i'm not certain how far above sea level or the ocean we are here. but we certainly should be in an area, but again outside of here, it's considered low-lying areas here in new jersey. all along the coast. asbury park, we're inland about five miles. in eatontown, which is also, you know, dealing with lak and rivers in this area. so i imagine there will be some flooding and that's kexactly wht the governor is talking about, as much as they have going on along their 127 miles of shore, the story is also going to be about the river flooding inland. >> anybody venturing out knows as we look at long beach, new york, where al roker has been. i don't think we have al with us necessarily. he's waving, maybe we do. okay, so michelle, we were just looking at the picture of long beach, new york, where we know that high tide was supposed to hit right around now. which means with the very apex of the storm, flooding could be occurring. we know that that area had been

compromised about four blocks south of where al is, i think the camera is pointed exactly where the area has been compromised, the berms, everybody, as al was explaining to us earlier, mother nature has eroded away the berms, that which we try to put in there and you try to do your best to sustain any damage from mother nature's full forces. but in this case, this looks like it has been damaged. how deeply compromised, we don't know right yet and we sure hope al is in a safe position. i know we'll get to al as soon as we can. jeff ranieri, let's talk with you as we stay with the picture. jeff, as we bring you in and voicing over this. high tide is going to bring in tremendous surge. we're going to have these pounding waves for quite some time. we even saw tom costello in ocean city, maryland and he said, surf's still up. not as bat as yesterday, but it's still up there. >> the widespread upper-level circulation that comes with the

hurricane eye is going to continue to stir up water all across the atlantic seaboard. the high tide in general for new jersey, long island, including new york city is anywhere from about now, right into about 9:00 a.m. this morning. not only a regular high tide, but an astro nom cal high tide. you combine it with the timing of the storm and we know that the surge is coming in across the coastline. the example of peter alexander's shot, where al roker is, you can see debris floating in the water. >> they have been watching the live shot in the control booth. they said it appeared as if the bridge or pier was moving. so -- you know, you wonder about the foundation and how solid it is. there's some kind of emergency vehicle at the end. if that thing is moving, nobody should be on it. >> no doubt the storm surge damage will, could go into the

millions for sure here across a lot of the coastline. and you know, what we're seeing now, while it may be clear, where al roker is in terms of the rainfall, look at the picture right there, is the water just completely eroded what looked to be that protecting wall right where he is located. so it's just, it's another sign of how powerful the storm is. even though it is a category one, it's a relentless category one that just doesn't want to give up at this point. >> do you have any idea how much rain has already fallen in that area? and how much may be yet to come? because as we look at all the models you've brought us, jeff, it looks as if the back end, which we were so worried about, the hurricane kept a well-formed eye and it would come ashore and you would see our correspondents being blown about by that. that has dissipated, that back end. do we expect equally as much rain, because it's so big? irene keeps on coming. less well formed.

>> the new england area is getting the brunt of the rainfall. so probably in about two hours, i would say we're going to see this event where we're going to get a little bit of rain. but it's going to be mainly wind right around new york city and also long island. so we're kind of seeing the last strong burst of this consistent nonstop rain here. there's the radar up right now, of rain across long island, also northern new jersey. it's all heading right up into central new york, connecticut and also massachusetts, so we're done with like this, you know, long, extended burst of rainfall here in about two hours. but the more dangerous thing, alex, i've covered these things out in the field. is the fact that when the rain stops, if you get some drier, feltering into the bottom of the storm like we're seeing right now. you get the wind event. people think it's okay to go outside and to take a look, the storm's over. but then all of a sudden you get a 60-mile-per-hour wind gust coming up, trees coming down, power lines coming down. it's dangerous still. >> absolutely, it is dangerous.

rainfall totals. any idea what we can expect here in new york city? i know that we're upwards, they were saying four to eight inches at points. and obviously more rain expected. i think ocean city, tom costello said we got about ten inches there. what are you thinking about new york? >> new york, about eight inches, we've actually already seen about six inches at this point. we'll probably see another one to two inches over the next six hours. >> wow, that's unbelievable. >> that's it. >> they were absolutely right. i wonder what that is. it seems like a lightpost or something. >> a lookout tower. >> a lookout tower. >> this whole area, al should probably hopefully be moving here shortly. >> that was incredible. >> lae, nick in our booth, you can cue that back up again. we would love to see that again. that was extraordinary. >> that's the force of the surge, alex. >> exactly, that is a huge concrete structure and that has been taken off of its, obviously

