that is live picture of virginia beach an area that has seen a lot of evacuation and the governor has declared a state of emergency as so many coastal communities have along the east coast because sandy is bringing so much rain and so much wind. >> and you can stay with our coverage even if you are not on the tv or near it we are streaming live at abc2news.com and abc2 mobile app accessible on ipad and smart devices to. down low it text wmar to 46988 and when the power is out you will be able to stay informed with our live stream. we are going to go over to a break and see what's going on and we will regroup and catch with up you in a bit. this is the big story and what we are tracking all morning hurricane sandy. >> we are megan and we are talking about winds that sandy is churning up. we are seeing close to a gust of 40 miles an hour in kent

island. lots of rain to talk about. i will show you the radar. stick around and we will be right back. >> reporter: well, hurricane sandy has shut down the route 50 in ocean city and the heavy rains are causing the camera to shake. we will let you know how the storm will impact baltimore coming up on good morning maryland.

you are watching the station that works for you. now, good morning maryland. >> not ghost or goblins you have to fear but flooding, power outages and strong winds thanks to hurricane sandy. >> we are tracking the super storm all morning. good morning maryland continues with our team coverage right now. thanks for joining us. we have been on the air for half an hour coming on early for you this morning because the big story is the storm and how it will impact your life. >> let's get to meteorologist lynette charles with more on the storm and its track and how soon it could reach us. here's a live shot of virginia beach virginia if i am not mistaken that's about the position of the storm. >> it's off the coast of virginia. and it's lashing that area. and even we are getting in on some of that rain. i am going to zoom in closer in a second. but i want to step out so you

can see the scope of the storm. it's huge. it's massive. look how large this is. look how large this is. i can't even cover the storm just stepping in here. it's going to be a big storm that will impact a lot of people. we can see the outer rain bands moving in across delaware and eastern shore. but look back off towards the west around west virginia now, starting to he see the change over to -- starting to see the change over to snowfall. zooming in on maryland's most powerful radar and this is what we are working with. heavy rain now coming into elkton and cecil county. zooming in closer and we can see around easton and cambridge and severna park and we are dealing with some heavy rainfall across jarrettsville and bellair and harford county along i-83. traveling this morning, you shouldn't be. you need to stay home until this blows over. it will take a while to do that and travels to the south around ocean city that's where you are getting in on the reds there.

so heavy rainfall and again, this is just the start of sandy. we will be on air be with you all day long to keep you through and walk you through the covering and keep you safe. let's check the abc2 timesaver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. you said it. things are going to get worse and that's why governor ohaly urges everyone to stay off the road today. all mta service has been suspended. and in ocean city, they are getting slammed by the storm right now. route 50 is going to be closed from gulf -- golf course road to philadelphia avenue and this is the draw bridge. we have a wind adadvisory in effect for the -- advisory in effect for the bay bridge gust reaching 50 miles per hour, it will be shut down. at 9 5 downtown 659 at liberty road, real -- 695 at liberty road, slick conditions. we are expected to have flooding in the baltimore region. it's important to remember

never drive through standing water. it could be a lot dear an it a-- deeper than it appears. we have been telling you about preparations by bge and cancellations at bwi and what mema is doing. the red cross of central maryland are on stand by right now too. >> very busy because this is what they are here for for sometimes of disaster. and we are going to be joand by doug on the -- joined by doug lint on the phone good morning. >> good morning. >> what have you been doing to get ready and how are you prepared to help people. >> well, we are helping people. there was a handful of folks in the indianapolis shelter overnight last night and we had -- in the annapolis shelter overnight last night and we had staff there and provided supplies for those folks but prior to that we have had 150 red cross volunteers come into the area from all over the country from as far away as california, and montana and texas. they have come here to help. so we have got the people power that we need. they brought with them a whole bunch of vehicles that we can

use for going out into the neighborhoods to distribute food and water and check on people and make sure they are okay. and we have got about 30,000 heater mills to district to folks. so we are ready and we are hoping that we don't need any of this and that people are taking the precautions they need and are ready themselves. >> doug, you mentioned the precautions. this is charley with you now. what can they do? they still have time to maybe pickp provisions. what do they need to get so the responsibility is not so much on the red cross? >> you know, at this point, make sure that you have got a food water and in your house of course but make sure to have a battery of powered radio and take in consideration some of the things that might not be sobvious like a extra supply of prescription medications and think about the folks in your house that have special needs

if you have elderly folks, in your family, make sure they have got the supplies they need or children as well. and then you know extend that to your neighbors as well and make sure your neighbors who have special needs are doing okay and have a plan. >> always a good idea to check on this. quickly before we go, you guys have an app isn't that right. >> yeah we do. the red cross hurricane tracker app is just as important as everything else in your disaster preparedness kit. it's a great way to keep an eye on the storm and there's a function on there to let people know you are safe and okay if you your phone is powered down. and then, of course, the most important thing on there is the list of local shelters that is updated regularly. so, done down load that. it's free. and it will keep you ahead of thgame. >> thanks for joining us from the red cross of central maryland many good to know you are there. >> thank you.

