hello, everyone. i'm tamron hall at msnbc headquarters continuing our special live coverage of hurricane -- or former hurricane irene. it's undoubtedly still a strong storm. it's now headed north toward rhode island and massachusetts. experts believe this storm is affecting more americans than any other single storm ever. at least 12 people have lost their lives. 4 million people are without power. can you believe that number? officials say it could be days better power is restored in some places. some of the biggest concerns, as much as 12 inches of rain fell

in parse of new jersey. new jersey's governor experts damage, they're expecting it to reach into the tens of millions. this morning in long beach, northern, the sheer force of the water pushed what looks like a watchtower off its moorings, slamming it right into a nearby pier. we are expecting updays on the storm's response. from now all across the east cores. we will bring you updays when they happen. bill karins is at the weather center. what's the answer? >> the storm is now heading just exited westchester county, and now will head quickly to the north.

it will quickly blow through new england. the rivers in new jersey, the warnings continue, warnings everywhere in green the delaware flooding will deal with major flooding, all almost crest tomorrow. we're talking most of them. the quest will go from north to south. there's a lot of smaller rivers, just outside of northern, and here's why.

we've also heard some reports of flooding concerns down in virginia. and the rainfall in north carolina wasn't quite as bad. i just saw a report, the river is not flowing out to sea as it should. we're still continues with our problems. >> thank you, bill. from governor bob mcdonnell in virginia, as you well know, sadly there were fatalities in the state. let's listen in. >> let me give you an impact assessment of what happened. we have other than the wind prognostication, i think everything that happened was about as photographed.

i think the hurricane center did a pretty great job nailing down the forecast other than the fact we were expecting maybe a cat 2 storm, most of the rest was as they had indicated. we had higher rain and winds ironically away from the cost than actually did at the coast. the high test rain in some places were 50, 60 miles winds. you can see on the map some rainfall estimates, and that will create some flooding potential. winds the highest reported winds was at matthews county.

right here in the richmond areas, we had tropical storm force winds all over virginia, and many places west. this was a very brought impact, and well over i think two thirds of the population of the state was affected by this storm. tomorrow surge was slightly less than forecast, but still the fourth largest surge on record. it was just above the 7.2 feet from the ash wednesday storm in 1962. and only about six inches left than the 1933 record storm surge for the commonwealth. that will have significant impacts as we still get the

damage assessments in about the flooding. as you mentioned, heaviest rains inland, though along the coast and all over hampton rhodes, 6 to 10 inches more. one redeeming benefit of the heavy rain, we anticipate le with see a dramatic reduction in smoke and the fires in the great dismal swamp. we'll have ceasement teams probing down into the layers of peat to give further indications of what has happened. this is a team effort. this is just preliminary assessments in damage reports that we've had from around the state. those are continuing. we've got state police and national job, doing well fair checks.

we're sad to report four fatalities. all of these seem to be the result of a falling tree, either on a residence or on an automobile. and our hearts just go out to the people who have lost loved once, sometimes a mom in the house, 11-year-old boy killed in newport news, just a tragic circumstance down there. this very heavy rain will lead to -- we're listening to governor mcdonnell giving updates. a number of people sadly lost

their lives as a result of this storm, four fatalities. the governor saying all were a result of falling trees. which we heard warnings of the governor chris christie a giving an update of how irene is affecting the state. >> njdot, and their sister agencies are fully mobilized, engaged in post-storm operations statewide. about 3 hundred dollars different road closures or obstructions currently exist across the state. we're working to post signs due to flooding or downed wires or downed trees. good news is the turnpike and the bridges are clear, so we have the ability to get equipment where where he need to get it. crews are pushing aside and removing debris where it's safe to do so. transportation maintenance crews are coordinating with bpu and

the utility companies in areas that involved downed wires in order to have them take care of the wires first before we go in. on the parkway, as of 1:00 p.m. today, we are reopening the parkway southbound. south of exit 98. however, the one exception for mile marker 91 to 98, there is a closure in both directions because of the extreme flooding. so we have detours set up, but you should expect congestion and delays in the area as you go because of the flooding situation. as of 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, tolls will be reinstated on the atlantic city expressway and on the garden state parkway in both direction south of the driscoll bridge. regard nj transit crews haveb gun a systemwide inspection of the rail structure. once complete, we will begin to plan service plans for tomorrow. all three light rail systems,

