danny levenson, talked also there about the evacuation of atlantic county. ed, the fact we evacuated the towns in atlantic county that we did, and we then, after leaving atlantic county, took a tour of the entire coastline from atlantic county all the way up to sandy hook. what we noticed was that clearly some beach erosion has occurred. some worse than others in various places along the shore, but the good news is we didn't see any type of visible destruction to homes along the beach. that was encouraging to see that many had prepared and protected their homes, either through hurricane shutters or through plywood. we then traveled across the sent of the state where you see a lot of flooding. and entire roads taken out and unpassable. the rail system unpassable. due to flooding. and so while the initial conserve for everybody was about the shore communities, as i've been saying for a couple days now, the aftermath is really going to be a concern about the rest of the state where we have some significant flooding. shelters, we had 50,000 people sheltered now i

the barrier areas of atlantic county. the concern right now is atlantic city. let me talk to you about that. we have been extraordinary successful in evacuating most of atlantic city, we have had some remaining people who have refused to lobby. these are senior citizens predominantly, 600 that live in high-rise buildings in atlantic city. we are concerned about them in the high-rise buildings because of their able and the winds projected at 75 miles per hour plus later tonight and tomorrow morning and we have concerned about flying glass that could cause great injuries. here is what we have done. at my direction, the state police, led by cornell fuentes, and the new jersey transit have sent additional buses to atlantic city. we will put the buses circling in front of these particular buildings in atlantic city and send both county o.e.m. officials at the direction of county executive and personnel to speak to the individuals and try to get them to leave. if those seniors now watching this on tv i ask you to, please, allow

so other than that, other than that issue in atlantic city, the rest of atlantic county is well over 90% evacuated. in monmouth county, the office of merge management there has done an extraordinary job in evacuating those particular municipalities who were under evacuation orders. and including the lieutenant governor who has evacuated to an undisclosed location. so we are meeting the first requirement that you have in any situation like this, which is to do anything you possibly can to preserve human life. the best way to preserve human life from the jersey shore is for there to be no human beings on the jersey shore, given what is about to come. the tracking of the storm continues to be very ominous for our state. while there has been some minor weakening of the storm to a category 1 storm as it hit landfall in north carolina and is heading up the coast, you know, decreasing the wind speeds by 10, 15 miles an hour will make little difference to when is going to cause harm to the folks here in new jersey. we're still looking at anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of rain throughout the st

we have 600 people from atlantic county in shelters at rutgers. the arena has been extraordinary in mars county. the shelters will continue to provide food and water today. we are hoping to move please people as conditions improve. in fact, i've ordered that new jersey transit buses be sent first to rowing university to evacuate the 1200 or so from atlantic county currently at the university. the first buses will be sent to the university to evacuate people, then back to atlantic county that is good news they will be able go back home. we'll see do the same at the arena and the other shelters throughout the state in ordination with new jersey transit. if they were bused to the facility we will bus them back home on new jersey transit buses. should it become necessary, we've worked with the department of education to identify schools with ago food, water and appropriate staffing available for additional shelters if necessary due to inland flooding we are going to be experiencing the next couple of days. we are working with the commissioner and the s

gour viewers and listeners wer talking about atlanta county atlantic county stone harbor new owersey. actually we fared pretty well under this. we had one life lost in saluts counfor where one woman was swet away in a flash flood at about the h haveght of the storm. we are very concehersed the casinos closed something that has only happened two or three times in the history of casino gaming. new jersey has a separate probluts they are dealing with here. ie whs a lot the governor has t grapple where struggles how to nnt together a plan. >> as the stryw whoe proceed ho do you expect any sense of normalcy? >> we are g. >> nng to have a sense of normaak.y here in the lower part of the state starting come. the casinos will r hipen tomorrow or major roadways will be open -- reopened. businesses that boarded up and did the preparation work are going to be okay. we are looking for a big weekend next wehow last big economic weekend for us. we are going to be in good shape eiartialwl because of the great plane ang and how it came together. up in the northern part of this state as you have been

