another quick check on hurricane irene with our own chad myers. chad, where is irene right now? >> irene is about 160 miles south of atlantic beach. that's exactly where one of our crews are right now. there's 65 -- we had about a 36-mile-per-hour wind gust. 36. over to wilmington, 32-mile-per-hour wind gust. something else that's happening tonight, too, with the spin down to the south, some of the storms, the individual storms that are coming on shore are spinning. some could have tornados. one tornado or onslow county, camp le jeune main gate. that's what you get when you have a spinning storm to the south and that spin pushing these cells, the little cells right on shore, each one of them can actually spin on their own. there's the wind speeds for parts of jacksonville, wilmington. those wind speeds will definitely come up over the rest of the night. in fact, this is ale large wind field. almost 300 miles from top to bottom. and those winds are still going to be moving up toward atlantic beach right about 7:00 in the morning. and then onshore right at about i would say the op

chad, thank you very much. my only aid vice would be to listen to authorities, to take the advice that they give you. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360" starts right now. >>> piers, thanks very much. good evening, everyone. it is 10:00 p.m. on the east coast. we're at new york's battery park at the southern most tip of manhattan island. come sunday parts of this island could be underwater. here's what hurricane irene looked like when it hit the bahamas. new yorkers might see it here and soon. here is the view as irene began moving up the eastern seaboard, and as it did emergency plans started to kick in. airlines began cancelling flights. hospitals moving patients. and here in new york mayor mike bloomberg issued the first evacuation orders in city history for low-lying areas, including the one, the area that we are standing in tonight. and for the first time in modern memory, a hurricane warning is in effect for new york city. meantime as we speak, north carolina's outer banks are getting hit. we've got repor

>> chad, thanks. >> we'll take a break now. when we come back, we'll check in were many i shaith more offi how their states are bracing. s. like the exotic vacation you never took. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event. see your lexus dealer. that's not going to satisfy you. come on. it's time for a better snack. try this. it's yoplait greek. it has two times the protein of regular yogurt. you'll feel satisfied. [ female announcer ] yoplait greek. it is so good. oh, and there's a smile. i've tried it.. but nothing's helped me beat my back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a

first chad myers and that late bulletin from the national hurricane center. chad what's the latest? >> not much change in the forecast and not much change in the track, isha. we're still at 100 miles per hour. we're still forecast to get slightly weaker as we run the storm over north carolina and then on up into the northeast. and that's good news. i still think because of the size of this storm that that flooding potential in downtown new york, in manhattan, in parts of hoboken and even toward rockaway beach and long beach in new york still there as those waves will be pushing, those winds will be pushing water up against that shore for a very long time. here's what's happened to the storm and what happened earlier today and also during the day yesterday is the turn happened. and during that turn, there was enough wind shear that was pushing the storm from a different direction that the storm didn't like it very much and the storm really disintegrated for awhile. it was very low pressure. it was extremely low pressure. in fact, right now the pressure is low enough to make a categor

chad myers, thank you very much. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360" with anderson cooper starts right now. breaking news right now on hurricane irene. north carolina will be next to encounter it. the warnings went up this afternoon, then after that more than 50 million people, the entire northeast seaboard right in the storm's projected path. chad myers joins us with the latest. >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there's hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now. it did not find any increased wind speed yet. so sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but there's the eye right there from the miami radar site. so it's not all that far away. we've had outer bands coming onshore in florida for most of the day. there's another outer band offshore right now if you're standing on the beach you may be able to see the lightning in the distance. i hope you're not on the beach at this point, though, because the waves are getting much larger. you get that

let's check in with chad myers.g hit, how strong it's going and where it's going to go. >> well, i think it's getting stronger right now. we had a very big lull during the day where the storm lost its color. kind of yellow. but now i see almost a storm inside of a storm. where we have the arms of the outer bands way up towards hatteras and down south. there's a core beginning trying to build and that core may be the energy we talked about, about an ice skate where the ice skater brings her arms in on one foot and does the spin. that spin may be getting bigger there. we have hurricane hunter aircraft in it right now looking for that spin. there's the eye. it is going to make landfall, 8:00 in the morning. very close to either whe