are undergoing inspections. no issues to report at this time, but the weekend excel and saturday excel will probably be in place for monday. crews are preparing bus service plans for a monday start-up. the real issue that we're going to have to deal with now is flooding. this storm is transitioning into a flooding event. we're going to experience major flooding. some rivers haven't crested yet and it's still raining in various parts of the state. we are prepared for what this means, for shelter, transportation infrastructure, and our positions with the urban search and rescue and our coordinating with the local oems, in addition i just finished a cabinet meeting at 11:00 here at the rock, some of the cabinet members, the city attorney general as well, and the rest of the cabinet was on the phone, to continue to work with them, make sure we're ready

for the next two days which will become a major flooding incident. right now there's 212 high hazard dams, so dp is reaching out for reinspection. the three dams we're moth concerned about, first the lake solitude dam in highbridge, huntington county. it's been evacuated. iwan dam, there have been some evacuation, and in sussex county, no evacuation are rird. next the pomp temperature ton lake dams. we lowered the lake in advance of the storm. the gates are close to going back to the automatic operation. in fact, the reports that we have now regarding the ramapoe dam, is that it will get up to 19 if the 2 feet. to give you perspective, this is an all-time record.

the previous record was 18 feet so it will be a full 1.2 feet above the previous record. we are going to have significant flooding in the area. the emergency declaration i signed earlier last week enabled commissioner martin to sign an order to allow -- once the weather is clear, municipalities can clean up without waiting for paperwork from the d.e.p. this allows them to increase operating hours for solid waste materials or use municipal vehicles to transport waste that aren't typically used for that purpose. we will see a matching of the all-time record in 1984, it was 24 feet. we'll be mapping that in pompton plains on the river, so we will have some major flooding event if not records in those events.

no imagine problems reported for wastewater or drinking water plants. we think people will be back online fairly quickly. we'll resume beach monitoring on monday, so we'll get them open as sa as soon as it is safe for people to be in the water. more than 15,000 people sheltered in in shelters across the state. i want to give special commendation to rutgers where i visited yet. we have about 600 people from atlantic county in shelters at rutgers. mennen arena has been extraordinary, and mars county and their county government deserves great yesterday for that. the shelters can provide food and water today. however, we're hoping to move these people as the conditions improve. in fact, i have ordered that new

jersey transit buses be sent first to rowan university, to evacuate the 1200 or so people who are from atlanta county currently at rowan university. so the first new jersey transi had buses will be sent to send them back to atlanta county. we're going to do the same then at the arena and the other shelters weft throughout the state. should it become necessary, we've worked with the department of education to identify schools and with ago consult to make sure there's food, water and proposing staffs available for additional shelters if in fact it's necessary. to make sure we have that at the

ready. director mckenna has done a electricity job for that. and so i want to thank him for that. i think we'll continue on that past if we need it. conferred this morning regarding hospitals. two hospitals remain closed. hops are monitoring current situation and will divert as necessary. that's a normal course of events, except for the two closures. a number of the health care facilities around the state have experienced power outages. health and senior services are reporting the f. to the dep use,

and can be prioritized as appropriate, as we move forward here. as of last night, 25 health care facilities have been evacuated affecting about 3,000 people, including those two hospitals as well as nursing homes. if you need ems, it will take longer because of the roadways. sometimes hospital choice can't be granted because of the road conditions. so we're partners with other states to ask for ambulances, and we've received support from pennsylvania. i want to thank governor corbett for his willingness to lend us some ambulances to be able to take up the slack during this

difficult time he's also offered sheltering facilities as well in pennsylvania if we need them, and he and i have spoken a couple times in the last 24 hours and governor corbett has been a great partner in offering us help during a different time. i want to thank governor corbett publicly for his assistance. now on to the issue of power, electricity across the state there are now about 650,000 people without power across the state. we think the number will increase more as the day goes on because of the sustained 40-mile-an-hour winds and the likely his more trees will go down. power lines will go down with them. the four southern counties, cape may, atlantic ocean and

monmouth. middlesex water is experiencing heavy call volumes with reports of no water or low pressure in south am boy. 3,000 homes are affected there. they're on top of the situation, and there's some wider boil water advisories in middlesex counties. the canoe brook water treatment plant is currently down due to flooding. as a result, the following towns are under a boil water advisory. west orange, short hills, mill burg, maplewood, boil your water, attorney general, maplewood. ive. getting a few updates from the governor of new jersey chris christie, who says the next two days very important for that state as they are anticipating flooding. there are concerns right now about the ramapo river, the

govern, 650,000 people, by the way in new jersey without power. the governor of new york cuomo announced there's a closurer the tappan zee bridge here, due to flooding on the new york state thruway. so there you have it, a couple updates. in the meantime, the national weather service has. >> 3 hundred national guard treats. mad torrie evacuation are in force, none narragansett, where ron blome is standing by. >> reporter: i think this part of rhode island -- most of rhode island really got a pass on the worst of this storm. that westward tilt of the track,