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

tornado warning for southeastern atlantic county in new jersey. next 20 minutes. in just a few minutes ago. doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado near longport and moving north and west at 45 miles per hour. it is near atlantic city in six minutes . make sure and take cover. we have just got the new 9:00 advisory from the national hurricane center and here it is. actually the top of flash -- it is the top of urgeent hurricane irene. maximum winds are 80 miles per hour and higher gusts, it is still moved up the midatlantic coast. and post tropical cyclone will not happen until tomorrow . it will not lose hurricane status until tomorrow night or early morning. this is a partial that is cut and pressure. i don't know the pressures right now. but maximum sustained wins are 80 miles per hour and the storm is continuing on the track we saw. and great interest of this us here is the dry air. that is comin in from the west. you can see look at the bigger loop and big rounded loop on the left hand side. clouds are spi

joining us now by phone is vince jones with the atlantic county office of emergency management. if you are familiar with that area, that's in new jersey. thanks for being with us, vince. i know you have been working tirelessly to just prepare that area. how are you preparing? and what is your advice for folk who is live in new jersey? >> caller: one of the first things we did here, having the city of atlantic city, having to move that large amount of residency, evacuation -- mandatory evacuation orders went into effect on friday. and for the most part, along our barrier islands, everyone heeded those warnings and have evacuated. right now, we have some very strong wind gusts coming in, tropical storm-force wind gusts, sustained winds. very heavy rain bands, flooding on the barrier islands. very significant flooding further inland, as the rain bands are coming in and the rain bands are actually -- they would come in, stop, come in. now they are coming in in a steadier pace as the storm moves up to our neck of the woods. and like you were saying, the storm is so large and it cover

now there are still 100,000 residents, part of the emergency evacuation order, here in parts of atlantic countyill can't return home. although there are crews out trying to get a better assessment of damage and find out just when it will be safe for to arrive. >> pelley: thank you very much. remarkable to see those casinos empty. it's also remarkable to see grand central terminal here in manhattan without a sole in the grand concourse, all of that because the trains and the subways have been suspended during the emergency. now, we go to mark strassman in north carolina at kill devil hills. mark. >> reporter: this was where irene hit first and hit hardest, scott. and i can tell you that the outer banks are still here. yes, there's flooding, yes, there's damage, but all in all, this area came through in very good shape. on the south side of the outer banks, flooding is the new irene worry. the storm pushed ashore a wall of water and this sailboat with it. many residents here face a long sunday of cleaning up yards and pumping out basements. >> we have ocean overwash. we have flooded roads. we hav

the office of emergency management in atlantic county is already check on these folks to make sure they are okay. they lost power in a number of buildings as early as 10:00 last night. the county officials are going to check on those folks. as soon as we have those reports we'll share that with the public. >> why do people not leave their homes at times like this? >> i think it's a combination of things. you know, jake, new jersians are tough, cynical, hard-edged folks. they think the "cry wolf" syndrome. it's all over tv but never as bad as they tell you. that's one of the e asons. another reason, people are scared, they want to protect their property. thirdly, especially with the elderly, we have one 92-year-old woman say to us yesterday, i'm 92 years old. if i die, this is where i want to die. it's a combination of those things that make people not heed the warning. the good news is we've evacuated over a million people from the jersey shore without incident. if those people had stayed at be talking about significant d loss of life. now hopefully we're not going to be talking about t

>> up and down the barrier islands in atlantic county, again, like you said, we had a mandatory evacuation that went into effect yesterday, 6:00 a.m. all the -- for the most part, most of the residents are gone, have evacuated the barrier islands. there were a few resident who is did opt to stay behind. when we met with those residents, and we did meet face-to-face, we explained the storm, explained the severity of the storm, explained why it was very important that they do leave. some did change their mind at that point and agreed with our local officials and did leave. some still opted to remain behind. we explained the circumstances of them staying behind and they fully understood that. for the most part, as you said, most of the barrier islands, if anybody's watching it on the media, these are ghost towns, which is exactly what we wanted to accomplish. >> reporter: also, all 11 major casinos here in atlantic city closed -- forced to close, in fact. this is the resorts casino right behind you, t.j., this is all boarded up. this is what the casinos are doing. they're boarding up their fr