chad, thank you very much. my only aid vice would be to listen to authorities, to take the advice that they give you. that's all for us tonight. new mayor bloomberg out with a troubling new assessment. they are expecting the storm surge from irene to flood the area which includes the ground zero construction site with anywhere from 6 to 12 feet of water. it and other low-lying neighborhood on a mandatory evacuation order. mayor bloomberg saying the city transit system will shut down at noon tomorrow. all five local airports also in danger of flooding. they are being closed right starting at noon care this is what they are concerned about. pictures here of irene hitting the bahamas, new yorkers i used to seeing this on tv, but up close. they might see a version of that and about 36 hours from now. all day today irene was making its way north. and as it did. emergency plans started kicking. in warnings went up. people boarded up, stocked up and either hunkered down or took off. in a moment we'll check in with and

chad myers joins us with the latest. chad, what does the new bulletin say? >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there are hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now, did not find any increased wind speed yet. sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but there's the eye right there from the miami radar site. so it's not all that far away. we've had outer bands coming onshore in florida for most of the day. there's another outer band offshore right now, if you're standing ong the beach you may be able to see the lightning in the distance. i hope you're not on the beach at this point, though, because the waves are getting much larger. you get the 115-mile-per-hour winds out there, there's going to be a lot of rip currents going out into the ocean in the next couple of days, all the way into cape hatteras, even into ocean city, maryland. let's break it down for you. 120-mile-per-hour storm tomorrow afternoon south of the cape. by tomorrow, about saturday, 2:00, you ge

chad myers from the cnn hur can center. jim, they're describing this as the hurricane of a lifetime. you've been in the middle of this. describe for me the power of what you've been through. >> reporter: yeah, all day we got a preview of what the east coast is going to see, just pounding wind hour after hour, 15 straight hours of heavy wind, heavy rain, just lashing against this island here. fortunately, it was just far enough offshore that it didn't do any major damage to the tourist areas. a lot of viewers will be familiar with paradise island, all those survived just fine. some of the smaller islands, still waiting on confirmation, i understand there has been serious damage there. the they have to get better communications set up to do that. listen, this was a very serious storm. i had trouble standing up in it. it was really a glancing blow. the population center is on the east coast, it's going to be the real thing, piers. >> chad myers, the latest reports i think came out a few moments ago. bring us up to date with th

we want to get back to chad. he's got an update on the hurricane itself. >> brand new update just out of the hurricane center. still an 80-mile-per-hour storm. i know i've been getting all kinds of tweets about this, telling me how bad this storm looks, how there's no red, there's no purple. but you know what? it's back over water again. it's not hot water, but it's still warm and it isn't land. i believe the storm could regenerate at least a little bit tonight and be still that same storm that we expected in new york. it did lose a lot of energy over north carolina. it truly did. but now as it spins around tonight, i believe there's a new threat developing, tornado watch was issued, all the way up to new york city. now i have four tornado warnings, the latest one out of this mt. hawley, new jersey, area. it's for the surf city area. now, surf city kind of a big area at toms river, about 20 miles south of there. but the issue is you're not going to be able to see these storms coming. i want you to just stay in a

let's bring in our severe weather expert chad myers, chad, the hurricane, they have just released a new update, a new forecast, is that right? >> that is correct, wolf, they have reduced it from an 85-mile-per-hour hurricane to an 80-mile-per-hour hurricane and they have reduced it to a category 1. but just forget about the winds, do not fear the wind as much as fearing the water. sure the winds will blow down the trees, but the water will cause flooding, it will cause surge and fresh water flooding in rivers. and all of this saturated ground, from d.c. all the way to new england, tree also fall on houses, trees will fall on cars, trees will fall on streets with all of this wind, and saturated ground t root also not be able to hold those trees up. the hurricane right now is just about exiting north carolina and will move back into the gulf stream. it may generate itself just a little bit. it not expecting any regeneration. in fact as it moves off and just very close to virginia beach, it will travel right along the jersey shore and right into new york harbor. why do i say fear the water

