>> really, we haven't really hit the peak yet. >> is worst is sitting in your house and you feel like you're in a car wash. the rain is hitting your window that hard. you feel like oh, and the trees are blowing and you're looking over your neighbors and wondering if that tree will be in your house. >> right. i understand the governor is in the building getting the last minute update. looking at the podium, he should be coming up shortly. actually, we hear he's walking up to the podium. obviously he has to be briefed in terms of what's going on in the state before he briefs us. governor and lieutenant governor anthony brown heading to the podium to update us on the situation. power outages and how the crews are working together to keep us here in maryland safe during hurricane sandy. >> ok. thank you. >> down in front, everybody.

>> here we go. >> the governor had a white shirt, red shirt. >> yes, sir. >> the other ones, we expect behind. >> on abc2 news.com, follow us online, mobile devices, as well. >> all right. ladies and gentlemen, listen up. this is the 2 p.m. briefing. i want to thank everybody for their vigilance and their hard work. i want to thank our maryland national guard and everyone that's been on the job here as we prepare for landfall of hurricane sandy. this is a very, very dangerous and deadly storm. she is intensifying at her center with the winds moving up to 90 miles an hour. would not surprise many if she were upgraded to a category 2 before she comes directly over maryland, parks here and beats down on us for a good long 24 to 36 hours. there will be lots of felled trees, there will be lots of

poles that are knocked over, there will be lots of electric lines that are knocked down, and there will be massive power outages. i notice from the outage map that just about -- over just the last half hour we've gone from a couple thousand outages to 24,524 outages, throughout the state. only one of those counties has gone into kind of what we'd call the yellow zone, but as you can see, with the blowing wind and the gusts picking up, the storm is arriving. so we encourage everyone, again, the main message of the day is to hunker down. and to stay inside. and to make sure that you protect yourself and your families. stay off the roads. speaking of roads, we are on the verge of closing a few major bridges in the state of maryland. we are in the process of closing the haydem bridge. we will, within the next half

hour, as the winds pick up, we anticipate closing the bay bridge. and also, within the next half hour, we anticipate closing the tidings bridge. that is that portion of i-95 that goes over the sus susquahana. i'm not sure i can remember a time when we've closed the tidings bridge. we can wind restrictions on the nice bridge, and also on the key bridge on 695. thomas johnson we have wind warnings, and as the winds pick up we'll let you know about other closings. look, we have to make a call about early voting tomorrow and it think it should be self- evident we're not going to be early voting tomorrow. we'll have to get back to you as we work out plans for how we might pick up the hours of early voting that we will be missing tomorrow.

but early voting -- excuse me -- early voting in the state of maryland is cancelled tomorrow. and we hope to be able to make up that missing day, or those missing hours on the back end of this early voting window. or with keeping the polls open later, once we do get up and running. we have 32 shelters open right now. 32 of them are operating locally. we have three state shelters open. we probably have about 500 people that are sheltering right now. you can identify the shelter closest to you by going on the maryland website, maryland.gov or on any of your county or your city emergency sites. it's -- tomorrow, we'll also be closing state government once again, as we did toda which means essential personnel, thank you all very much. all of you are essential. essential personnel have to report to work, but we're going to be closing state government, as have our neighbors in delaware, and i would

anticipate we'd be seeing similar announcements from the district of columbia and the federal government, but that's their call, not ours. so, anything else i'm leaving out, ken? all right. let's open it up to questions. >> governor, we're getting pretty dramatic pictures of ocean city. what kind of reports of damage are you getting? >> anybody want to update on damage reports? ken, any -- i mean you've seen the pier, which is -- when i saw the pictures about an hour ago, it looks like it was atleast halfway dismantled. lord knows where it is right now. we've seen pictures of your news crews who are in there, when they shouldn't be, film the waves. and i understand from some local businesses there, that the waves are starting to crash up over the board walk in some parts of ocean city. and that's what we know right now. the most evident damage seems to be that pier at this point. but big waves, and they're