gour viewers and listeners wer talking about atlanta county atlantic county stone harbor new owersey.ed pretty well under this. we had one life lost in saluts counfor where one woman was swet away in a flash flood at about the h haveght of the storm. we are very concehersed the casinos closed something that has only happened two or three times in the history of casino gaming. new jersey has a separate probluts they are dealing with here. ie whs a lot the governor has t grapple where struggles how to nnt together a plan. >> as the stryw whoe proceed ho do you expect any sense of normalcy? >> we are g. >> nng to have a sense of normaak.y here in the lower part of the state starting come. the casinos will r hipen tomorrow or major roadways will be open -- reopened. businesses that boarded up and did the preparation work are going to be okay. we are looking for a big weekend next wehow last big economic weekend for us. we are going to be in good shape eiartialwl because of the great plane ang and how it came together. up in the northern part of this state as you have been showing this is

that's the word from the atlantic county office of emergency management.ome people planning to stay, but most of the people that we've spoken with, jenna, are getting out if not right now, then sometime today. jenna: interesting to hear that the casinos are out of money because people have actually taken that money out, not because they've lost it like maybe previous times. [laughter] very interesting to see this in atlantic city, rick. thank you very much. rick leventhal in atlantic city for us today. rick folbaum, back to you in the studio. rick: that longs very much. when we -- thanks very much. when we come back, we continue to watch the path of hurricane irene. north carolina seems to be the first stop as the category two hurricane makes its way up the coast. you can see the surf is already starting to churn. brand new information, though, about the path, the track. we'll have that for you when we come right back. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein! really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and

about 75% of carter county where we are here in atlantic beach and moorhead city. 75% of the county hasd into the morning. at first light, you get a better look at what we are talking about here. the tree there has been blowing in this direction the entire night. these trees. that's the north. that's the east. that counterclockwise circulation as the storm comes up at us is still blowing in the same direction all night. i think we are pretty close to the center of circulation here. exactly whether we will be in any sort of calm or an eye once we get into the eyewall, i don't know at this point. i'll take a walk out and give the viewers a sense, again, of what it's like. the last half hour was windier. although here comes a gust picking things up again. you can see with the light, the clouds are swirling around with the counterclockwise circulation. fortunately f this was much worse, all of these tree limbs would be blown off. we might have power lines down. we might have street lights down. i can't see any of that right now. again, you get near that core of the storm for a very brief pe

was experienced in delaware which we know now and the earthquake started in the mid-atlantic region and all counties in the city of wilmington have been can a vassed and they are reporting minimal power outages and a single gasline rupture, but these are the good details coming out. s -- some of the inconveniences the faa has been evacuated and the airports, newark and othjfk and this is impacting people getting home later in the day, and we talked to john harwood on the amtrak train and they are checking the infrastructure and we know that the tunnels and the layout of the new york area and the east coast makes it interesting. i say this, bob, because i have a tweet from somebody in l.a. saying yawn as a response to how this is being played out and how people are reacting, but this is not a usual thing for folks who live in this part of our country. >> absolutely. a 5.9 earthquake is not a small earthquake. a 5.9 earthquake over a populated area in los angeles or san francisco could cause an enormous amount of damage, and from the first reports we are getting, it seems we escaped this bullet with a

is what happens to irene as it moves out over the atlantic and reaches the east coast. tonight, officials i i dare countynorth carolina, have declared a mandatory evacuation for all visitors. we're talking about as many as 150,000 people, effective tomorrow morning. as hurricane irene approaches. this is hurricane irene as seen today from the international space station. >> it's hard to believe that it's that big. >> it is big, but we're actually flying over some of the outer bands right now. >> reporter: irene's powerful winds stretch out over 400 miles. the same width as the entire state of arizona. it's a massive hurricanene thats quickly intensifying into what forecasters are calling an extreme storm. already a category 3 with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and carrying with it up to a foot of rain. irene is expected to strengthen further to a category 4 as it bears down on the mid-atlantic coast of the united states and threatens the major metropolitan areas from new york city, all the way to boston, with torrential rain and dangerous winds. >> this is a largege powowful hurricane. currently

of the state of, the hurricane could affect 20 counties and 3.5 million people in north carolina alone. that's where john zarrella is with us from atlanticeach. john, what time is it expected to come there. what kind of preparations have they been making? >> 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, anderson. if the eye crosses us here, that's the time the center of the storm is expected to get here. so just after first light. preparations, not a lot of people have put up shutters or boarded up. we did see some. most of the people here, at least a good percentage of them did decide to leave. others said they were going to go ahead and stay. mandatory evacuation. they can't force you to leave. police are patrolling all up and down here. shelters are open, just over in morehead city. salvation army serving meals there. one thing to point out as we see the wind picking up and we've gone through heavier wind and rain now. it continues to get heavier and heavier all the time. inland flooding is what kills more people than hurricanes than storm surge these days. so we're seeing already ground saturated here. a lot of runoff already beginning. and, you know,