let's bring in chad. you're right to be exploding with rage there. you barely stopped mentioning it. >> i said this is not going to be remembered as a wind storm. i said this is a flood-maker. irene will never be remembered as a wind event. it will be a flood event. we said it 72 hours before land fall. >> that's the problem for television. pictures of wind are easier to do. it's easier to be on the beach. you quoted one of my twitter messages that water was being sucked out of the sound. there is a bias in television toward windy pictures. >> they are good points. finally to christine quinn again. you are one of the people in charge there. faced with the same set of circumstances would you do exactly the same thing again? >> absolutely. if the facts were what they were on a friday and we believed a storm was coming overnight into sunday i would absolutely have worked with city government to do the same thing. you know, the idea of being flexible, you need time to move people out of the biggest city in the world. then you're going to let the storm go

we'll go chad myers. we can see there from brian todd the power of this hurricane and it is clearly heading as you've been predicting now for a while right down the east coast. tell me exactly what we are looking at as we speak now. >> we're looking at a hurricane that's actually getting a little bit stronger tonight. it's getting its act together. there's the eye of the storm. brian todd right here wrightsville beach, wilmington. this is the closest pass he'll get. the storm will move on up towards cape hatteras region which is northeast of him. but he's really now -- look at all these waves, wave after wave of significant rainfall moving into brian's location. that's why it was so difficult much he's right there at that point. so difficult to get that communication. wilmington now has picked up over five inches of rainfall and literally hasn't even started. we still have 12 or 15 more hours, piers of more heavy rainfall. there cube foot of rain right where brian todd is. you have the water coming in fro

our meteorologist, chad myers, is going to try and explain what caused this deadly accident. we will continue to follow the president as he will hold his town hall meeting. we will be back right after this. dle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. what makes us number one in motorcycle insurance? we love bikes. we love riders. and most of all, we love to ride. perfect hair every time. leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> well, the most anticipated town hall meeting ever, it seems, is about to be held in cannon falls, minnesota, with the president. we're expecting it to start anytime we're told. it's the first stop on president obama's three-day bus tour of minnesota, iowa, and illinois. >>> the indiana state ferry opened today with a moment of silence. >> please join in the moment of silence for all of those that were impacted. >> that was held as a memorial to the

chad myers joins us with the latest. chad, what does the new bulletin say? >> the pressure is going down, anderson. and that's bad. the lower the pressure, the higher the wind speed. now, there are hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now, did not find any increased wind speed yet. sometimes the pressure goes down and then the winds build. but there's the eye right there from the miami radar site. so it's not all that far away. we've had outer bands coming onshore in florida for most of the day. there's another outer band offshore right now, if you're standing ong the beach you may be able to see the lightning in the distance. i hope you're not on the beach at this point, though, because the waves are getting much larger. you get the 115-mile-per-hour winds out there, there's going to be a lot of rip currents going out into the ocean in the next couple of days, all the way into cape hatteras, even into ocean city, maryland. let's break it down for you. 120-mile-per-hour storm tomorrow afternoon south of the cape. by tomorrow, about saturday, 2:00, you ge

chad myers following it all. chad, what is the latest?n'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 you all to be ready for this, because there's a potential large impact to that area to the right of the eye. this is where the tornados could be. this is where the storm surge could truly be. this is where the biggest impact of the unreported so far area of -- maybe i don't want people to get complacent there. it's hitting new york, not us. it hits new york as a category 1, 85 miles per hour storm. it certainly could push a whole lot of water right into connecticut, right into rhode island, in nair began set. i know it's only -- it's not a category 3 oar 4 that it was forecast to be. that

