update. winds northeast at 14 purpose. normally that forward speed would help us from bringing

flooding concerns, the east coast is so saturated it's going to do little. there is a tornado watch for virginia beach. that's in effect until 11:00 this morning. we have seen a few tornado warnings. no major danger. we're going to have more on the path of the storm later on. >> thank you for that. good morning stephanie. long beach, new york is bracesing for what could be a direct hit? >> reporter: it could be. you have the forward motion of the hurricane coming in. you get that push and then the winds are coming from the south to the north. so you get that double push from the south to the north opposed on the west side of the storm the sorm's going north, but the winds are going south like that, you see how that works, that's why we could see significant

gladding here. i've got to say there are just a few boards up. some people taping. taping is not what you want to do. 3/4 inch thick plywood is what you want. i got a new wind gust from the weather channel, cedar island, north carolina, 90 miles per hour. cedar island ferry terminal reports sustained winds of 90 gusting to 110. just because this is down to a category onic take this seriously still, everybody. if you need to find your shelter. i spoke with the president of the american red cross earlierst there's an app on your phone, it's free. you download it and it google maps all the shelters. it seems that everyone is aware. they are preparing.

i've been posting tons of information on twitter and facebook. i will still be updating on social media. it feels like that's the way to get news anymore. >> you guys are really great at that with the weather channel. it is official, hurricane irene has made landfall just happened here in north carolina. this is right near cape lookout. with regard to the hurricane potentially breaking ate part. there are suggestions it isn't going to stay this huge hurricane. does that afford people an idea, well, we'll get a little complacent here and that's not what you need to do under these circumstances. >> reporter: no. absolutely not. this thing just because they need water, obviously those warm waters in order to intensify.

but there have been cases where they intensify over cool water or over land believe it or not. so keep that in mind. it's also a massive storm reaching out on either soid of the center are tropical storm force winds. this thing is not all of a sudden going to fall apart. it's going to stay together as a category one. ride up coast. again, it's not only the wind which is what a lot of people focus on. philadelphia the wettest august on record. i twittered, there's a thing called hpc, it puts out rain forecast. for the next five days through the next five days through wednesday evening we could see up to ten, 11 inches of rain. i am really concerned about flooding especially in the saturated northeast.

>> really good idea. receive nee thank you so much. we'll see you shortly. for all of you hurricane irene, we have seen it coming. let's go to nbc's luke russert. he's in alexandria, virginia. a very good morning to you. we know it's not going to stay calm for long. >> reporter: good morning, alex. really expected to feel the real effects of hurricane irene some time about saturday afternoon today. the real threat in alexandria, virginia, just across the river from washington, d.c., is the river behind me. it's elt vated right now. there has been flooding in the pags. -- past. folks are take it all in stride. there's a bar about two blocks away having a hurricane watch party saying i survived irene o2011. you want to see the hostess. people here are in the light mood early on in the day. the state of virginia there's 15,000 resident who is have lost

power further down south in the state. that number's expected to rise. the three things that people are worried about, power, floods and trees. 2003 hurricane isabel hit washington, d.c. it caused over $1 billion worth of damage. a lot of that came from dpauling frees on power lines and into houses. there's a lot of homes here that are built around large, beautiful trees. with the saturated ground that we heard about, it's been quite wet the last few days there's a fear that all this rain is going to come with this storm could have a dearthous impact on those. a lot of folks here are going to stay home, and ride it out. they have a jovial mood in

alexandria, virginia. >> so far. >> reporter: so far. >> folks who own those boats are they confident their boats are going to ride those out okay? don't they worry about them floating out and getting battered by waves and winds? >> reporter: that was one of the first things that came to my mind when i saw those boat especially because the river has reason to a degree. we can assume they don't have anywhere to put the boat. they try to believe in the sanctity of their mooring. one would think if there's a significant rise that perhaps those things could be in trouble. we'll see. there's still a number of hours until this storm is going to have is worse impacts in alexandria. hopefully by then sanity will come to move it to a harbor which won't be as prone to flooding. this area is prone to flood. i parked my car, it said, watch out this area will flood in the