of the state of, the hurricane could affect 20 counties and 3.5 million people in north carolina alone. that's where john zarrella is with us from atlanticpected to come there. what kind of preparations have they been making? >> 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, anderson. if the eye crosses us here, that's the time the center of the storm is expected to get here. so just after first light. preparations, not a lot of people have put up shutters or boarded up. we did see some. most of the people here, at least a good percentage of them did decide to leave. others said they were going to go ahead and stay. mandatory evacuation. they can't force you to leave. police are patrolling all up and down here. shelters are open, just over in admoni morehead city. salvation army serving meals there. one thing to point out as we see the wind picking up and we've gone through heavier wind and rain now. it continues to get heavier and heavier all the time. inland flooding is what kills more people than hurricanes than storm surge these days. so we're seeing already ground saturated here. a lot of runoff already beginning. and, you know, as i was saying earlie

atlantic city boardwalk. and tonight it is just about empty. the governor has ordered the evacuation of four coastal counties, which could impact 750,000 people. casinos like trump plaza here have started to board up and close down one by one. >> reporter: i'm marcy gonzalez in q qens, new york. and we're expected to start feeling the effects of this storm tomorrow night into sunday. and for the first time in new york city history, mandatory evacuations are under way in several areas. tonight, the mayor opening more than 90 shelters like this for those with nowhere else to go. >> reporter: i'm david kerley in martha's vineyard, where for the past 36 hours visitors have been cutting short their vacations to get off the island before the hurricane hits. most flights have been canceled. the only way out? ferries. they've added a lot of boats to get everybody off the island in time. >> thanks to david and the abc reporters on the coast therer while some of us wait for the storm out here, others have already seen it. and no one has seen it like the man we're about to introduce you to, who collects footage of hurricanes the way some people collect s

a spokesman said it could affect 20 counties, 3.5 million people in north carolina alone. that's where john is from atlantic beach. john, what time is it expected to come there? what kind of preparations have they been making? >> 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, anderson. if the eye crosses us here, that's the time the center of the storm is expected to get here. so just after first light. preparations they have taken. not a lot of people who have put up shutters or boarded up. we did see some. most of the people here, at least a good percentage of them, did decide to leave. others said they would go ahead and stay. mandatory evacuation. that means they still can't force you to leave but sit a mandatory evacuation. shelters are open just over in morehead city over the bridge. three that we know of. salvation army serving meals there. anderson, one thing as we see the wind picking up, we have gone through heavier wind and rain now. it gets heavier and heavier all the time. inland flooding is what kills more people in hurricanes than storm surge these days. we're seeing already grounds saturated here. a lot of run

county. she's really one of the most popular ones. they're going to be hitting the road in select cities beginning october 1st in atlantic city, new jerseyi'm not entirely sure why they're hitting the road. >> touring what? to do what? >> they're probably just going to fight a lot on-camera. because that's all they tend to do. >> that's all they do. >> if you're a "real housewives" fan or if you're like me, it happens to be on and you happen to look that way and end up watching it, they're coming your way. >> going on tour. these women have parlayed this thing into a career. it is amazing, good for them. guess what, any "modern family" fans out here, you may appreciate this. i'm not just saying this because i work for abc. it really i think is t t best-written, funniest show on tv, it's so good. those of you who have been loyal viewers, benjamin bratt had the enviable role of playing sofia vergara's ex-husband, he's coming back to the show next season so make sure you stay tuned for that, he's coming back. >> guess what, charlie sheen is back. but he's not winning. get this. he was doing another stop on his violent torpedo of truth tour.