chad myers what is the latest? traing got smaller and the window, cone got smaller. only 15 miles away we would know within a mile where it was going to hit. the cone offshore, potential miss but right over long island, maybe no boston and into northern new england. look at that 100-mile-per-hour storm. >> chad, thank you. we were holding our breath today, all of the events unfolding around libya from the outskirts of the gadhafi compound where it seems sara sidner hadn't seen the end of the shelling to the drama unfolding inside and outside that rixos hotel as producer, senior international correspondent matthew chance and jomana karadshen. >> reporter: gunfire going off, they feel very, very excited, very excited. we're going to go in a little bit further. if you look over here to the right, you are seeing the fire inside of gadhafi's compound. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: all right, i'm going to back up. let's pull back a little bit, let's just pull back because i'm getting hit by some of the shells. [ gunfire ] see

just feel safer. >> chad, i want to bring you in here.re looking at a web camera from the harbor in there in ocracoke. certainly a beautiful scene. byron, we sure hope that's the scene when this thing passes. but you came back from gloria. was there a tremendous amount of damage -- one thing ocracoke has been through many, many times is hurricanes. >> yes. since i've lived here we haven't had a lot of structural damage. some roof damage from hurricanes. some flooding in some older houses. most of the damage has been highway 12 to the north. which that can really impact our daily life and tourism. >> mr. miller, hey, it's chad myers. i'm curious because i'm always curious as to why people stay. are you staying to protect your stuff? are you staying to protect your home? or do you think that you're just better off physically there? >> a little of both. really, you don't ever -- right now there's uncertainty, you know, whether it will make landfall. by the time you're pretty sure whether it's going to make landfall, you can't leave. and it's

chad told us there's a tornado warning in daier and hyde counties. island 2,500 stuck or stranded there, the folks who didn't leave ahead of hurricane irene and the storm smashed through, washed out the road to the maindlaland, highwa 12. how long, maybe two weeks, maybe two months. six people have died in north carolina and at last report about 300,000 people are without electricity. kate meyer is with the american red cross in newburn, north carolina. how bad is it, kate? >> reporter: well i spent the last couple of days driving around newburn, north carolina, that are fairly inland but we're still seeing a lot of damage, a lot of trees down, roads that are impassable because we still have flowing water going across them. i actually had to stop when i was driving to one of our shelters and turn around and find a different route because there was water flowing across the road. we had 2,500 people stay in our shelters in north carolina alone last night so we still have thousands of people who need our help. >> kate we're talking so much about the out

chad, i want you to stay with us. we have more coverage coming up on this earthquake here along the east coast of the united states. i want to get to the other huge story, the breaking news that we're following out of libya, rebels today seizing control of moammar gadhafi's presidential compound in tripoli. this is a chaotic, historic day in the libyan capital, just after 11:00 p.m. in tripoli. we've got some late word of gunfire in that presidential compound, hours after the rebels moved in and forced our own cnn crew to leave. but earlier, cnn's very courageous journalist sara sidner got inside the compound with the rebels. she dodged bullets to show the world what was going on live. look at this videotape. >> reporter: that is the first part of the eastern gate. there are large blast holes in that gate. the sun is setting in this area just behind us so it's starting to become darker. over here you're seeing them, these are cars that belonged to the gadhafi regime. they are sitting blowing off rounds behind them. th

. >>> still ahead, new england patriots' wide receiver chad ochocinco announces his housing plans in his home city. did you hear about this? says he's going to move in with a patriots' fan. perhaps even mike barnacle. we'll let chad explain. >>> and jon stewart weighs in on the michele bachmann cover, with a gag in a looked oddly familiar to some of you viewers who e-mailed us from "way too early" nation. is that a thing? that clip and a check on weather. >> david berkowitz, 24. spent his days sorting letters in the post office, so meek and mild and quiet, nobody ever noticed him. and spent his nights, police say, roaming the streets of new york city, with a .44 revolver, shooting young people and killing six of them. [ female announcer ] instantly smooth wrinkles with a shot? wait a second... with olay challenge that. new regenerist wrinkle revolution... relaxes the look of wrinkles instantly, and the look of deep wrinkles in 14 days. ready, set, smooth... regenerist. from olay. and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even r

