good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc headquarters. you saw and read right just there. it is now tropical storm irene. do not be deceived by the name. taking a look at this radar, you can see it is still a powerful storm as it packs a punch to the inner parts of connecticut, massachusetts, as it makes its way up, specifically new bedford, massachusetts still getting pounded with the rains and the storm surge coming off the mighty atlantic as it's withheld the brund of the storms from now tropical storm irene. this is nothing to let down your

guard about, particularly those folks who remain in irene's path. our ron allen will be taking to his camera post in just a moment. here's some snap shots of some of the damage left behind. from the mid-atlantic region of this country, there you saw downed lines, downed branches, rather, and trees earlier, that has been very commonplace, and of course some downed trees took with it some lives tragically, as we also look in the area of new jersey, you have phones trying to get out and about, trying to get rid of all of those downed trees to try to make way those roads to be cleared for when people need to get up and out on a monday morning and get back to work. we have heard from both the governor of new jersey, as well as mayor cory booker, and both of them have said let's have folks stay inside, allow emergency crews to do their thing and have today be a work of them, a day of rest for

others, so we can get back to business as usual tomorrow on monday. let's go for nbc meteorologist bill karins. he's got the latest with the path of now tropical storm irene. where is it heading? >> we have two concerns. one is all the water that's fallen especially in new jersey on the saturated soils. some case top five all time, other cases top ten. the delaware river runs this way, and this is where the water will be quickly rising, down right along the small river town is where we're going to see the worst of this flooding. that will be peaking soon. to the right of your screen is the center of the storm heading two westchester county and stamford. we have the rivers in jersey, as we go out wider, the ear concern is areas around southern new

england, we've been watching the high water, but also watching the radar up there. it look likes we're about to get some strong winds in the bothing area, all through massachusetts, these are the higher gusts. we've watching this 53 mirp gust, and also 49 in bridgeford. we're still getting very strong wind gusts knocking out power. you do not want to be outside in areas from boston to providence to hartford, springfield, that's where we're going to see the best chance of trees coming down. we have this one strong band heading to the north, should be arriving in boston shortly. the back side are not that impressive, and as the storm tracks northward, that's where we'll continue to watch the heaviest rain. one strong band will be knocking out power in southern new england and the rivers in new jersey, southern new york, that's where we're watching all

the rain that fell starting to collect into the basins. they first flow into the streams and creeks, that's where the problems are now, and tomorrow into the bigger rivers. >> i think it can't be underscored, while you're talking about people stays inside, we've got mayors and governors all over saying stay inside even if you think it looks like a beautiful day, there's a lot of problems with the downed trees. people need to let emergency workers do their thing. >> i think the latest death toll we had was probably around 10, 12, 14, we'll probably have quaemly that number of die in the cleanup efforts. we get chain saw accidents. electrocougss, that's what we also want to avoid, to tell people to be careful. every storm we tell about fatalities after the storm is long gone. >> okay. bill karins, many thanks to that. from bill's weather outpost, we're going to natalie morales

in hoboken, new jersey. i can see beautiful manhattan skyline behind you. >> reporter: this is what you didn't see about two hours ago, last time we were talking. there actually is a beautiful view here of the waterfront and midtown manhattan. we are finally getting to see that. it looks like the worst is over with, as bill karins made a really important point, the rivers are still concern, we notice the passaic river, areas that normally get flooded, this time they're feeling it worse, and they experienced record flooding in march, so once again going through it again. governor chris christie spoke with us earlier, and he said they expect snell damages to be estimated in the tens of billions. a lot of people will be feeling the effects of this to come as they deal with the cleanup,

water in their baismts. people along the ground levels were evacuated from their homes, people with ground-level apartments. we're not sure when they'll be allowed back into their homes as yet. they probably can start coming back now that the worst is over, soon, i would imagine. it appears that the situation we thought could happen here perhaps make cresting over this wall here. that did not happen. that's great flu for this town. people are out and about, walking their dogs. you would think they were having a block party here, but people i think are overwhelmingly reliev relieved, but know there's still more work to be done. >> natalie, you just anticipated my question, by showing us the folks out and walking their dogs. you remember about a half hour or so ago, we were discussing the fact that authorities had said, don't get out there and get that, for fear of puddles with downed lines, so has that been cleared away? are you seeing crews clearing