event of high water or a lot of rain. people here are used to it. >> thank you for the update. >> good morning to you, ron. this is the first dry looking beach skap we've seen anywhere this morning. >> reporter: it's idyllic out here. it's the quiet before the storm. the tides here are very high. higher that are normal. we're expecting heavy rain to start here saturday night will you the night and the brunt of the storm hitting on sunday. it's probably going to be a tropical storm by the time it reaches this far north. the forecasters are warning that can be deadly and destructive. there's a tepidsy up in new

england for people to say these storms peter out by the time they get here. that's what happened last year with earl. this time around state officials are saying this is different. there are states of emergency in rhode island, connecticut, massachusetts, as far north as maine. the governor says he believes is the entire commonwealth will be affected by flooding, power outangs, heavy rain and high winds. they haven't seen anything like that here since 1991 when hurricane bob blew threw. there are only two bridges to get off the cape. they may have to stop ferry service today or tomorrow depending on how all this goes. again, a real sense of urgency up here. a real sense of taking this seriously.

>> the president set is precedent taking off and hightailing it for home. ron allen, we'll see you again. if you have any pictures or videos that you'd like to send us of the storm preparations or damage after irene passes you can email them, but above all stay safe if you get out there and take any of those pictures. hurricane irene pounding morehead, north carolina, right now. you can see it fr yourself right there. we're going to talk with someone who's an expert on storms in that state and right now he's in the thick of it. free access to chase atm's wherever you are. that's a step forward. chase customers can avoid atm fees with over 16,000 nationwide. take a step forward and chase what matters.

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hurricane irene has officially made landfall with the center of the storm coming ashore near cape lookout, north carolina, forecasters say the storm is very dangerous even though it is a category one hurricane now. and 2.5 million are under evacation orders from north carolina all the way to new

england. air carriers have cancelled more than 6,000 flights and mass transit is being completely shut down in new york city as well as parts of new jersey and philadelphia. irene is expected to make a second landfall over new york's long island some time around noon oorn time tomorrow. things could certainly change. tropical storm force winds have knocked out power to 100,000 customers on the north carolina coastline. jay joins me now on the phone from atlantic beach, north carolina. jay, with a good morning i know you're right there in the thick of it. what's it like right now? >> dpoorning, alex. we've got a little bit of a calm. it could be that we're on the edges of the eye of the storm as it's passing to the east of us. cape lookout is ten mills, 15 mile to the east of our location. >> given the fact this storm is so huge in its diameter, that's

probably a good guess. you know, the last 30 years i understand the deadliest hurricane to north carolina was floyd in 1991 where 51 people died and 50,000 homes damaged or destroyed. do you have krnsd about irene being equality devastating? >> well, actually i don't. there are a lot of differences between a storm like floyd and irene. for one thing, floyd was a category two when it made landfall. and under most circumstances it wasn't the witness stand and wasn't the storm surge from floyd, instead it was the heavy rains that fell across our stat. and that particular year we have had a tremendous amount of rain already before floyd hit. so all the ground was saturated. the rivers were at flood stage when we got another 18 inches of rain or so. it does produce an epic flood in our state.

mostly inland away from the coast suffered damages and flooding that had not been seen in any previous generation. i'm not expecting that type of flooding from this storm which is making landfall much farther to the east. we've been in a drought condition. not really anticipating those kind of inland floods. i do know that as irene moves northward and heads into the northeast and it is a large storm. it will dump a tremendous amount of rain, the northeast has had a lot of rain. the month of august was a very, very wet month up in the northeast. there are a lot of reasons to be concerned about river flooding in many parts of the northeast. >> oh, believe me as you well know we are very concerned here in the new york area, that's for sure. all right, jay barnes many thanks for weighing in and stay safe in atlantic beach, north

carolina. >> thank you. >> kerry sanders is in atlantic beach, north carolina. he's got the picture prove it. good morning, kerry. what's it like there? >> reporter: it's remarkably calm right now. as you heard a moment ago, the ill which is ill defied is passing over this yaifr right now. what's why it looks like this. usually, you can look up and see blue skies and some sea gulls. it's sort of a little ugly. what we do see out here right now is that tremendous force of the hurricane in the wave action here. the pier here has already lost the last section there. the waves are rolling in around eight to ten feet. a few road waves coming in. the joelogical survey put -- trying to calculate and sort of monitor and get sort of readings of all the waves and the power