which is causing so much trouble further up in new england, new hampshire, and up towards the adirondacks, pulled all of that rain away from from us. you can kind of look down and see -- we're about two hours away from low tide. high tide against 7:00 tonight. this could push more storm surge in, but the kind of coastal flooding into homes and condominiums along the coast did not take place. there was some overwash, those were the ones evacuated. i was just on the phone with rhode island emergency management officials. they tell me the power outage numbers now, about 100,000 national grid is out there working to restore when they can with the winds. as you can see right now, winds gusting up 35 to 40, so not the eastiest thing to get out there and work. the heavy flooding they expected

here is further inland, so that will be the area we have to warrick closely. if you live in the white mountains, the green mountains, the adirondack area and further up, you need to be very aware of the potential for flash flooding. >> ron, i understand you were able to talk to a couple people and get their reaction. let's toss to it. >> yeah, i am worried about the flooding. we took every precaution that we could, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. i'm expecting some flooding next door, you know, depending on what's going to happen this afternoon, but there's nothing you can control. >> there you have it, a few people talking about what they were bracing for. is there an update on the airport situation there? >> reporter: on the which situation? >> the airport situation. i understand flights were expected to resume. >> reporter: the airports are shut down. i don't think they're going to even think about when to reopen airports until tomorrow.

we're going to still experience this kind of rain and wind through the night, probably early in the morning there will still by the dry wind always behind a big storm like this. i just don't know what the power outage is around the providence airport. there's a lot of traffic that goes through boston. boston got much heavier rains than down here on the coast. the way the storm tracked a little to the west put us on the drier side. irene killed four people, blocked roads and knocked out power to thousands in virginia alone. in nor knock city streets are clogged. may error paul frame joins me. what's the latest there? >> actually we have come through

this thing pretty well. we didn't have quite the storm surge that we had forecasted. we had a number of trees down and we've cleared most of them. the utility power has been restored. we still have about 36,000 residences without pawer. all in all. we're thank many it wasn't worth. >> absolutely, efederally when you consider the downed treats that you just mentioned. when we put it in perspective that's not a huge number affected, but if you're one of those you're not feeling good. but what's your concern at this point? >> right now we've been trying to dry everything out. we didn't experience as much beach erosion as expected. folks are returning to their homes. we evacuated about 25%, 30% of the city, especially everyone in

the low-lying areas, they're coming back, and we'll have a better assessment as the day goes on. >> when do you anticipate most of those evacuated will be able to safely return? >> we're already letting them come back. we have pretty good weather here right now. we have crews on the streets since the break of dawn, so we're making good progress right now. >> that's good news mayor, thank you very much. i now you have cleanup to do. thank you. and. and tens of thousands of stranded after the airlines scrapped about 9,000 flights and halted train travel. a rare sight in new york city, an empty grand central station. still ahead, an update on just how long travelers can expecting to stuck. you're watching continuing

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welcome back. visitors were allowed back in ocean beach. more than 780,000 people are without power. that's statewide. at least one death is being attributed to the storm. a woman in queens town crushed when a tree knocked a chimney through the roof of her home. berth ta coombs joins us lift from the port of baltimore, maryland. i understand there may even be a baseball game later? >>. >> reporter: there's supposed to be, but we have yesterday to see the sunshine here. actually if you can pan off, we're in the inner harbor.

most of the rain was on the eastern shore down near where tom was in ocean beach where tom costello was. we're seeing some buses starting to make their ways through town. when winds topped over 50 miles an hour, but overall the feeling is in baltimore it was definitely a glancing blow. power is an issue. more than half a million people in the region without power, that will take some time to bring back.

wen again a lot of people off-line, and authorities say people need to be patient. it will take time. that's there been an update on the transit situation? >> reporter: we haven't seen that much. we've seen some starting to come out, but that was before we started seeing battle and more

winds. i'm not sure if i necessarily want to play ball in this weather, but they're trying to get in the game that was canceled yesterday, and supposedly they start up at 1:35. >> that would be a good sign that i think things are trying to return to normal. in hoboken, flooding god so bad that officials had to evacuate. floodwaters are rising across the state. 600,000 homes and businesses are without power. and about 15,000 people are holed up in emergency shelter. don zimmer jones my be phone. mayor, thank you for your time. >> first i want to say, i thank our community, hoboken has