>> a big worry on everyone's mind is power outages as result of the storm. >> bge sent out a call for more help and they did it early. and the crews they have been coming as far away as texas. >> linda so is live at the staging area near bwi and linda, with a storm this massive it could be days before they go out and work towards restoring power right. >> reporter: that's because of the wind and stronger winds we have been expecting. in the two hours we have been here i felt the wind pick up. it's harder to keep my umbrella up here but this is the parking lot where all of those utility trucks are manned. a lot of them from out of state. again we have crews from 10states to help. they are preparing for massive power outage that sandy makes the way to the area. strong winds and heavy rains bringing down a lot of trees and power lines and leave thousands of people in the dark. crews from out of state started to arrive this weekend to get

ready for the massive response. they came in from florida and georgia and oklahoma and mississippi and five other states. bge says altogether they have about 3,000 people manned and ready to go once the area starts to feel the impact of the storm. crews will work long shifts to remove trees and repair power lines as soon as it is safe to do so. remember, if you see damage especially down downed power lines be sure to call bge. now again back out here live, in the parking lot, this is the staging area for bge right by the airport. we see tons of utility trucks, again, it may be a couple days before these crews can actually go out and make any repairs because as the winds get stronger, you can only imagine how unstable it would be for utility workers to go up in the buckets to start making those repairs. so it may take a few days. bge says be patient and again if you do have an outage, call the number. we will post that on the website to report an outage at

your home or business. we are live in lint come. lindd lint come. linda so abc2 news. >> you see the wind picking up and the storm is not here. >> thas one of the things we learned from irene is how power fult rains and winds can be. >> the flooding is a big concern and sherrie johnson is live at one of the hot spots it's got history there sherrie. you are in fells point. >> reporter: it certainly does charley. you know people down here are not taking any chances. they have started to load up on this stuff right here. the sand. you can see the giant pile of sand here. they basically started loading up on it bracing for hurricane sandy and possible flooding. you know, yes, they have experienced problems with other storms in the past. so they know what a big deal flooding can be in this area. on friday, and saturday, many people loaded up on sandbags to protect their homes and businesses from flooding. city dumped a pile sandbags here at the broadway pier. city workers gave away six bags

per person and they checked bags. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake says she wants people to be ready because of the magnitude of the storm. and so far they have about 3 sandbag centers that are opened in the area. you know fells point is a part of the city when it comes to flooding. so folks just want to be prepared. once again you know we have seen a number of police officers you know cruising through driving through just making sure things are safe. it's pretty much a ghost town down here and not a lot of people are on the street, which is a good thing. as folks are bracing to see what hurricane sandy may bring. reporting live in fells point, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. the death toll continues to rise in the caribbean. number stands at 65. the most coming from haiti. the authorities are reporting 51 deaths and the country is especially vulnerable. and that's because of the poorhousing structures and the flood prone hillsides. there's been deaths reported in cuba jamaica puerto rico and

the bahamas. tend rains added a jolt. you made your check list for everything you need to make sure you and your family is taken care of. >> water flashlights and batteries but what about your car? you know what you need to have prepared in your vehicle should you have to evacuate. >> beanie weanies and soup. people in home areas prone to flooding are doing what they can to prepare like you and me. we will visit up to port deposit. this place knows what happens when the flood waters rise and they have got a long and storeied past with the flood waters. we will go there when good morning maryland continues.

all right. a live look coming back on good morning maryland for you. extended coverage on this monday. a live shot once again virginia beach you see those waves just rolling in. and this is where sandy is sitting right now off the coast. >> all right. headed our way ocean city another area getting hit hard.