formidable footing there. i mean it's been there for quite some time and it's withstood a lot of things, but not irene. irene is going to move that thing and that's going to compromise the pier, then. >> when people think about a surge, sometimes, they think it's this wave that's coming and you're going to be able to see this surge coming up along the shoreline. but the -- overall the sea is stirred up so much that you can't see the undercurrent of what's happening. and that's just sort of erodes things and takes it away. >> and this is where you see the flooding, you're seeing it right there, that's where it's been compromised in terms of what had been a berm the folks had built there locally the authorities in long beach on long island, that's been clearly compromised as nbc's al roker was tellsing us, what is that? is that old saybrook, connecticut? it may be. we've been talking, that's old saybrook, connecticut, we're going to reporter jeff stricker

of our hartford station, wvit. we can see the water coming up where you are, you must feel like you're standing in the sand. >> the water just came up above our feet. we're at a sea wall here at old saybrook. at saybrook point. this is the connecticut river. bear in mind, this is a river, not quite an ocean yet. this is close to where it spills into the long island sound. this looks like ocean the way the waves are lapping up against the sea wall. one of the things we're concerned about in connecticut is the storm surge, we're anticipating near or perhaps above-record storm surge and that can create some serious flooding issues, not only along the shoreline here in connecticut, but also for many of connecticut's rivers that feed into the ocean. right now we have a serious power outage issue here in connecticut, a quarter of a million people are without power and the storm surge obviously continues to rise, because my photographer and i continue to get battered at saet wall.

we've moved our position once and we're probably going to have to move it again. because as irene gets closer we're getting a little too close to these waves. and right now, we're not esseei the worst of it. we're not expecting to see the worst of it in connecticut for another two or three hours and not expecting to see high tide until 10:30 this morning. >> i would say, jeff, you've got a ways to go until high tide. the waves are not lapping over this area usually. this is an area where people can stand dry. how high is that? ha do you think the water has risen, five or six feet above where it is usually? or even more? >> even more. where we're standing, we've wednesday here since about midnight. i think the water has gone up two to three feet since we've been here. so obviously this is a very unusual scene you're looking at. and bear in mind alex, like you were saying, this isn't even the ocean, this is the connecticut

river. the connecticut river does not look like this on a typical day. but this is really unusual. >> that is the connecticut river we're looking at? >> this is the connecticut river. we're not quite to the sound just yet. we're about a mile or so away from long island sound. this is the connecticut river. >> i had my geography mixed up. that looks tremendous. how wide is that river, jeff? >> at this point it's probably, i would say ballpark, maybe over a mile wide. >> you got to wonder where that water is going to go. how about anybody along the roads or anything, you know, you always worry about people now that it's sunlight. people might want to come out and they might be intrigued by what you are doing. do you see anybody out and about? are people staying hunkered down? >> we've seen a couple of people swing by. for the most part, people are staying away. the governor in connecticut has issued no unnecessary travel ban here. so if you're out on the roads and they say e, they're going to

ask why you're out there. if you don't have business being out in the storm, they're going to ask you to get out. >> what's worse, do you think, is it the water, the flooding or the winds? you don't seem to be having to crouch down or something. are you just a really sturdy guy? >> i'm a very sturdy guy, thank you, alex. i think it's a little bit of both. right now i think the wind is the issue that's knocking out a lot of the power. we've got about a quarter of a million people without power. but the flooding is going to be the problem. we're on the east side of it right now. the storm when it hits connecticut fully is going to bisect the state and it's not a very big state. the west side of the state is going to get significant rain. we're talking maybe nine inches of rain. we're only going to get four inches of rain where we are in old saybrook so what we're seeing isn't even compared anything close compared to what the western part of connecticut is going to see. so flooding is probably going to be your major concern. especially in the days to come. >> you bring up a really good point. western connecticut of course, so beautiful, so lush with the

trees, the landscapes are so picturesque there. you have to worry about the winds, that you're feeling, and their ability to bring down trees, bring down limbs. or just uproot things. because if that ground is getting saturated, you guys have had as wet a summer as we've had in new york. since you're our neighbors. you've got to wonder about that concern. have officials been addressing that? >> well, you know, you're exactly right. they've been talking about that all week. we've had such a wet summer, that a lot of the ground is very soft and a lot of the trees can tip over. we've seen the branches, the branches fall. as you say, we're going to have the power outage to deal with in the immediate future. but maybe in the next two, three days, we'll still be dealing with some significant flooding. our utilities, they have people working on the lines until about 2:30 this morning and once the winds picked up, they pulled them down. so if you're in the dark now in the connecticut area, you're probably not going to see any

power back on until maybe later in the day and that's a very early estimate. because the utility crews can't get out in weather like this. >> jeff stricker of heartford station, wvit, a very sturdy guy in old saybrook for us, we'll check in with you again, thank you. let's go to long island, new york, where nbc's al roker is. al, we're looking at the video of what happened recently with the movement of that outpost. extraordinary. >> do we have al, guys, in the control booth? as we still look at this video, it's incredible what has happened there. al roker, can you hear me, it's alex. >> hey, alex, hi, alex. how are you doing? >> i'm doing better than you are, because you're out in this mess. -- [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] >> i stepped inside, yeah, you