weathered the storm, however still half of our town is still significantly flooded. many streets still remain impossible. wait until tonight to come back, because hopefully the floodwaters will received there's also about 9,000 people in hoboken without -- especially if they live in the western side. >> we heard from a governor a short time. he said about 300 road closures due to debris and other issues. let me ask you about the 15,000 people that were holed up in the emergency shelters. what's the latest there? >> we took about 50 peet over to preventative measure our shelter

did not end up flooding. we did it as a present tiff measures. on my way to -- they also provide some shelter services for us as well. we feel like everyone came together and weathered the storm. >> absolutely. >> just making sure that everyone stays safe. >> i'm sure it made a difference the prep ways made the difference. i know you have a lot of time to do, and to continue to help your residents. greatly appreciate it. we also got an update. president obama met videoconference with key officials in the response to hurricane erenal, and now the tropical storm, according to the without, he was upsedated in

response and infrastructure, again from the white house, the president has met with advisers for an update. people are using twitter to experience. you've been burning up our twitter deck here at here are some of the tweets. greg griffin. just hit my problem. laying on wires. okay. we hope you're okay. and shane hinshaw reports from bell mar new new. just drove to dunking dough nits. hope that transcript was worth it. send us your tweets at msnbc tv, and include the hashtack irene.

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good day, everyone. i'm tamron hall. we are back with msnbc's continuing coverage of what is now tropical storm irene. you're looking at live pictures of montauk, new york, the tip of the south shore, the destructive run continues at this hour as it churns up the east coast taking aim now at massachusetts and rhode island. now in new jersey the concern is flooding. a fresh round of eye vac ways as the rivers continue to rise. >> the real issue we're going to have to deal with is flooding. this storm is transitioning into a flooding event. some rivers haven't crested yesterday, and it's still raining. this very, very heavy rain is going to lead to further

flooding. the blackwater river we're expecting to crest on tuesday at a major flood stage leave, 20.6 feet. similarly the nataway river, cresting at moderate flood stage on tuesday. so we urge the residents in those areas to continue to prepare. we want the latest. let's go to bill karins. i want to talk about the flooding events. let's start with tracking irene. the first thing first, we still have people with trees falling and losing power. we're not done with the destruction. it started about yesterday morning when it made landfall at north carolina, and she hasn't stone since then. i was amassed with the pictures from montauk. hurricanes make the ocean very, very angry. those waves will be up for a w450i8 like that.

coin i'd, brooklyn, and then through the new york, connecticut border. and now it's entering massachusetts. luckily we're at low tide. the next high tide cycle will occur after dinnertime where we'll see a little more of beach erosion. so let's talk about who tales got issues. boston, wind gusts of 54 miles an hour. that was flu to knock down trees. i mentioned albany, new york, even as far away as syracuse. this storm, the legacy, it's huge, it's always been that huge, but it knocked down a lot of trees, which tamron said at the top of the show, 4 million people without power. that's incredible. still gust toss 39, still a gust to 22, 39, bridge per,

connecticut, and block island, you're not done yet. even down around wildwood, new jersey, and ocean city, north carolina, still more or less an annoying wind, that's blowing all the water out of the chesapeake, hopefully that will help some of the floodings problems there. tamron, you mentioned the flooding. we're going from dealing with the winds and the surge to now all the that water's collecting and all the small streams and creeks, and now we'll deal with the crests. you heard the virginia governor said tuesday crest. new jersey crests will mostly be monday. the major river in this area is the delaware. we're already watching evacuation. all the streams and tributaries that feed into the, we're expecting all these places to have crest. the delaware river hasn't been friendly in the last couple years. we had a huge flood in 2004, one

in 2006, and i believe in 2008. this is like the fourth time in ten years the delaware has seen major flooding. that will be the story to watch tonight and tomorrow. >> thank you, bill. we'll get another update from you in the short time. philadelphia has lifted its state of emergency. the storm knocked down about 100 trees, at least two cars crushed by the falling trees. 21,000 utility customers are without power there, nearly 300,000 without statewide in its history before. the mayor, thank you for joining me. >> thank you so much. just an updade on the schuylkill, we're cresting about from 2 p.m., anywhere from 15 to

15 1/2 feet, that would be the sec highest in history since 1869. that water is pouring into the street in antioch. we have flooding in a number of areas in the city, and up in the northeast as well, philadelphia, of course, situated between two rivers. so no rain going on right now, though it's sporadic. flooding, trees down, power lines down. i don't know about the statewide number, but that's just in the philly region. 200,000 without power. so we have the aftermath to deal with. >> you mentioned the situation of the city between two rivers. what do you suggest? >> be very careful. make good judgments.

water that seems like it's not deep, on tv, they go through the water. in real life, they don't. you can get yourself stuck. so we're cautioning motorists and pedestrians, be very, very careful about going or walking through that water. the water also hides power lines that could in fact be live and you could literally electrocute yourself. if you don't really have to be out, please stay in. it gives our workers much more room to work, not as many vehicles on the roadway. we'll get the city back in shape and geared up for the start of workweek tomorrow, but we just need a little time. >> thank you, mayor, and we wish you the best for getting the power back on and dealing with the issues. you heard just in philly alone, new jersey, all of this, certainly impacting airports and travel, 9,000 flights canceled.