we want to let you know before we get to lynette who is standing by and working so hard on the storm, whenever we have a big storm rumors pop up about what he closed and what's opening. there were rumors about bwi being closed and it's not. >> let's get over to lynette. she has the latest on where the storm is tracking and how soon it could make its way here. >> yes, so we are watching this storm. you can see on the satellite and radar, lots of rain pushing in. so we have plenty of flood watches and warnings up. now we are talking about landfall. this should be making landfall the next 24 hours. going through early tomorrow morning, that's when we see maybe landfall around new jersey. southern new jersey we are dealing with the cold side of the storm as well. we have been talking a lot about the warmer side. this is going to become a hybrid and we will have that jet stream reenergize this thing as it comes onto land. and also what we are watching isaround the center of the storm now, it's starting to have convection or

thunderstorms popping up. but, the winds are well away from this and when you talk about a hurricane, you want the winds the strongest wind at the center but that's not happening with this storm. so that hybrid effect is taking place. it could be strengthening too as we go through time before it makes landfall as it moves over the gulf stream which is warmerwater. so as we look at the second weather player the cold front moving through and actuallycombining with the system, well, on the backside some snow moving into west virginia. the higher elevations before it's all said and done they can see up to 3 feet, yes, 3 feet of some snowfall across the area. this storm is magnificent and wild. we are looking at blizzard warnings. so we are talking about flood watches, flood warnings and strop cal storm -- tropical storm force winds and blizzard warnings as well the farther you go back into maryland, western maryland and once again as you head down into west virginia this morning. that's what you will be dealing with. the winds right now we are

looking being at them from the north at about 10 miles an hour in baltimore. 16 in easton and 20 around the patuxent river and it will creep up throughout the day. so we are talking about hurricane-force winds gusts not out of the question especially along delaware and points north into the east. but around here, we are looking at gusts up to 70 miles an hour. that's a huge wind. let's send it over to lauren with a check of the traffic. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this storm has suspended all mtaservice and the gorgeor -- governor is is edge -- is urging everyone to avoid the roads. route 50 is shut down heading into ocean city. you will notice the winds causing the camera to shake at the ocean city draw bridge route 90 will be opened. there is a wind advisory in effect for route 50 traveling across the bay bridge. and if you are traveling in baltimore here's a look at 95 at 395 downtown and everything is moving along but the roads really are going to be

saturated. we have a crash on 95 up in harford county. that's on the southbound lance along route 152. if you don't have to drive, don't. megan and charley, over to you. >> thanks. if you have a flight out today, you want to call bwi. chances are it's not going. >> the airport has a number of cancellations and delayed flights coming out of the airport. more than expected. but exactly what you think would happen this time with sandy rolling in. >> let's go out to abc2 news linda so live this morning letting us know the situation there. linda. >> reporter: i just checked the boards and bwi has posted more than 200 flights that have been canceled or delayed coming in and out of the airport today. we are in a parking lot right by the airport and at the end of the lot is one of the main runways. the runway that will probably stay quiet today as sandy approaches. and again those flights and cancellations you can see a lot more as the day wears on and conditions worsen out here i checked the website and the airport says they will be running on a very limited basis

today. the best bet if you have a flight going in or out of the airport is to call your airline before leaving home to check the status of your flight. again, it's not only here at bwi that we are dealing with cancellations and delays. but many airports in the area dulles and reagan and philadelphia and new york. they have already canceled and put those together thousands of flights that have been canceled or delayed because of the storm. and again, we are told that most carriers the individual carriers will make the decisions as far as flights go later in the week. we are talking about tuesday, wednesday and that flights could be impacted as sandy gets stronger in our area. but again today, bwi has posted more than 200 flights that have been canceled or delayed coming in or out of the airport. we are live at lithicum. on the weather side

lannette -- lynette has been managed things. >> and so has james wheelan let's see what it looks like outside. >> reporter: thanks a lot. and really, the wind has picked up in the past say hour or so and the rain picked up a bunch too. the sustained wind not too bad but evernow and then you get big gusts 30, 35 miles per hour that do really blow the rain around. i want to show you by the light you can see the rain coming down steadily picking up a half inch of rain. puddles are on the roadway and it's not terrible but it will go downhill. next to the lights the leaves are on the troughs that's a problem when the wind starts to crank, too. because that can cause trees to fall power outages happen when trees fall. after this is all over with, all those leaves will be stripped off the trees, too, and so, it's still raining and

we will have more as this gets going. back to you in the studio. >> we would love to hear from you on facebook. people saying they woke uphearing the wind or rain. let us know what you are seeing and hearing. >> next the power out -- next to the power outages, flooding is a concern. >> stay with us. that's the case for those with homes along rivers and port deposit. we will lookality what they can do if anything to prepare.

schools canceled across the state today a lot of businesses and offices are closed because of the big story today hurricane sandy. >> let's check in with lynette who is monitoring the storm and its path. >> all right. yes, we are all over this. we are still watching super storm sandy as it barrels up the coastline here. now what we are watching you can see as we have the infrared satellite on, it enhances the cloud tops. but try to carve out the eye right. this what's go