can see this -- this was the actually the -- guardhouse, the beach patrol house that they use for all the lifeguards. and it just all of a sudden got ripped off. i mean this was there was a berm that was built, that sand berm, about 20 feet tall. all around that building and it just suddenly moved off. and, boom, gone. it's now pressed up against the boardwalk. they don't know if they can save it or not. this is an historic boardwalk, it was built in 1914. and that building is pretty old, it has stood the test of time. but right now, it's probably a total loss. we are at high tide now, and you can see this other berm area, this is just about gone. the water is rushing right now, it's making its way -- from the ocean, and coming across, you

can see there's, this area here has been cordoned off with a wood barricades, but look at how the water is just now rushing all the way in and in fact we now have street flooding on to the street here. just in front of where our hotel is. so we're really seeing a lot of, a lot of flooding along the streets, as we are at high tide now. and this is ahead of the storm surge. this is just tidal flooding at this point coming on in here. >> this is exactly what you predicted might happen. and we have the video, it was pretty compelling, al, as we saw the berm break that you reported. and indeed, the cars that you can see in your line of sight directly ahead of you, al, is there any chance people are going to get out and move them? otherwise they're going to be done for, you think? >> i don't know. you know, the problem is, you know, there's a lot of water, the entrance to the parking area, is really under water.

so i think whosever car is here, unless they've got an suv or all-terrain vehicle, they're stuck here for the duration until they get such pumps and pump that out. >> do you know if the guard station was built when the pier was built, or the boardwalk, rather, in 1914? has this stood the test of time? >> i it's pretty old. i think it actually was built about 30 years ago, 40 years ago, i was told. and it's one of those historic parts of the two and a half-mile-long boardwalk. in the meantime, it just kind of sailed about 20 feet and is now pushed up against the boardwalk. so they're going to be cordoning off this area. because they don't know what kind of damage it did to the structural integrity of the boardwalk itself. >> al, i know we've gotten to a point where it's high tide, is this potentially the worst it's

going to be with the danger of flooding? >> well, here's the thing. especially not just here, but also coastal connecticut. which is on long island sound. and like the north-facing beaches of long island. as the system pulls away, you're going to get the return flow. so that's going to push water up against the north-facing bays. and beaches. so the south may be out of the woods in a couple of hours. but the north is not yet. so this is going to be an all-day event, alex. >> okay. how about the winds there, al? it sounds a little better from your microphone. last time we came to you, we couldn't hear anything. >> it depends, it really depends on where you're standing. right here, i'm protected a little bit about the hotel and the apartment building where our crew is shooting from. but if i walk across this way, and you'll see my colleague, stephanie abrams from the weather channel, the winds are a little stronger over here.

so again, there, a little bit of a break, here we're out in the open and the winds are, there goes the hat. the winds are a little stronger. >> al, thank you for speaking with us, i'm glad you and stephanie are there with us together, the dynamic duo. and we'll check in again, see you, al, thank you. let's go from there now and get a check on the situation in new york, that's where nbc's amy robach is standing by in manhattan's battery park city, right there close to the tip of the island. amy, you were getting buffeted about earlier. how is it now? >> we've gotten so much rain. i mean it's just nonstop. it hasn't ended and it's not going to end for some time. we know that to be the case as we're watching irene come up the shore right at high tide. we've been keeping a close eye on the water levels behind the staten island ferry building. the water has come up tremendously over the last few hours, right up on the edge and the concern is that it will

crest over with the storm surge and the high tide for the next two hours. it hasn't crested yet. but we're keeping a very close eye on it. we already have a lot of ponding on the street. we've got water street right behind me. appropriately named, especially given the events of the day today. and we should mention, so many of the buildings, the apartment complexes around here have anticipated a flood, to take place along this very area where i'm standing right now. so there are sand bags in the hopes they can keep the water from getting inside the buildings. we'll wait to see if that indeed happens. there was a lot of concern, zone a, mayor michael bloomberg, had 370,000 people here in manhattan leave, evacuate. and it looks like many people have done so. we know about 8700 people are in local shelters here in manhattan. the rest hopefully have gone away, with family and friends somewhere far away. this is not a day you want to be out and about.