another quick check on hurricane irene with our own chad myers. chad, where is irene right now?irene is about 160 miles south of atlantic beach. that's exactly where one of our crews are actually right now. there's -- we had about a 36-mile-per-hour wind gust there, 36. and then over toward wilmington about a 42-mile-per-hour wind gust. but something else, isha, that's happening tonight, too, with the spin on the storm down to the south, some of these storm, the individual storms that are coming onshore, are spinning. and so some of them could actually have tornados. one tornado warning for arnslow county on the way to the camp lejeune main gate there. indicated by doppler radar potential for tornados tonight let alone the hurricane. like they have anything else to worry about. that's what you get when you have a spinning storm down to the south and that spin pushing these cells, those little convective cells right on shore, each one of them can actually spin on their own. there's the wind speeds for parts of jacksonville, blooming ton, those will definitely come up over the res

so fast. >>> as chad said, irene is not done yet. we're going to hear from new jersey governor chris christie. he'll give us the latest on that situation, very hard hit. he will take to the podium. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens. >>> meantime, slaervermont has n a big hit. the governor joins us now on the telephone. governor what is the situation in your state right now? >> well, we're being absolutely pummeled in the state of vermont. irene is dumping huge loads of water on us. we virtually have flooding from the southern end of the state to it northern end. it's now running up to the northern end of the state. virtually the entire state is impacted. we have over 100 roads closed. extraordinary washouts of bridges, roads, homes. one loss of what we believe to be a loss of life. we're still hopeful that a young woman was standing next to the river in wilmington and last seen by her boyfriend floating down the river. we haven't been able to locate her, or her body. so we're just really in tough shape up here as so ma

chad, thanks very much.ext, we'll speak live to someone who tracks these storms for a living. stay with us. you're in the situation room. here at quicken loans, we're obsessed with giving our clients an amazing mortgage experience. [ joe ] we're the madonias from macomb township, michigan. we needed to upgrade. we needed a bigger house. i'm so glad we chose quicken loans for our mortgage. we did everything online. it was so easy. there were no hidden fees and no surprises! ♪ quicken loans really listened to us. and that's why quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ and that's why quicken loans is engineered to amaze. [ female announcer ] everybody loves that cushiony feeling. uh oh. i gotta go. [ female announcer ] and with charmin ultra soft, you can get that same cushiony feeling you love while still using less. charmin ultra soft has extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. ah. [ female announcer ] using less never felt so good. we all

chad ochocinco is now with the patriots, here's chad, played last year in cincinnati.st three weeks he's going to find somebody to live with. >> a fan. >> he wants to live with a fan and no word if his new girlfriend will move in, as well. but anyway, chad ochocinco, if you know anyone in the new england area who would like to have a football player after a practice lay on your couch, he's available. >> good night, everybody.

chad would have the last laugh. he scored the first touchdown for the patriots. they won it big 31-14. >>> steelers hines ward won "dancing with the stars" and showed his moves last night. scored a touchdown and key the music. that's called the washing machine. steelers with a 24-14 win over the eagles. >>> that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> early today sports is brought to you by just for men mustache and beard. >> kat vondee takes the good with the bad. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, a unique competition where bed-makers and vacuumers fight for olympic gold. you're watching "early today." >>> well good friday morning, we take you through your weekend forecast. i think all of your weekend plans will be unaffected by the weather. if anything, maybe a little too hot in some spots. we'll be warm today in the inner mountain west. phoenix at 112, hit a record high for the today, today a little cooler. and tomorrow looks similar in many areas. portland, 88 is your fo

chad ochocinco is now with the patriots, here's chad, played last year in cincinnati. the first three weeks he's going to find somebody to live with. >> a fan. >> he wants to live with a fan and no word if his new girlfriend will move in, as well. but anyway, chad ochocinco, if you know anyone in the new england area who would like to have a football player after a practice lay on your couch, he's available. >> good night, everybody. [ male announcer ] brace yourself for the big, bold taste of a subway® bbq pulled pork sub. tender, succulent slow-cooked pork with sweet and smoky barbecue sauce, all on freshly baked bread. subway. eat fresh®.