going to continue for a good long time. others? > [ inaudible question ] >> down 95 -- >> i think they spent a very -- a very good level of cooperation. the federal government has been, in my opinion, very forward-leaning and proactive. we have representatives here from fema, we have assets that the federal government has brought in, including the fast water rescue teams that are here. and the president signed our prelandfall declaration, i think first among all of the states that applied. so, the new fema is greatly improved, and we're very appreciative for the very cooperative way in which we've been going about this. we had a conference call yesterday that the president himself initiated, with all of the governors, including mayor

stephanie rawlings-make and the mayor of philadelphia and others up and down the east coast. and that's what you would expect your government to do. especially in times like this, we should be working together as one team and that's what we're doing. that is, though, an improvement from not too many years ago, when typically, you would only see fema and the federal help arrive after the disaster hit. anyone else? >> a little bit of [ inaudible question ] >> sure. let me call up colonel brown. colonel, do you want to talk about the logistics of closing that bridge? >> sure. right now, due to the wind warnings in effect right now, we believe from what we see in the storm, the wind velocity that we're seeing in other locations, we believe within the next hour we'll be closing the tidings bridge due to those wind -- due to the wind velocities that we're seeing right now around the status. the feeling, what we're going to be planning is again, at the -- the exits leading up to the

bridge, we'll be rerouting traffic back in the opposite direction. again, if there's traffic that has to get north, they're going to have to find that route through 83 up through pennsylvania to get back north again. and the same thing will be happening on the southbound routes coming down to 95 to the tidings bridge. that traffic will be rerouted back up 95. we have been working with the departments of transportation from all the states that touch that northeast 95 corridor. that message has been getting out to them since around 11:00, that due to wind velocities that we are seeing, that this was going to be occurring. they have been getting that message out in their states, also, for the past several hours, and we have been in direct contact with the trucking companies, and the -- the message signs that will be running up and down the highway will be spelling that out to all of the drivers out there now. the traffic we're seeing up and down 95 is very light. i think all the states up and down this corridor have been getting that message out very

strongly for a long time, to ep vehicle traffic off the road. so again, the traveling that we're seeing on the bridge at this time is very light, so again, we're hoping that all of the citizens sort of heed the warning that has been put out for a long time, by all the states up and down the corridor. >> [ inaudible question ] >> no. >> no. we don't believe so. the tidings, because it's a bridge structure, that's where the wind -- that's where there are concerns over the wind. there are other roadways that will not be closed. >> other thoughts? questions? suggestions? ok. we plan to get together again with you all at 5:00, and update you on what we know by that time. thank you for your good work. thanks. >> thanks, everybody. >> all right. governor martin o'malley just wrapping up his second briefing of the day. the next one coming up at 5:00, but state government closed again tomorrow, except essential employees, and those were all the folks you see

there in the room. >> the tidings is closed. that's crazy, over the susquehanna. >> it will be different. >> if you want to try 40, you'll run into the problems from northeast. >> right >> and then haver de grace has a high tide later on today. just stay home >> if you don't have to go anywhere, don't go anywhere. also early voting cancelled again tomorrow. the possibility of extending that somewhat on the back end, because it was cancelled yesterday and today, and it goes through november 1 only. we're getting problems of water on north avenue right at the mouth of j.f.x. do you know where i'm talking about? >> yes. >> and there's water rising in mount washington which is, of course, pretty well, you know, they get it all the time. >> right. >> mary dooley says the weather in pasadena, the flag looks like it's starched standing out right now and the wind is just howling down there. and also in western howard county, cathy just texted and said that the winds are really picking up. so for more on that, let's go to wyatt. the winds are howling now, my friends. >> power outages, over 23,000 at this point, wyatt.