that away now? >> reporter: i should tell you, this end of town is okay, but on the west end of town, the most low-lying point, one of the officers from the sheriff's department told me, in his words, it looks like venice, so that end of town typically floods. i understand there is a lot of flooding over there. there were reports of electrical worries that were downed, so there's always that concern. it's important to remind people if you're in an area where there's water and down electrical wires, do not attempt to walk through. alex? >> very good point. natalie morales, the comment it appears after the storm. a much different case in massachusetts. that'sy nbc ease ron allen is located in new bedford. not too far from cape cod, right along the water. it has a lot of fishing boats. what are you seeing in addition do these heavy rains. how is the wind there, ron?

>> the wind is gusting. this is a protected harbor. that -- it could be a lot worse is the point. these commercial fishing boats are really locked down. earlier we were watching what looked like a sailboat that was floating around -- just appeared behind that tugboat, but a boat loose in the harbor can cause damage -- >> nbc's ron allen, we may have lost his connection. we've got the visuals there. ron has been that you coulding about the potential loss of a boat possibly losing its mooring and -- he says it's a protected harbor. he make the point it's not protected right now from either

the winds or the rains. bill karins, if you're standing by, let's talk about where ron allen is in new bedford. where is that relative to the tropical storm irene. is that getting hard? >> that's what's interesting about the storm, alex, it's actually pretty far away. the center of the storm is still near new york city, but far away, the winds in both evan right now sustained at 33. let me just change my graphic. in the gusts right now in boston are up to 40. so the strongest winds are well away from the center of this storm. that's what we're going to be continuing to track on the radar. you can see the bright yellows are where the strongest winds are. the highest winds are heading to the north. the danger from the winds is mostly concentrated over massachusetts, and right along that 495 loop, as we go around

especially boston. let me go to my tracking computer. let el now what we're going to be dealing with. this band, as we go down in, see the bright yellow band down here? just outside of brock ton. that's what they're worried about. gusts are possible up to 60 miles per hour approaching lowell, boston, right along that 495 loop. that's going to be the concern there. if we can actually add the interstate lamts on for you, and let you know what we're dealing with. as we stop the radar, it's this yellow band, and it's right over the top of 495, and also near 90, as you cross over from 495 to boston. that's the most dangerous band we have out there right now. further to the south. where ron is located, there it is, that's also a bad, probably the strongest winds they're going to see with this storm,

too. usually where you see the strongers rains is where you get the strongest winds. >> bill karins, thank you for the specific details about the other side of this storm. we'll be back with you shortly. meantime, flooding is the big concern in new jersey, let's go to pat battle, who's live with us in long branch, with a good morning. what are you seeing along the coastline? do you think the flooding concerns are along the coast or more inland? >> both, actually, alex. i just got a report from the office of -- here in monmouth county, flirp, and they're telling us they have flooding both inland and along the coast, serious flooding, the places where you could predict, but also inland in places freeholden, englishtown. so much rain felt overnight, you

can anticipate a lot of flooding. along with the ocean port avenue bridge and sea bright bridges. they spent political on, and that's like 200 yards wide, yet the water was able to breach that. they reportedly got water -- i hesitated, because i saw people beach taking pictures, which we don't recommend. there are a lot of people on the boardwalk, but governor christie has asked our residents to please stay out of these flood-prone areas. we're about maybe 10, 12 feet off the sand, so i think obviously we're safe here, but i would not at all recommend what those folks are doing. but there are rip tides, too. i wouldn't even go as close as

they are, but the governor has said, you know, we did, we dodged a bullet here. we've been talking about the politics of this storm and the lessons learned from katrina, a million people evacuated from the jersey shore alone. in 24 hours they got that many people off, and they know there will be some criticism, some hindsite 20/20, i told you this was not going to be the storm you said it was, but basically the people i've been talking to do not have that kind of criticism. basically they say, we were lucky. no one can predict what a storm of this nature will do, and the fact that the sun is coming out of, we have breaking news, you saw it here first, the sun is coming out. yes, we've got people applauding here on the boardwalk. here comes the sun. yeah, singing in the rain and then here comes the sun. listen, nobody is complaining. we were inconvenienced for a day

