sandy is coming to our doorstep. you are looking live. we are live in ocean city. this is a live shot of ocean city, maryland where sandy is stepping ashore right now. it is so close to our board walk. tonight we are bringing you extended coverage on hurricane sandy. we are here with you for the next 90 minutes. we are working for you to get you prepared. there is flooding in ocean city. we are expecting to hear from the governor in half an hour. >> let's get the latest from

chief meteorologist quiet (everí) hart. still over 300 miles away. feeling the effects already. >> absolutely. you can tell you step outside your door. winds starting to pick up. rain is coming in. we are gearing up for the landfall which will occur tomorrow night into tuesday morning. the size of this storm simply stung. more than 1200 mile across in size. no weakening. new intensification around the center of the storm. rain bands beginning to come ashore. latest statistics from the national hurricane center. 952-millibar low. that is very close to record low pressures up and down the carolinas and virginia and maryland. winds 75 miles per hour. hurricane force winds extends over one miles in any direction from the center. tropical storm forced winds 200 miles from the center. the center is more than 400 miles from the eastern part of our state. impacts we are feeling now are just the beginning. look at the weather through the

day. at the beach in ocean city our view chesapeake beach a live view as the waves pick up in chesapeake bay. ceiling is dropping. weather deteriorating. current thinking is going to take this storm into southern new jersey. in terms of the center plot, it is so large across the center we'll get so much rain with the main storm surge happening in new jersey and new york maryland will be one of the hardest hit states. maybe second behind new jersey because of rain totals. 12 inches of rain. days of sustained winds 60 miles per hour. it will mean intense weather. flood watches across the state because of high rain threat. there will be coastal flooding, enhanced high tide action. some water may get pushed from the bay with the north winds.

areas facing the bay west facing strong northwest and northwest winds. hurricane warning up for the waters of the chesapeake bay. >> here in your state we know about the floods. no matter where the hurricane comes to shore there is no way to escape it. >> jeff hager is joining us live. >> sadly we have seen it before. plenty of times. sandy is expected to take her toll coming and going. people there already bracing themselves for the high water. >> reporter: they can not move their stuff to higher ground fast enough with hurricane

sandy on the way. long-time residents know all too well what will happen when the river spills over its banks. >> as much as a ceiling. we had to replace all the washers and dryers. this one here is going to be a lot worse than that one was. >> reporter: flooding small river front town in the process. >> with all the gates opened you are talking two to three million gallons a second coming through the dam. >> that's a lot of water. water is the most destructive force in the world. you can not control it.

>> reporter: it will help with expected flooding and rescue. furniture and piling up sandbags. now comes the tough part. waits out the storm. >> we'll get a lot of storms. we want people to stay inside. don't come out. we stress that because what looks like maybe a dead power line may be live. >> reporter: as the case before big storm like that, the damment had one gate opened. little bit of water trickling through as operators tried to allow it to reach a low point. during the week they'll have a delicate balancing act limiting flooding above and below the dam. >> we are live in pikes court tonight as we competitive our team coverage of the volunteer

fire company. it becomes inevitable. people go out and think they can drive. i'm following you on twitter. irsaying the wind is picking up and the rain is coming down. people are getting stuck and firefighters will have to rescue them. >> reporter: exactly. this is the home of a technical rescue squad for baltimore county. pikesville guys are doing training tonight on water rescue in this area. you always think when you have water rescue you may see around middle river closer to the harbor. what happens is there is low- lying areas. there is a lot of streams. these guys will be on station through the duration because of people driving through standing water. as i put out on twitter a few minutes ago rain is starting.

wind is picking up. it is downright cold. you can remember during isabelle and other hurricanes it was in the summer time or early fall it was warm. it is bone chilling cold out here. wind is whipping up. rain is coming down. a lot of people are out on the roads and driving through here. i think a lot of people are trying to get home. hopefully they picked up batteries and other things they need. they'll be able to get out of here and get home as this weather starts to pick up. wyatt and mike and lynnette are the gurus that can tell us when the storm is coming in and when the strength should come in. we are getting rain and wind. it has been steady for the past hour. just the drizzle. with the amount of water we are expecting these guys are hoping they won't have to deal with any rescues out here. that may be an issue coming up. coming up later we'll get more training. they are doing training tonight

to be ready in case their services are needed during the course of sandy come coming to our area. >> thank you very much. we just got a little message here from michelle who writes in, i would like you to thank our local fire companies for the dedication. my dad, jim lions, who has been a volunteer fireman for 56 years in harford county just left his house to serve us. all those volunteers and paid men and women who are with the fire and police thank you. your job is incredible. there are a few outages now. bge is expecting homes and businesses too lose hower. cheryl o'conner is live with the people of pge. she is going to see when the power will be back on. >> reporter: that's right. we are inside the emergency operation center.