>> and i'm afraid that will only get worse. we're really ramping up and beginning to see the full effects of sandy. we're not anywhere close to done. we have new information. this is the 2 p.m. informational update from the national hurricane center. we had to wait for the governor to say before we could bring you this. it has sped up in big time. if distance it's closed in the last three hours, almost 100 miles. the storm as close as it's going to get to ocean city maryland. the center of the storm, 100 miles. of course it's headed just north of ocean city. headed right into atlantic city new jersey. the fiercest storm surges will be just north of that but we have tremendous problems at the beach here in maryland and delaware as well. the movement has sped up northwest at 24 miles per hour. it will bring this thing in earlier this afternoon. we had model projection as early as 4, 5 this morning. the impact, the high winds as they come ashore will last well into the night, but actual landfall likely to come, you know, if you take 24 miles and

divide it by about three more hours, three, four hours from now we could actually have the eye touching into south new jersey. a different perspective, high resolution visible imagery gives you an idea of the breadth of the storm. just incredible. the center of the hurricane where they're measuring those winds to 90 plus are right around the eye wall. talk about the calm andthe eye of the storm. right around that calm center is where we have the most intense winds. so that area will be just missing maryland. but not by much. and we will not be missing out in any way, shape or form on the huge amount of rain coming in. look at this. we'll actually be under sort of the southern part of the comma head of the overall broad storm that's nor'easter hybrid. we're already getting unbelievable rain totals out of this system. so let's take in a couple other maps. these are live weather bug wind speeds. you see western shore here, just in the 20s sustained, but to the east, different deal.

steady winds now 30, 40 miles per hour. but as we take a look at the direction, northwest is what we thought. actually a good thing for chesapeake bay communities. pushes that wind out. but a hard west wind going towards the next high tide this evening, which is just past 6, 7:00, i believe. the next high tied we'll double- check that. it varies depending are you are on the bay. the west wind will pile up some of that high tide water along the eastern shore. communities like kent island, south into easton, st. michael's, cambridge, easton, chestertown. those areas, and even, really, up through that -- the nooks and cane knees there in cecil county, that face the bay, obviously some of those areas towards ceciltown as an example, you will have to watch for next high tide cycle, no question. the wind gusts now. these are the peak gusts, gusting to 56 6:12 by the way the next high fide r tide. 60 in ocean sigh, 53 in rehoboth. along the bay we have a hurricane force wind warning up

and down the chesapeake waters. hurricane force winds. the winds are always fastest on the water. you know if you've done any type of boating around our state, and boy the winds are unbelievable. rain totals getsing there already. pushing over 4 inches in stevensville, 2 and a half in baltimore so far. we have totals looks like maybe an isolated report in fall stone. six inches. we have to watch about the high amount of wind in pennsylvania. the waves over the board walk in ocean city. yeah, and this is when you're -- our friends up in new jersey are going to get about double this at least. but just getting sort of that glancing blow of the highest storm surge, unbelievable. those are probably 15 20 foot waves coming in. you can see a still shot of one coming in right there. haver de grace where we're keeping an eye on that susquehanna river basin over the next four or five days. it will take several days for that water to pour into the susquehanna. conditions going downhill there. this is the u.s. naval academy.

man, you just see things deteriorating. visibility dropping, winds picking up, the chop on the river now. that camera will be shaking big time. this is before sunrise at the bay bridge. look at this. we're losing all visibility. and this is low tide. just about dead low tide right now. and if you look carefully that water is up, especially on the eastern shore side of the bay. unbelievable conditions there. baltimore we're just getting rain now. and watching for snow out in the deep creek lake area. a couple feet potentially out this way. that's it for the weather for now. back to the news desk. i'm sorry, to break. going to break now. >> all right. thank you. i got it when my internet here was faster than at my office.

[ man ] i got it when i uploaded a gigabyte of photos. i literally wanted to say "did you see that?" [ male announcer ] when people switch from cable to verizon fios there comes a moment when they get it. the difference 100% fiber optics makes. when i saw that picture, i really got it. i can enjoy the game better at home than going to the stadium. i got it when our apartment became the apartment. [ female announcer ] once you've got it, you get it.