or two, and spent time outside your home, so be it, but there are 600,000 people here without power in the garden state. so a lot of falling trees and bringing down power lines we were about a block away from where a tornado may have touched down, that was also here in long branch. shall heared off the roof of an apartment building sent it across four lanes of traffic and snop off -- it was a rough night, but the sun has come out. >> we love this kind of breaking news, pat battle with a smile and the sun. let's head to a place and see if the sun is peeking out for al roker, in long beach. any sign of the suns or these horrific waves still? >> reporter: i know, they're pretty amazing, but alex, what a

difference a half hour makes. i could not have been standing here on the beach at long beach about 45 minutes ago. now the tide has gone out, and you can see the waves still look angry, but the good news is a lot of flooding is over. there's residual flooding in long beach. there's some power outages, and may i also say, i love pat battle. nobody is better than pat battle. >> she's great, right? >> we love her. and it was my great honor to work with her when i worked at wnbc. that said, here along the shoreline there's less damage and consequences than there are inland. we're talking about a lot of flooding. the higher amounts of rain, anyway from 5 to 11 to 12 inches of rain, actually those were

inland parts of new jersey and new york and connecticut. so the good news is we are -- we've kind of dodged a bullet. this could have been a lot worse, but the good news also is that people heeded the warnings, and the evacuations got done without a hitch, and i think for the most part, as pat said, i don't think you're hearing a lot of people complaining about the precautions, but the potential was there to have a category 2 or 3 storm come into the northeast. as it was, you know, look at least ten people have lost their lives, there's a lot of phones without power, this still is a monumental event for a lots of people. >> al, i have to ask you about, where are you right now? are you feeling a strong current as you stand there and the water recedes with the waves? or is it not so bad? >> no, not really.

it's not so bad, but that said, you know, different places will be a little bit different. when i was getting ready yesterday for nbc nightly news, that red stick over there, that's a pit right there. i didn't realize it, i walked into that to get ready, and fell into the pit up to about my waist. so the thing is, water covers a lot of hazards you may not know, so be very, very careful. the topography of your local areas, especially beaches may have changed during this storm. just be very, very careful. >> that's a very good point. the storm surge and erosion will make very different from what people experienced a day or so good. al, many thanks for that. from al in long beach, we're going to head to the new york

city's upper side. jenna wolf is standing by. it's your first hurricane you've reported from, but things are different now a couple hours later, right? >> i can't tell if i'm being teased or not. >> no, it was your first one. you did a great job. >> thank you. i survived my first one. so yes, i did survive it. i can say that, because the brunt is now beyond and what we're hearing from a lot of our colleagues and correspondents, there's been damage in other places. what we have seen is the wind take a big turn, while the wind was shifting south all morning long, it has changed direction. the current is actually going north, as you can see with the flags behind me. there's a boat now passing down the hudson. the water is calm enough where boats are coming back out. the tide was so high. it had risen about seven feet.

there's a moving dock that was almost completely covered it has now come down about three feet. within the last half hour, we went from being the only ones out here to a few of i would say 10, 20, maybe 25 people. to see how the water has been receding, to see if you own boats, how the boats are doing. for the most part everything has calmed down. orange parka came out. i can wear "i survived hurricane erhine". >> and that will go with the "i love matt" tattoo you have. i can't tell because of the gray of the water and white of the boats, is the hudson river pretty stormy still behind you? the hudson river, is it stormy?