make its way towards the north carolina coast here in atlantic beach where there is a state of emergency in effect, and in fact for all of carteret countyemerald isle to the outer banks in dare county and carteret county. and most of that is for the tourists and the non-residents, but up in dare county and ocracoke to get off of the barrier islands, because it is that dangerous of a situation. we expect the conditions to go downhill as we head into the evening and tonight, with some of the worst of irene passing by or to the nearest of this area as we pass into tomorrow, and slowly conditions improving as the hurricane moves away in the day tomorrow. but, again, it looks to be a bad 24 to 36 hours here as the first landfalling hurricane that we have seen in several years in the united states takes its aim on north carolina. i'm jeff morrow in atlantic beach. back to you. >>> we have 15,000 potential shelter sites through the affected area, and if any of your listeners or viewers need to know where those shelters are, they can find it on our website redcross.org or an iphone app as well to give them the shelter maps. >> that is the red c

atlantic and also from the sound right here. taking out roads, flooding homes. that could be a disaster. and the county manager says that's where the current track has it going. and that is a lose-lose situation for this area. that is why they are urging everyone to leave the area. the tourists left today. the residents are expected to leave tomorrow, a mandatory evacuation. some say they are going to stay. but they are being told if you do that, you get in trouble, emergency managers, ambulance drivers and all that, won't be able to help you. you're on your own. >> do you get a sense of what the percentages look like in terms of permanent residents there leaving as opposed to choosing to stay, and how officials are urging them to get out? >> to answer the question a little more broadly, most of the tourists are going. it looks like they are cooperating. as for the residents, we don't know yet how many are going to go. but we do know that a lot of them, especially the ones who have been around a while, are taking this seriously. they are most worried about the storm surge, the possibility of high water

atlantic plate. so damage goes all the way to canada. >> the damage was limited. insurers losses are expected to less than $100 million. >> a mandatory evacuation order in placer countyecause of a burning rail car full of propane. it happened in lincoln north of sacramento and even right now flames are going. schools have been cancelled today. 4800 gallons. >> it's affecting homes and businesses within one mile of the rail car. 29,000 gallon tanker caught fire. four hoses are draining the tanker to keep the rail car cool and keep pressure down. >>> we will learn from santa clara prosecutors if microscopic evidence will link a woman's murder a decade ago with the prime suspect. she vanished in july of 2001 after meeting a man in a bar in campbell and inviting him back to her home. they believe he killed her based on fibers found in the back of his jeep cherokee. they seem to matched those from a rug in the woman's home. >>> oakland police admit officers still face many problems communicating with a new radio system that went online earlier this summer. they said earlier this week, that it had been running low. they switched from analog system to $18 million that featu

declared a state of emergency for counties along the east coast, and tourists and residents alike are packing bridges seeking higher grounds. kerry sanders joins us live from atlantic beach, north carolina. kerry? >> reporter: i'm actually standing in the water here for a reason. as you know, a hurricane gets its strength from the warmth in the ocean. the atlantic waters here are 80 degrees or warmer. which means there's a lot of fuel for that energy that hurricane irene is now on open waters. so there's a real concern not only of the path it's going to take but how strong this hurricane will get. here in atlantic beach you can see there's still some people at the beach. it's mostly empty as compared to yesterday. that's because tourists have been told time to leave, time to get out. it appears they're beginning to understand that vacations are being cut short. residents will begin leaving tomorrow. the idea is to get their homes prepared and get their supplies to leave. the big concern from the red cross, from the emergency managers local, from the state, and even from fema is that people have something very simple. it's a four-letter word -- plan. have a plan. th

evening the state and the county level officials are going to start shutting down the ingrass roads to the island communities. you will not be able to drive to brigteen or atlantic city or any other town. >> is it your sense that most people are heeding the warnings? that most people will indeed get out of town? >> i think so. i think after katrina and rita and some of the other big ones that have gotten a lot of coverage in the last few years, i think they're paying attention. we fielded a lot of phone calls in the police department and emergency management the last couple of days. we've been putting our stuff out on the social media sites and getting a lot of, you know, responses back to our requests and it looks like at least the ones who have been through it before or have been through something similar are on their way out. you'll see small pockets of people posting up on facebook that you know, brigteen's taken over the fif floor of the sheraton. that's heartening to see that at least there are some people who's going to go. >> i suppose you have to put nit the perspective if everyone gets out and is safe the other stuff we can deal with. i know you have a