i can show you latest on the outage map. primarily it is green. there are a few outages. you can see it is green. state workers are monitoring the very latest conditions. also they are looking at requests from counties. here they deploy extra resources. speaking of help, bge is greeting workers from multiple states. we'll show you activity as the staging ground for the crews. we talked to people from tennessee and illinois busy checking out equipment and making sure they are ready to help out ifpower outages are reported. that's what bge is expecting. spokesperson for the utility reminds us not to walk into danger. >> if there is standing water and you are concerned of issues with the electrical equipment do not go into standing water. stay away. give us a call. we'll send must be out. >> we do 16 hour days non-top

until we get the work done. sometimes in conditions like this, it gets tough on you. >> reporter: tricky part of the storm is monitoring sandy and restoring power. we are told bge crews can't get in bucket trucks if wind speed is higher than 25 miles per hour. as we are hearing with the latest conditions storm could come through. outages could be reported. workers may not be able to get into the trucks until sandy is completely out of the area. governor of o'malley is expected to take to the podium at 7:00. we are expecting to hear latest on the conditions. we know early voting is canceled for tomorrow. we don't know if there is going to be another day. we are also told that about 450 national guardsman have been deployed. we may get more on a what they are doing tonight.

we'll bring you latest at 7:00. back to you. >> thank you. listen, if you have had an amtrak trip scheduled tomorrow it is not happening. amtrak canceled most services. it will stop service north of new york this evening. it has not decided when train services will pick up. if you have paid for a ticket you can receive a refund or voucher for future travel. there are a lot of things you can do to get ready for the storm. make sure you get gas. with any severe storm there is a possibility that you and your family might have to leave home. you want to make sure you have gas to get you to safety in case you are stalled in traffic. loss of gas station were more crowded as sandy moved closer. >> i have a tendency to run low in my car. i'm not going to do that today with weather on its way. >> getting ready for the generator and hoping for the best. >> it never hurts to check your

oil and tire pressure while you are at the gas station. you don't want to end up in a situation with plenty of gas but there are other issues. let's look at ocean city. they are telling residents to get out of town. especially if you live downtown. officials ordered all downtown residents to get out by 8:00. we have a team of meteorologist tracking sandy. they have been doing it since 4:00. >> we are covering every move sandy makes. >> there has been a tremendous wall of water set up over the eastern shore. kent county down to queens

ann's county. we notice 20 to 30 mile-per- hour winds are pushing in the state. it is on its way as we'll see bands across the area. elton to easton you are getting rain. ocean city along 50 seeing rain at the present moment. we'll continue to watch the rain bands moving in. bwi marshall sustained wind at 20. winds will pick up in terms of gusting 22. dulles we saw 30. we are seeing winds pick up. very gusty winds moving in across the area. in terms of where we are going scattered showers and heavy downpours this evening. watch out this band starts to set up tomorrow morning. 8:00, 9:00 in the morning over the eastern shore. this is is what will be pressing north and west. this is anticipating flooding

rain coming in monday morning into monday afternoon. by monday evening near hurricane force wind gusts will move in across the city limits. sustained winds 45 to 60 miles per hour gusting to 70. here comes the rain. close to ten inches by tuesday. back to you. >> thank you. want you to look at the bottom of your screen. school districts closing tomorrow. we'll have the ticker up through the show. >> in delaware evacuations are underway. make sure they go smoothly northbound route one closures waved indefinitely. delaware route one closed after ocean water breeched the sand dunes leaving water on the bridge and stranded a delaware state trooper. we'll continued to track hurricane sandy as she comes closer to baimore. we'll hear from experts on what you can do to stay safe and how

to get help after the storm hits. >> we'll see how boaters are bracing for sandy.