choppy waves? >> reporter: you know what? it was actually a little more still before. the wind has picked up now that the brunt of this storm has passed us. it is becoming more choppy. but again, the current is moving north, which is odd to see. we're used to seeing the current move south, so the storm has passed us by and the wind is now pushing this way. for the most part the waters have calmed a bit. >> goaters out in the water, though, right? >> reporter: at this point, you're better off just waiting to hear how things go. the people that own the boats behind me aren't allowed back onto the boats. they were allowed to shore them up before the storm. once the storm passes and they get the okay, they'll be able to go back on. but during the storm nobody was allowed out here. it's been rely fifl quiet until

the last 15 minutes or so. >> nbc's jenna wolf, thank you so much for that. we're going to go from jenna now to nbc's amy robach, in battery park, where things look a little drier. i will never forget that picture of you wading through that need-deep water on the boardwalk there. >> it was a surreal moment, actually to have new york's harbor literally surrounding us as we walked along the boardwalk. it's not a site yght you expecto see. it pushed in quite a little ways, and then it started to recede. we had the center of the storm come over us, a very calm period. now we have the winds whipping us, but obviously the concern was that tidal surge, the high tide along with the irene surge, and it was a bit scary, a bit dicey, because of course the big

concern was the power grid here in the new york city, and in that saltwater got into the bowels of new york city and did any damage to live wires, we would have had a major problem here in manhattan, because there was even a point where con edison was considering proactive turning off the power grid so it did hit live wires. thankfully we're actually out of the woods. now the wind is whipping, the trees are bending and things are flying in the air, but again that's not as much of a concern. people during that calm thought, let me get outside, let me walk my dog or ride my back, and you know what? it's still not safe to be outside. the folks i think are venturing back in, but you know, everyone wants to see what happened, see if there was any damage, but the good news is we just got back from being back over at the boardwalk there, and most of the water has receded.

so a big sigh of relief. >> let's let people tell you what it looks like outside until we get the all clear. i was mentioning that picture of you and play what it looked like just a couple hours ago. >> reporter: so look at this, we have massive flood iing it is under water, and the water is continuing to come. the tide is high, and this is what officials feared, right here. so you can't really see the statue of liberty. this is the boardwalk here, and you can see it's completely flooded, the entire harbor has

come onto the road and the tide is continuing to rise. this was dry just a little while ago. this is high tide. the entire boardwalk is flooded. it's continuing to come over the edge. we have at least another hour or so of high tide and irene coming in, and this water will continued to spread up into lower manhattan, and the flooding continues. there are sandbags everywhere. >> well, that was then. this is now. so you talked about some things flying through the air, amy, nothing of any danger? just debris? trash? >> reporter: exactly. there's trash, it's new york city, of course, that's been flying around a little. we have some branches across the ground. there's somebody else walking their dog behind me. not a safe teem to do that.

things are still loose, flying around, but a lot of people curious about what it's like out here to be like this. after the rain is gone, but the winds have moved in, but you never know, things got loosened up, you need to be extra safe and stay indoors. >> very good advice. thank you for the reporting from battery park. amy robach. joining me right now, n.o.a.a. and chris havevacaro. for those people looking at and the rest of our correspondents saying hey, things are looking better, you still have a lot of people in harm's way. >> correct. the storm is not over. the center of irene made its final landfall in the u.s. around coin island this morning with a strong tropical storm. irene will continue moving northward. there's a very large area of

rainfall falling from maryland to -- we have a lot of flood warnings, upstate new york and other places inland. so that's going to continue. certainly the winds there continue to diminish, but they are still tropical storm force, and with the saturated ground it could result in downed trees and power lines. what is your greatest concerns? i know we've had meteorologist who suggested it will be the flooding associated with the rains, because it is stip a tropical storm, yes it has winds, but it's the pounding relentless rain. >> correct. we will have a full day of rainfall for most of the northeast. there's a break in the rain in the new york city area, but there's rain in central pennsylvania that rotates through. if you do come across a flooded

road, do not try to attempt to cross that road, as al said before, you don't know how deep that water is, because the roads underneath it could be washed out. >> can i ask, chris, your concerns? while it cements like new york city with our innumerable high rises, it seems to have been spared having the high rises have shattered glass, and the like. you still have hartford, boston, providence, are those areas of concerns with the tropical storm force winds? >> absolutely. as you go up in elevation, the winds tend to fleck because there's less friction and less interaction with land, so there's no obstructions at the higher elevations to impact higher structures, but certainly this will be a widespread

concerns. >> okay. from noaa chris vacaro, thank you so much. as we've said there's a lot more to go, this is new bedford, they're trying to make sure boats are secured, no doubt, but there you can see a boat tipping back and fort as a result of that storm surge, ron allen is jumping out of way. we'll talk with them shortly. ♪ [ country ]

[ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. that is al roker in the center of that shot. that's long beach, new york, where al has been brave enough to get down there on the sand.

he's been feeling a bit of the surge, but certainly it's nothing like it was earlier. that does not mean that the danger has passed, though. let's go to bill karins. bill, i were to talk with you about new jersey, our neighbor just to the west, as we look at the still potential for flooding because of those rivers that have been -- they haven't even reached their crestsing right? >> no. that probably won't happen for another 24 hours. philadelphia has had the wettest month in their history and new york the wettest august. now we're worried about the flooding problems.

the center of the store, some left overgab on the back side. it's from friends been northward, where the river meets, it all collects, and that has to flow southward, so the area in blue that highlights the delaware river there. notice that many areas have warnings, but the biggest river of them all isle delaware river. it's a itch bigger water basin. that's where we're seeing the problems now. the evacuations are taking place

right now, and we've already heard of some spots that water has been in downtown areas of the small town upstream. >> bill karins, thank you for falling up this morning. joining me on the phone is strain palone, on the phone for us in long branch from our w nbc's pat battle is standing by. how are things looking where you are? i'm down by pier village. it seems like the damage is less than expected, you know, to the buildings, but we still have a lot of flooding, power out, and also some of the homes in the west end. there's damage -- we also had a tornado in long branch last

night that ripped off one of the complexes in the west end area, but overall, the damage along the oceanfront seems to be less than was expected. i'm still telling people not to come out, because there's still curfews in effect. people shouldn't be walking around or driving at this point. >> absolutely. we are somewhat heartened by the lack of flooding with the storm surge from the mighty atlantic there, but going inland, you have so many small rivers and tributaries as well, that you may have heard bill karins saying they have yet to crest, so what are you advising people that live along those areas. do they need to continue to try to sandbag today?

>> yeah, the flooding from the riverside and the lakes along the shore has been pretty severe, and most of the people that were evacuated along the atlantic coast were in some of those areas along the shrewesbury river, for example. i'm not even sure, maybe it still hasn't crested. the seawall in say bright had water coming through, and we'll have to assess that over the next few days with regard to beach replenishment. >> i hope you don't have to correct me when i say there was no loss of life contributed to hurricane irene in the state of new jersey? is that still the case?

>> i'm not hear you too well. i'm starting to look at some of the shelters again. i will tell you that the shelters in monmouth county and middlesex were well organized, and there are a lot of people there and obviously they'll remain there. i was very impressed with the effort of the various shelters. >> we thank you for your time there. >> thanks very much. >> we're going to go from new jersey to tom costello, who is live in ocean city, maryland. let's get an update on the residents there. you said previously they were being allowed to come back. wow, did i see surfers in the water behind you?

>> reporter: surf's up, dude. they're taking advantage of this spectacular -- we have blue skies and sunshine, and it stopped raining, and they're letting everybody back into ocean city. people who own businesses, people who are residents, they've been allowed in since 9:00. at noon they're opening up to everybody el else. police say they've had no incidents whatsoever to speak of. extremely, extremely minor flooding, so it looks like ocean city is ready to resume of summer. with that, i think it's time to take off the garb, if you will, and next time you hit me, i'm going to be wearing shorts again. i know, i know, that's the kind of guy i am. >> there you go. tom costello taking it off on tv. i know earlier you thought it was fine, the rains came back in, but rains associated with what may be yet to come, i wonder if that's irene-related

or not. irene several looks as if the back half of it, which potential being anything affecting where you are, it looks pretty well dissipated right now. >> reporter: good. i'm taking your word for it. i don't have a radar in front of me, but i'm guessing it's mofds pretty far up north toward new jersey and new york at this point. for a while we were just getting the fingers hitting us on the back side, dumping rain on us, even an hour ago. i'm still wet from an hour ago, but it looks like we're finally in the clear here. >> keep an eye on the surfers. i hope they're hanging ten. those are some pretty hefty waves. >> i hope so. >> tom coals tell owe see you in the shorts next. >> these guys are diehard. >> as are you, after hanging out