atlantic beach where i got to know mayor trace cooper some. they issued evacuation order earlier today. don't see the track of the hurricane changing too much up here in dare county in kill devil hills, bill, they decided to up the mandatory evacuation for visitors. now to residents as well. so, in all, more than 200,000 people will have to get off the island within the next 24 to 48 hours that hurricane is coming in sometime on saturday afternoon. there are some people who are still here. probably just lingering either vacationers or maybe they are residents who want to get one more day of beach in knowing they still have more time to get off the island. officials aren't pushing them off the island yet but probably do that soon. >> always people who want to leaf their homes and hunker down. police will forcibly remove those people, correct? >> they won't forcibly remove anyone, actually, to tell you the truth. a mandatory evacuation in north carolina is not exactly a mandatory evacuation. it's really a statement of you really should go. we really want you to go. you you could be putting your life in danger if you don't go. but they are not really about to go out

atlantic seaboard are making preparations. what's happening in the south. first of all, both north and south carolina have declared states of emergency, mandatory evacuations are in place in low-lying areas, including hyde countyrolina, the outer banks and parts of norfolk, virginia. in the mid-atlantic section, show you what's going on over there, i'll get rid of that, in the mid-atlantic section which rob was making mention of, states of emergency have been declared in maryland and in delaware. now mandatory evacuations in some low-lying areas, including ocean city, maryland, are taking place. remember mandatory doesn't mean they can force you to leave, but they highly advise you leave. the mayors of washington, d.c., and baltimore announced that sandbags are available for residents in those cities. let's take a look at what's going on in the northeast right now. again, big worries about this, particularly in transportation areas. officials have declared states of emergencies in new york, in new jersey, and in connecticut. this one is going to be good. drive around the highway for free, tolls suspended on parts of the garden state parkway. the point is to help with mandatory evacuations in atlantic city and

reason you were going to dinner in atlantic city for dinner tonight, forget it and go somewhere else. and same times we're dealing with, 347, and route 72 in ocean countythat they need to be out of the hotels and the casinos by noon tomorrow, however guests who find themselves stranded due to travel or logistical reasons will be permitted to stay and we will have an ordinarily way of moving them out. there's a lot of other activities taking place in different department mas as wel. >> you are listening to the governor of new jersey essentially saying things will be shutting down and closing in his state, including casinos and hotels, and railways, and traffic will be rerouted out of the area. >>> and a ceremony to dedicate the king memorial event has been canceled. the king memorial opened to the public on monday and that includes a 30-foot granite sculpture of the civil rights leader. the organizers have not annou e announced a new date of the dedication. >>> and then further north, towns in maryland are preparing for the storm. athena jones is joining us from annapolis. good to see you. how are folks reacting? business and homeowners, are they ready

atlantic city. casinos no longer accepting reservations and asking people who are there to leave and seek safer areas. jim, a mandatory evacuation in place for cape may countyslands. in order to make the flow of traffic to move easier for those who are trying to get out. they have decided to suspend the tolls on the garden state parkway. that will help those people who are trying to get to a safer area move along freely. governor christie here in new jersey urging people to take the evacuation orders seriously. we spoke to tourists here and deciding to get out while they can. take a listen. >> i'm anticipating a long ride home. it should take me an hour and 15. >> we want to take you now to a fema press conference that is happening right now. this is happening as you can see. this is secretary of homeland security janet napolitano leading the press conference. let's listen in. >> if you divide this into three phases, preparation and response and recovery. the window for preparation is quickly closing. if you are in the projected path of this storm, please listen to your state or local officials. please listen to emergency radio or television. if you are tol

atlantic beach, north carolina. that was this morning. gray overcast, ominous. irene with wind speeds of 110 miles an hour now could possibly intensify when it hits the coast. people in hyde countyold to evacuate. in a state of emergency declared for counties east of interstate 95. new yorkers also bracing for irene. bottled water, flashlights flying off shelves as you can imagine. residents are being told the city's subway system could be flooded. new york governor's office says the metropolitan transit authority will begin a system wide shutdown saturday afternoon, joining philadelphia and new jersey in suspending service. strong winds and heavy rains are expected to inundate dozens of states along the eastern seaboard. chad myers following it all. chad, what is the latest? >> i don't think that we're paying enough attention to the potential effects of long island, connecticut, rhode island and even massachusetts. because those places will be on the right side of the potential eye of the storm. we love to focus on the city because people live there. there's business. it's the heart of america. but a lot of people live in connecticut, rhode island and massachusetts. i just want