it's faster. it's better. so, what are you waiting for? switch to fios tv, internet and phone for just 84.99 a month for a year, our best price online... with no annual contract. fios brings you the best tv picture quality... internet ranked the fastest in the nation... and fios doesn't cap your internet usage, so you can upload and download as much as you want... it's one hundred percent fiber optic, one hundred percent different from cable. so get fios for just 84.99 a month for a year with no annual contract. don't wait. go to verizon.com/hotprice today. that's verizon.com/hotprice. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v. see why millions have chosen fios over cable welcome back to our live extended coverage of hurricane sandy and the impacts on our state. watching the power outages. from the time that wyatt started talking, it went up 6000. the bulk of it in baltimore county, but also howard county getting hit and baltimore city

as well. 27,000 without power at this point. >> our roads are starting to flood but i think the big story is the tidings -- on 95 over the susquehanna is going to close. they're shutting 95 down in >> people have -- you said 40 is going to be -- >> 40 will be a mess, too. >> right. >> all right. right now to brian who is live out there with more on the officials, and what they're saying about this. brian. >> jamie, the governor just saying it was very, very dangerous. this storm could park over us, be raised to a cat 2 and pummel this area for 36 hours. he mentioned closing the bay bridge, the hatum bridge and the tidings bring. this is colonel marcos brown from maryland state police. what are the logistics of closing an interstate through 95? >> yeah. first of all it needs to be understood that it's a pretty significant storm that's going to get us to a point where we'll be closing the tiding bridge. we obviously haven't seen this type of storm and conditions in a long time here on n. maryland that are going to require this.

for the tidings bridge to be closed down we need sustained winds of 55 miles an hour sustained. >> sustained? >> yes. that's what we're seeing right now, beginning to approach that area. that's why that decision is made. it's 100% for our decision made for the drivers. logistically, you know, we are going to be setting up northbound and southbound at the exits and onramping leading up to that area. the intersections leading up to that area to reroute traffic in different directions. >> i would imagine this would be a huge cooperation from all the states around. 95 is one of the busiest enter at a times in the country. >> we have been getting this message out that this was probably going to occur. we have been getting it out on the 95 corridor, all the states in our area touching the 95 corridor since 11:00 is this morning, to ensure that all the states are getting the same message out that maryland is getting out, that we have this potential leading up. we expected it to be around the 2:00, 3:00 time. it's actually hitting exactly when we thought it was going to. all the states up and down the 95 corridor have been getting

this message out. if you look at in many ways if you look at the cameras and the amount of traffic across that bridge, we feel the message has gotten out. the traffic is very light right now on that bridge. we think you know, once we implement this, that it's really not ging to affect a lot of people. most people have heeded the warnings and are staying home. >> talking about the bay bridge, where it's gusts up to 55 miles an hour. it's a totally different beast when it's sustained winds of 55 miles an hour, right? a much bigger deal? >> yeah. when you have a sustained wind like this, any vehicle going across is being hit by that wind continually the whole way across. just the -- the sheer danger that's involved in that type of travel across the bridge, we just can't afford that. it's just putting lives in danger. >> the bridge is very well traveled as well. >> oh, the bay bridge is obviously the connection to the eastern shore. you know, residents there are familiar with this. last year, at irene, we did shut down the bay bridge for 14 hours last year. with the same circumstances. >> do you ever remember a time

where we shut down 95? the tidings bridge over the susquehanna? >> yeah. i don't recall. it's been a long time since we've had to shut that down. but again we haven't seen a storm like this before in maryland >> thank you, colonel. appreciate your time. >> absolutely. >> colonel brown from the maryland state police. again, no one here can quite remember the last time they had to shut down the tidings bridge. this is 95 over the susquehanna. a giant storm coming. governor o'malley saying earlier that -- that sandy could come into a cat 2 and just park over maryland and just beat us for 36 hours. he's cancelled early voting for tomorrow and also closed state government for tomorrow, as well. >> thanks, brian. all right. david anderson, haver de grace power is out by the lighthouse. that's right on the party. and when is that high tide again in haver de grace? >> mike? >> wyatt. >> wyatt. when's high tide in haver de

grace today? >> i'd have to double-check on haver de grace specifically. >> that's later on tonight, though, right? >> yeah. we have later this evening. we have fort deposit coming up at 11:56. we're coming off of high tide, going to another one at 11:56 tonight. >> ok. vie letville out of power. >> do you ever remember a time when they had to shut down tides? >> no. no. never. do you know what this is reminding a lot of us about is agnes. i was just a little kid then. when you walked and saw the damage you can still remember there. there was a place on philadelphia road, we walked behind the ritz and the water, we've never seen levels like that. here we are seeing levels like that again. >> so again, if you don't have to go out, don't go out. it's just a dangerous situation. you have to worry about the water, trees. just stay safe at home and we'll keep you updated. we'll be right back after a break.