there the last 24. al roker, look at all, venturing very close to the surf, but it looks like it's receding. >> low tide is kind of settling in, and folks are walking along the boardwalk. it's becoming -- it looks more like a more normal boardwalk. i spoke with the mayor -- or i should say the city manager of long beach. they evacuated about two thirds of the people. that's about 25, 30,000 people left and got to higher ground. there was plenty of time to do this, and i think lessons were learned from katrina. a lot of city officials both up and down the coast said the time to act is now, they did, people

complied, and the good news is we still lost ten lives, but it looks like the structural damage along the coast, there is flooding, but again not so bad. you go inland, that's where the real problems are, alex. from interior sections and western sections of massachusetts, new york state, on into pennsylvania, parts of new jersey, connecticut, that's where we're seeing a lot of the flood, you because that's where there's the wrap-around moisture, so the heavier amounts came in there.

we have gotten in the last two weeks amazing amounts of rain, there was nowhere for that rain to go. we have liver flooding, and some of these rivers won't crest until late tuesday night, early wednesday morning. so we're going to have to keep an eye on this. a lot of people think, well, irene wasn't that big a deal. if you weren't affected, yes, it wasn't, but a lot of folks will be dealing with the aftereffects for weeks to come. >> you make a good point. i was talking with our colleague, some of whom have had friends, family, even some of our colleagues dealing with a lot of flooding issues. it wears repeating that irene is not over yet. we've seen the pictures from new bedford, massachusetts, that's getting pounded right now. this storm affected literally from florida up through canada.

it's really unprecedented. >> al roker there in long beach, many thanks as always. we'll see you again. al was talking about the loss of life, and we have the terrible task 9 reporting three people are dead in virginia killed by falling trees. we have norfolk, virginia, which saw a storm surge of more than 7 1/2 feet, so clearly dealing with the afterplath of flooding. and the staggering images of the damage down by irene continue to pour in. we have some trees toppling over just like matchsticks, live wires down across alexandria, virginia, and that's where our colleague luke russert is standing by. i know right there along the water things look calm, but you got into the city.

talk about what it's like there. >> reporter: well, it's basically like a normal sunday here in old town alexanderia. old folks are out walking their dogs, grabbing some coffee. there's a line at the starbucks behind me. but you saw more in the residential neighborhoods, a lot of trees are downed, power lines are down, we just got some figures from the folks at the power company. they said any dc area pecco, about 120,000, and old dominion 118,000, so that's a fair amount of people affected, but we were told to expect that by officials. waffle on you for the falling trees and power outages. we saw the transformers blowing up around the area. and we're told they're working diligently around the clock to

get those back up. where i'm standing right now, had there been an intense tidal surge going through the chesapeake bay, through the potomac, it would have been flooded. that was avoided. that makes everyone breathe a sigh of relief. people right now are quietly humbling excited. they can go back out. this fear has passed through the mid-atlantic region. for the state of virginia, the bottom part of the state is certainly not out of the woods yet. there was a load of flooding in the hampton rhodes area. they even had some fatalities. that area will be a sizable cleanup. for washington, d.c. there's about 200 trees down around the capitol, high water in some areas, but overall the dc metro region really escaped. there will be some power

outages. certainly those will not be pleasant. i haven't been back home to my parnlt. i don't know if i have power there. but all being said, not to have in fatalities here, not to have any flooding it, we certainly lucked out. >> and what i wouldn't do for a cup of stark bucks right now. if you were any kind of friend -- >> i don't go to starbucks. i'm a dunkin' donuts guy. >> more down to earth. well, let's talk about on a serious note about the flooding in new jersey. mr. mayor, good morning. is it the cresting that you're concerned about most? >> absolutely. we're hit because we have two issues. one is we had flash flooding last night and we're dealing with the cleanup of that, and

the second -- three issues. second, we're without power, the whole city. the third issue is we have the delaware river which is going to crest tomorrow around noonish. so we're in the process of evacuating people, or asking people to leave. obviously it's not a mandatory evacuation, and probably another 15 or 120 minutes we're going to send a her to the areas that get affect affected and we're actually going to hand-drove letters to people affected by it to go someplace else, and we have places where they can bring their pets also. >> the delaware river flooded in