we've seen lots of police vehicles, lots of fire department vehicles. ems workers. so everyone is here at the ready, in case the flooding does happen. in fact we've even been told that some of the ems crews around here have inflatable boats ready to go if these streets become rivers. so we're ready for just about anything right now. we've been moved up from our original location, because there was some flooding there. we're waiting to see if the floodwaters come down a little bit further into the southern tip. >> you know one thing that was of grave concern, particularly at the tip was the power. and i was speaking yesterday, with the head of the new york city council, christine quinn, who said they were maybe going to have to shut off power with con edison because they didn't want to have any wires eroded by the water. but behind you, i see street lights. so are things good along that front? >> we still have power. you're right, the concern is that if the water i was talking about just a few blocks down comes over the wall and saturates this area, the concern is that it will go down into the

bowels underneath new york city, there's a very elaborate tunnel system that holds those cables and those power lines. and if the saltwater got in there, it could erode those and cause massive problems in terms of power outages here. they were talking about potentially turning it off for a while. so far, the floodwaters have not gotten to that point. but obviously we're in the thick of it right now and it's the next couple of hours that will let us know if it. the next couple of hours will let us know if they have to do that and take some sort of measure. when the floodwaters come there's no stopping them and we're just hoping that perhaps the tide and irene may be giving us time. those two events come together at the same time and it's been said it would be catastrophic if that happen. we'll keep a close eye. everyone still has power right now which is good news. >> right. fingers crossed and safe that ay.

amy robach there battling the elements. we cross across a little bit in new york city to coney coiled. are things worse because you're on the ocean? >> reporter: frankly, if you are where she is now you have a little bit of protection. unfortunately we have no protection here on coney island from the surf and winds. frankly, to put it simply, as if the buildings on the boardwalk are getting one exfoliation. these winds have been hammering us. it's the wind, rain and high tide. i just got a good taste of that sand. coney island's finest. we're the only ones out here. this place is normally packed. pan the camera up that

direction. we'll show you some of that's figurin figurines. you can see trees are shaking as well over here. really getting beat up by the wind and by the rain. so, frankly we've been hunkering down where we are. haven't had a chance to go throughout the coney island area. this is zone a opinion 100,000 people all of coney island, a barrier island forced to evacuate. almost nobody here. walk with me a little bit. we'll head in this direction which we don't like to do very often but do it to give you a better sense. you get pummel when you go this way. you get pummelled by the sand. off in the distance, the ocean waves you can see how angry they are and how much they are

churning. this beach is usually a football field longar wide from to us the water. right now it's half that just to give you my best guess. waves have been churning. coming this direction. a lot of the water is ripping its way across and pulling up into the city center. the last hurricane that hit this area was gloria. they said it would have been a bigger catastrophe if it comes at high tide. that's why we have this fear what will happen right now. >> if there's any silver lining, you've been doing a great job in with standing the element of this storm. our nbc meteorologist bill karins came along to pass something to you. you're in the worst of it now. i won't get much worst than it is now. you're doing okay. don't think about going and looking. >> what does bill say the winds are right here right now the gusts? >> bill, what are the within

right now? >> we just had a gust of 51 miles per hour. jfk which is pretty close to where he. he's seeing as high as 60 miles per hour. >> you got 60 mile-per-hour winds. >> what's fascinating is if we roll the tape of peter right now we go back to him an hour from now the winds will be calm. he's in the center of the storm. >> he has winds not to look forward to on the back side? >> not as strong. on the back side maybe 40 mile-per-hour gusts. >> an eye of the storm passing over shortly? >> not a traditional eye. >> not well structured. peter can stop getting that sand facial he's been getting for heaven's sake. >> pop up the radar there on weather one. you see where the center of the storm is. look where coney island is. that's where peter is. he's in the heavy bands of the yellow and red that's shifting away. the storm is only about ten to

15 miles from him. the center of storm. heaviest rain in lower manhattan is happening right now. the back side of this storm doesn't have much of a punch. don't expect anything too dramatic but what will be interesting is to watch where peter is located and al roker is located. >> amy robach is there at battery park city. she's getting a lot of rain but it doesn't seem she had to catch her breath while speaking. is at any time harbor that's more inland? is at any time buildings around her. >> alex, let me be as politically correct as i can say. it's very generous to call the winds from this right now a hurricane. >> really? >> very generous. to get a hurricane you're supposed to have sustained winds of 74 miles per hour with gusts higher than that. i haven't seen a gust in even

the 70s in six or seven hours. >> people talk about it's just a tropical storm. technically is that what this is now? it's still relentless and difficult. >> hurricane center will make at it tropical storm any minute. they may do it with the 8:00 advisory. the wind have been tropical storm for the last six hours. it has a surge and also the surge is more like a category 1 or 2. that's why they are leaving this as a category 1. >> we'll take a break because as bill was mentioning we have from the official national hurricane center we'll have an update. we'll take a short break and get back to you with all the details you need to know right here on msnbc. purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. [ mrs. davis ] i want to find a way to break through. to make science as exciting as a video game.

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we're approaching 8:00 a.m. here on the east coast. good morning everyone i'm alex witt here in new york city. we're starting to see some real damage in this region of the countras