thanks so much, chad myers. we'll check in with you. let's go -- let's zero in on that area that chad says is in the most danger. we're finding reynolds wolf in kill devil hills. it has been tough trying to get a signal to talk to you because of the effects you're feeling right now. >> these effects we're getting now again, mostly wind. haven't had a drop of rain in quite a while. we're beginning to see some of the roofing tiles, a bit of insulation here and there from buildings as the gusts pushes them along. these are easily some of the strongest we had so far. this whole thing, this began basically as a cluster of thunderstorms off the coast and swept across the atlantic, and sure enough right here to the doorstep of the carolinas. we're feeling the fury at this point, but basically wind. wind, in some i was, detrimental by the debris it carries and the power outages it will cause. hundreds of thousands of people without power as we speak. it will take a while to restore everyone's power and with all the downed trees we anticipate th

but chad would have the last laugh, scored his first touchdown as a patriot. >>> steelers hines ward won "dancing with the stars" in the off-season and scored a touchdown. and cue the music, that's called the washing machine. the steelers 14-4 win over the eagl eagles. >>> now for a look at the weather, here once again is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. did you get that, bill, the washing machine? >> i thought the old school one was like this. >> don't do it, bill, don't do it. >> it's like the energy-efficient washing machine. >>> good morning, let's take you through what's happening. we're watching a lot of heavy rain in the last couple of days in areas like philadelphia. now we have flash flood watches because we have more thunderstorms in the forecast. there's some clouds in jersey right now and showers heading off the coast. then we'll get some sunshine. but i want to show you how much rain has fallen. just this month alone in philadelphia. we're now over a foot of rain, that's an all-time record for august. new york city has had almost ten inche

chad myers just snuck this over here. it's important. it's a flooding event. it's also a wind event. he says wind is picking up again over new york city from the backside of the circulation of the storm. trees are again toppling down. if you think you're out of the woods, as janet napolitano said earlier today, you're not quite yet. >> all the more reason why they really prefer people stay indoors. so first responders or emergency preparedness crews can actually do what they need to do and make sure things are safe before everybody else ventures out. >> let's continue on with rhode island. we know the storm rolled into that small state earlier today. gary tuchman was there to ride it out in the beautiful area of newport. gary, i know we talked to the governor early today. big smile on his face. he seems to think that, you know, the state missed the brunt of the storm for the most part. is that what you seem to have experience zbld we're 40 miles south of cape, brooke. the winds have been picking up the last couple of hours. certainly not as bad as we thought i

chad myers. it continues. >> it does. only because the water is still running off. are people literally going to their backyard, looking at their rain gauge saying it only rained for two hours. how can it be so full? when it comes down that fast, it can't run off. plus there's always this concre concrete. plus you get trash and debris in the gutters and you can't get water to go down the drains properly. that's why we call it flash flooding. because it happens in a flash. >> that quickly. let's get the video if we still have it from the hotel. we talk to the young man who shot the video, all the water that had come crashing through the ceiling. here it is. look at this. coming through, remember he said to your point, flash flooding. flashing through the ceiling. came very quickly. just to show the tremendous force of this water. >> this scares me because the water is running through power lines. >> the lights. >> obviously the lights are still on, the power is still on. if you're walking in that puddle, you may very well have been shocked. they were keeping all the

chad, thank you very much. >>> as you heard, the urgency at this hour is vermont. a state that ordered no mandatory evacuations. look at the fury the state is facing. an emergency official tells cnn that flooding is everywhere and conditions are awful. joining us by phone now is the vermont resident who took that video, david cadran from battleboro. you shoot that footage between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. tell us the situation now. >> it is still just as bad up here. the water is still going. i just talked to a friend of mine who said they saw an entire house go down battleboro, and the town was worried it might take out the bridge. >> are people leaving the area? those who aren't, are they getting help? are rescuers getting to them? >> have been some mandatory evacuations of downtown areas, particularly residential areas around that brook as it runs down through the entire valley before it meets up with the ket caught river. we heard things are far worse in town west of here, particularly wilmington. people are stranded on rooftops and emergency personnel are trying to f