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>> you see the flights into the three new york airports, as well as into boston, they're canceled. philadelphia, we'll get an update this afternoon. we are starting to see good news as irene moves north into connecticut, vermont, new hampshire area. here's essentially where we stand. baltimore and washington have resumed flights. philadelphia we'll will give an update this asp. the three new york airports, most the airlines flying in and out are planning to resume operation by tomorrow afternoon. the reason it takes time is that the airports want to make sure, first and foremost that physically they're ready to handle planes flying in, taking passengers and resuming service. it's not as simple as going in, flipping the switch and saying we're ready to go. that's the main stopping point at this point in terms of the airlines resuming service. when it's all said and done, i know you mentioned 9,000 flights

broadband canceled. the estimate we just received from a couple consultants is that we could see 12,000 flights canceled by tomorrow afternoon, about a million and a half passengers affected by those cancellations, and historically, tamron, we find that about 90% of those people rebeal. in the past if you were rebooking, you had an easier chance of getting a seat on the plains. these days almost 85 to 90% of seats are sold already. if you're on one of the these flights that was canceled, it will take you quite a while to finally get on a flight. >> and you factor in labor day, people who may try to leave midweek, so this is backing into the last summer travel holiday. >> reporter: true, but if you already have a reservation for a flight that's scheduled to take off let's say on tuesday or on wednesday, you've got that seat. the issue is for those who were on the flights that were canceleder thoorks at the back

of the line. so it will create a very messy situation for traveling heading into labor day weekend. >> phil lebeau, thank you, phil. on the front pages of the paper tell the story of this monster storm "new york daily news" puts it simply -- "blown away." "the philadelphia inquiri" has this pictures. sometimes you just have to cut and run. on the look at this, that, by the way, if you can't tell, that is a ford mistake sinks in the floodwaters. some owner of that car is hurting this morning. you're watching continuing coverage of tropical storm erhine right here on msnbc.

welcome back to our continuing coverage of tropical storm irene. peter alexander joins me on the phone. peter, what are things looking

like? i understand you're driving through the area. >> reporter: we just pulled over because we saw one of the very few businesses open today. so many people evacuated or got out of town. now they're saying let's get back to life again now. to tell you the truth, we're not see the dramatic damage that a lot of people anticipated. i of course was parked on coney island's boardwalk for much of the early morning hours. we were getting hammered. when we left a short time ago, at its peak, it was about 60 miles an hour. what we have seen a lot of is trees that you were uprighted and all sorts of limits from trees, but frankly we have not seen any significant damages. we have spoken to many people here who say they understood, saw the forecast, looked like a

big threat. and some skeptical, but the fact of the matter is it was something the city was concerned about, and now that it's passed, let's get back to real life. >> i've received imaging showing huge trees down in manhattan and midtown, for example. what were you seeing there as far as the side streets, maybe some of the smaller streets that are closed. >> yeah, you know, we are wandering around, and it's just where you drive as you receive treats. i'm @peteralexander, and i'm happy to report those details. i think it's a lot of nerves for a lot of people. it's pretty remarkable, as you go through manhattan, even brooklyn, you see the crisscrossed tape on so many businesses' windows. at the time, it felt like the

right thing to do. in retrospect, a lot of people are saying, was it necessary? it seemed at the time that it was a right decision, so now they're trying to get back to the rest of the weekend. >> we know there are still problems, for example, flooding in new jersey, and irene is certainly not done. in fact secretary janet napolitano says it is not over yet, but as you pointed out, you have to take the precautions. check out 17th and 3rd in midtown, there is a huge tree on top of a car. not close to where you are. >> reporter: we're on our way. >> at least good news there in brooklyn. take a look at this image. this is a satellite photo of irene this morning just before it made landfall in new york city everybody with sustained winds of 65 miles an hour. statistic squirm cloud extends to canada. we're concerned about the impacts in new england and flood problems that could affect new jersey, pennsylvania, so this is

certainly not a done deal. we'll be right back with our special coverage of irene as we continue on msnbc. " what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.