all delaware beaches getting clobbered. >> we just followed coastal highway in ocean city. we are joined live via skype. we are looking at pictures. boy, the waves are kicking up. >> they covered the entire beach. waves here at the beach covered the beach. they are up to the sand dunes. we are just getting started. the problem is the geography. we are far north of ocean city. maryland beach down there. if the storm passes over new jersey as expected we are closer to it. they are expecting significant surge when the storm comes through tomorrow night. it is starting to flood. governor here ordered

evacuation of this area. all the businesses near the beach have been ordered to close. that happened at 6:00. a lot of businesses spent the day getting ready for that to happen. before the people evacuated a lot of them wanted to come down and get one last look. >> angry ocean amazingly being braved by a couple of boogie borders not scaring everyone away yet. >> this isn't something you see every day. this is history. >> are you kidding me? this is like something i always wanted to since i was little. >> reporter: news release from state officials in delaware said they expect gail force winds in the evening. i think they have arrived early. many of the businesss along and near the board walk have been boarded up. >> we did it last year for irene. we decided to board it up there. there was no damage. there is a thousand dollar deductible on the windows if they break.

it is $200 to board them up. this seemed to be the best thing do again. >> reporter: local handyman says he has five stores on his to do list today. >> windier the better. bring the wind and rain. >> reporter: decent payday thanks to sandy. >> we love helping people. >> reporter: we ain't scared of sandy, my personal theme the vodka is safe. all businesses in this area were ordered closed as of 6:00. delaware's governor says a positive attitude is nice. staying safe is better. >> delaware is a resilient place. we have seen storms before. if you listen to the experts with every passing minute they are confident this is going to be bad and we are not going to be spared the worse of it. >> for tonight the worse could be coming. high tide is expected to be at

7:32. within 40 minutes it is going to be a tide that will get here. it is already passed over the entire beach up to the dune barrier that keeps the ocean away from the board walk here. you mentioned route one. the way you'd normally get from ocean city was closed today because the ocean overtook it. they closed it to get here. i had to go inland and back out here. hour and a half to drive from ocean city. conditions definitely deteriorating down here. it has been bad all day. it will only get worse. >> are you on the board walk? the waves look close. they look closer than when you first started. >> reporter: right. the hotel is on the board walk. i'm looking down from the balcony. i know it is on skype and it is dark but the ocean is all the way over the beach. if you have been to the beach and you have laid on the beach in the summer time, the ocean

is where you were lying. it is all the way to the dunes. big question here for town officials is going to be if the surf comes in and gets over the dunes they'll have significant coastal flooding. if that surge comes in tonight night and gets above that that could indate a large portion of the town. >> tonight, what are we supposed to do? we have cell phones we have to charge. what else? >> charge up your cell phone so it is ready to call for help. there is a red cross hurricane tracker app: it tells your

family and friends you are safe and okay. >> tells you where the shelters are. >> that's important. >> also, water and all that. run through those tips. anything we are missing? >> if you have neighbors or family members elderly or with special needs check on this if the storm hits. make sure they have a plan. >> where do you go when you find out the trouble is. then you dispatch? >> yes. we have emergency response vehicles from all over the country. those will go out and provide food and water to people where they are hit the hardest. we'll dispatch them where it is needed. red cross doesn't run shelters. we'll support them. we'll provide cots and blankets and staffing. >> you spent your time working on disasters. >> take this seriously. this one looks pretty bad. >> thank you very much. stay with us. we'll be right back.

were worried here but on the eastern shore they are closer to the coast and less shelter from the storm. >> abc 2 don harrison shows us how they are prepping for sandy at the shore. >> reporter: on the eastern shore the rain has begun. on kent island they are surrounded by water. hope is the water stays in the bay and out of the parking lots. bob wilson is the manager of the marina. he and his staff spent the last couple of days securing boats. it is just boats he needs to be worried about. >> for this event we anticipate sustained high winds. 40 to 50 miles per hour. it will loosen up anything to fly around the air. we don't want a lot of missles.

>> reporter: not having boats secured can bring on problems. >> damage to fiberglass swim platforms get caught underneath the dock. water lines break. any moment we'll hear from the governor coming up at 7:00. let's go out live and get ready. cheryl conner is reporting live. bonnie and jeff have a question for the governor. governments are operating tomorrow.