of this hurricane, but that would be the end of the pier is gone. their equipment has been been wiped out to sea. >> not surprising that the end of that surge that the pier is gone there. we're go in and out for you, but with regard to you probably being right there in the eye of the storm, i know i've heard it many times said that the back part of a storm can be far more devastating than the front of a storm. has that been your experience, and do you think the folks there in atlantic beach worry about that? >> yeah, i think most everybody recognized it, and they did leave. what's interesting is those hurricane force winds will extend 90 miles out, but if we're in this ill defined eye right now, when the eye wall actually does get to us, that eye wall is where the strongest winds are, and we may feel that, but, again, the meteorologists looking at this on their radar will say that the eye is not as well defined as other hurricanes, but that doesn't

mean that this is any less of a threat to anybody up and down the coast here. >> absolutely. well, let's hope that helps things a little bit. kerry sanders, thanks from atlantic beach. zin right now live pictures to asbury park, new jersey. the boardwalk there. some folks venturing out and hoping to have a normal day of it until probably midafternoon xshgs then not so much. the communities are looking more like ghost towns right now as they brace for hurricane irene. we'll go rooifr back to asbury park next here on msnbc saturday. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] unlike some car companies, nissan is running at 100% which means the most innovative cars, are also the most available cars. nissan, innovation for today. innovation for all.

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a live look at moorehead city, north carolina. it is official. hurricane irene made landfall about 20 minutes ago not far from cape lookout, north carolina. folks are handling things there, as folks prepare up and down the seaboard. we have you chord from maryland and new jersey. we have tom costello, and nbc's michelle franzen in asbury park

for us. tom, we'll start with you. how does it look there. >> it's starting to rain here, and it has been doing so for a couple of hours. about an hour ago we had high tide, but the sea has been churning and churning, and we are expecting the whole force of this hurricane to come ashore here on the outer bank, if you will, on the barrier island of the delmarva peninsula. sometime in the overnight hours. probably 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. they're talking about ten to 12 inches of rain here, and especially here in ocean city where we have had a mass exodus. 200,000 people evacuated ocean city yesterday after a mandatory order for evacuation came to the police department. the police department also then went door to door to door and telling people if you refuse to leave we need to know who your next of kin is so we can notify them in the event that something terrible happens and we have to, you know -- we find your

remains, and we have to tell your family. to some extent that was kind of a tactic to scare people off the island. those people that were still insisting on staying, but they really believe flooding is going to be the beg concern here, especially in ocean city. this is also down the delmarva. delaware, maryland, have a vashgs all of these areas have told people to get out and go inland as fast as you can and get away from the storm and don't risk it. back to you. >> tom costello, thank you very much for the update from ocean city. now we go to michelle franzen who is live in jersey shore for us. check out those waves. that's massive waves there in bellmawr. not a lot of people are out there surfing much longer. good morning to you, michelle. >> well, good morning to you. we've got a little bit more time here in the whole state of new jersey to prepare before irene gets here. take a look behind me. the boardwalk. we still have some people coming out here, but the ka sis in the last 48 hours has been get away from the shore, get a plan, get

prepared, and hunker down for the storm when it moves in in the next 24 hours. the businesses here will be closing up, those that haven't already by noon etoday. all 21 counties throughout new jersey have shelters set up. the governor, of course, driving this message home, making sure that he -- that people understand that not only with the storm surge expected here, the heavy rains, but also the wind that the entire state could be facing some power outages as well as some flooding in this area. he wants to make sure people are definitely prepared and also emphasizing once again the low-lying areas and all up and down. stay away from the shore later on today. they're hoping to move those people away from here to make sure everyone is safe. >> absolutely. we're listening to governor chris christie saying get off the beach, period, exclamation point. thank you very much from asbury park. >> we'll have an update at the top of the hour. hurricane irene actually made

landfall. it happened just 25 minutes ago or so in cape lookout, north carolina. we've got more than two million people that have been told to evacuate for what could be a potentially very dangerous storm. hey, let us know what's happening where you are. you can tweet us at msnbc tv. be sure to include the hash tag irene. we'll be right back. i love all the gadgets. check out the backup cam. show me the carfax. oh yeah, can you show me the carfax? sunglass holder... for sunglasses. just show me the carfax. before you buy a used car, get a carfax vehicle history report. see accidents and service reported to carfax and a price based on the car's history. ask your dealer or go to carfax.com. just say, show me the carfax.