'04, '05 and '06. we were fortunate for the past five years, we haven't had to deal with that issue, but every time it rains, people from the flood-prone areas wonder if they're going to be hit by it. we're a 300-year-old town, so these are old neighborhoods. this is an area that's been that way for hundreds of years, and this is one of the things that we have to deal with, and, you know, fortunately we got through it last night and now we're trying to get through tomorrow. so we have three separate things going on at the same time. we have great volunteers, great

fire department, our oem operations are in place, and right now because -- you guess because there's so much publicity on it for the past week, people are being very understanding of what's happening. >> well, with your hands full, mayor del vehicle i don't. >> by the way, i'm a starbucks guy. >> excellent you and me both. we'll put luke russert to shame. massachusetts is now in the cross hairs of tropical storm irene. we have nbc's ron allen, not too far from cape cod. we say that because there's a lot of water in new bedford that what ron will describe as a protected area.

it looks anything but protected. >> reporter: this is protected by a sea wall, by a hurricane dike but there have been a number of -- there is one on you in that direction there are five other boats floating around, a very dangerous situation. the coast guard is here. fortunately there are guys who were able to help secure this thing. at the edge of this side of those boats, i don't know if you can see it in this direction, that boat with the orange trim there is a fishing boat that's coming loose, we're told.

other rescue workers are trying to secure it, because it may be the next one to come loose. but it's very dangerous situation. overall the conditions have improved. it's not rainy at this moment, so a lot calmer. had the conditions been worse. one real concern is there's a bridge, part of the city of new bedford, and this boat was heading in that direction with a 50-foot-tall mast or so. which would have crashed into that bridge over there. but you just son want to see these things happening. you pan to the right there, on

the mirage, you can see one of the fishermen who's trying to make sure all i this can think of is the movie "the perfect storms. they know what they're doing trying to make sure that everyone is safe here. the winds have died down, but as i say that, you can feel it's going to be that kind of day. only recently has el been able to take off his rain jacket. ron, you're absolutely right, people need to -- you'll have

flooding concerns, the rain concerns, the wind concerns. it's clear you have some wind action still. >> they've asked people to stay off the roads. the governor sell his thinks the entire commonwealth will be affected. they're expecting to get a lot of rain out west, a lot of wind out east, and then off the coast, the island of martha's vineyard and nantucket. the cape is also exposed. we've heard records of gusts of wind all right this morning, so, yes, a very serious situation. people -- you know, when you come out and stand in this, all of that is meaningless, because it's pretty bad, whatever the meteorology cal label is you

want to put on it. people need to stay safe, stay inside. >> bill karins has been talking about "bad" all day. that's an official term. getting some video into us from -- that's the area of battery park, where you see, yeah, evidence -- that's new york city, everybody, near the edge there, the staten island ferry is there. a lot of old buildings. there's also wall street nearby, as we look at this whole area. clear there is flooding on the street. make very sure there are no downed power lines as you approach anywhere to take a photo or walk your pets. we understand people want to go about their say and assess what

happened. that said, there is a very profound risk for electrocougs, for anybody who might approach a body of water in which there is a downed power line. we know we have officials in new jersey and new york, people are told don't go into the wears. we had the mayor of hoboken, new jersey saying don't go there early, but this is down again on the southern tip of manhattan's island there, everyone. this is evidence of all of that. a couple of cars. we see people taking pictures. that's all fine and good as long as there's no power lines. irene has left a lot of damage. i've heard about folks trying to

deal with flooded-out basements burst pipes and the like. there's a lot of cleaning up to be done. we're approaching the top of the hour here ones in nbc. we're going to stay with our coverage of tropical storm irene. we'll be right back after a short break. f!

welcome back, everyone, to our continues coverage of now tropical storm irene, as we approach 11:00 a.m. on the east coast, 8:00 a.m. out west. you're looking at some new video in to us from the battery park area of lower manhattan. you're seeing evidence of it for yourself, though people are out now trying to take pictures, some of them a