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with america's fastest, most consistent and most reliable internet. internet is absolutely imperative for school nowadays. look up this, write an essay on that. my life is greatly improved because of fios. [ male announcer ] move up to fios today for just $84.99 a month for a year. with no annual contract, there's no reason to wait. you should totally get fios. [ male announcer ] visit verizon.com/whyfios now and see if you qualify for a $5 amazon gift card. there's no purchase necessary. welcome to life on fios. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. mayor: casino owners in west virginia are spending contact the verizon center millions against question seven. that upsets me. and that upsets jonathan ogden. you don't want to upset jonathan ogden. ogden: no you don't. mayor: question seven means thousands of jobs and millions for our schools. but these west virginia casinos want to keep it all for

themselves. we're not happy about that. ogden: no we aren't. mayor: so join us and vote for question seven. and west virginia, don't make me send jonathan ogden over there. mayor: vote for question seven. ogden: for baltimore. welcome back to continuing coverage of sandy. it's about to hit us in the next couple hours. >> we're continuing to see the power outages increase. baltimore county getting hit the hardest with over9200, but the total at this point is about 27,000 folks without power in the state. >> let's find out where sandy is right now and how close it is to us. meteorologist mike mastro.

we got the new advisory from the national hurricane center as of 2:00. keeping it at a strong category 1 system, we were kind of thinking this may become a category 2 prior to landfall, but the hurricane center keeping the winds at 90. the central pressure down to 940. this is the strongest storm ever north of north carolina. to give you an idea in terms of how strong it is, think back to the historic 1938 long island express. that was the strongest deepest storm. well, it was. this is now the strongest storm ever in the atlantic north of north carolina. it's 108 miles east of ocean city beach, ocean city, maryland and moving, now making the hook towards the left. again somewhere between atlantic city down towards due we beach, we are expecting landfall. already bouy observations showing nearly 100 mile per hour wind gusts around the center, right around 9:00 when this was still well off shore. a quick wind gust of 122 miles per hour from the demo 2 bouy

they call it off shore. a really impressive storm. this is the high resolution schuyt. the max sustained winds at 90 gusting to 100, or a little over. an impressive landfalling hurricane over the coastal sections of new jersey and then from there into cecil county, the mason dixon line moving north. march gait city, just outside of atlantic city. wilmington, we'll take that off, but that was just outside of atlantic city. we were seeing atlantic city board walk fully under water. got those reports in earlier this morning. impressive. look and show you. again by the way, 46988 is where you can get -- we can throw that back up, but that is an important information to mass along as we are getting these power problems, power outages coming. you need our apps to let you know if there's warnings, sudden changes, if this shifts more south you need to know

about that. stay connected with #uz because we are already starting to lose power. if you have power right now be prepared to lose it. current winds right now, 38 mile per hour right now, at kent island, pass river 31, 38 in crisfield. ocean city at a sustained wind at 37. notice the wind direction. north to northwest, so that will push in the water at kent island. we have a high tide in kent island this evening going into between 6 to 8:00 already. bay surge has been running between 1 to 2 feet above the mean lower water level. so just know that already, we're above average, and we're going to continue this push of water heading into the eastern part of the bay as we go into this evening. these are peak wind gusts thus far. kent island clock at 60 mile per hour wind gusts, chesapeake beach at 46, and then you go out towards ocean city at 60 mile per hour wind gusts. this is the wind over the eastern shore right now is what's going to be coming through the state.