chad myers is watching it all for us. what's it doing now, chad?nd exactly where might it be headed? >> well, it's headed to the bahamas. and right now, if you want to get a map, it's right over crooked island in the bahamas. and later on it'll be going over long island at the bahamas. the irony is that there's the potential, at least in the cone that in four days it could go over long island, new york. right now at 115 miles per hour forecast to get significantly stronger than that. and let me tell you why. for a while, it was being torn up by the mountains of haiti and the dominican republic. and there are still mountains here in cuba, as well. and those mountains kind of push in dry air. and hurricanes like moist air. so the moisture is coming from the water right now. getting stronger, going over the bahamas, and then turning right, and that right turn has been forecast for the entire time. there has not been one computer model that has not had it turning right. that big right-hand hook. that hook happens because by the time you get to the mid

so michelle, i don't know if you heard chad there talking about rhode island and the flood potential, but what are your concerns? >> yeah, it sounds like everything we're hearing around here, we're just going to get lots of rain for quite some time, i think i have heard 18 hours. and our thing is we're going to be getting the new moon and the high tide around the same time. and so a lot of people, my door, i come outside and i'm looking right at our harbor and so we're very worried about just a storm surge coming in with lots of water, the businesses and homes are right here on the water front. so a lot of flooding. i have never seen the stores and businesses board up the windows like they are with this hurricane coming in. so everyone's taking the precautions, moving things to higher ground, the cars, the belongings on the first floor of your home. >> so what have you done, those very things? >> getting the car -- mandatory evacuations are at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. i have plan force my car to be up at higher ground, the pets, the dogs, making sure things are out of basement lev

chad myer watching the sorms in the center. pretty rough there now. what is the latest? >> reporter: yeah, piers, the wind has really been picking up over the last couple of hours. now it's been met by rain. it's just been coming in in bands here off the caribbean. everybody is doing the best to be prepared. they know this storm is going to be big, powerful, and they're getting prepared as best they can, piers. >> chad, obviously the bigger concern outside of the bahamas is where this goes next. what intelligence do we have right now on the direction of irene? >> waiting for that right-hand turn that we always forecast. and if it doesn't turn to the right in time, could even make a little bit of run at florida, or even for that matter the carolinas. the problem is going to be when it goes past north carolina and makes a run at the northeast. this could literally make a run into long island, maybe even toward boston. can you imagine 85-mile-per-hour storm in boston? or on long island? or a little bit of a turn to the left and this goes all the way into new york city. 85 m

i was talking with chad myers. he says it's been a number of years since the east coast has seen something of this magnitude. we'll talk more about that momentarily. i want to go straight to the epicenter of this quake. if you noknonova va -- amanda, me, since you are where this happened not too long ago, what did it feel like, how long did it last there? >> caller: well it happened not that long agoment time is flying by in louisa county. we're under an emergency alert. it really felt, the building started to shake. all the employees, under their normal day, just went outside and the ground continued to rumble for probably five or ten seconds. >> i don't know where you are in the county. tell me if you know of any reports of damage to any buildings, structurally and also injuries. >> we currently -- i'm in the town of louisa, which is about 10, 15 miles outside of the town of mineral in louisa county. and we have received numerous calls for structural damage and some structural collapse for residential structures.

good warning, chad. we heard you with that one. >> you're welcome. >>> to libya now where the battle for tripoli and the hunt for moammar gadhafi are converging. two days after they took over the compound, they say he and some of ms. sons may be pinned down in a cluster of apartment buildings nearby. they're fighting to hold onto the airport south of the capital. gadhafi has issued audio clips most recently about 90 minutes ago. a lot of his stuff is now in the public domain. we join you now from the airport with a rationalable case in point. what is that behind you there? it looks like a big rv. >> reporter: yeah, randi, what we have here is an rv that the fighters say that they managed to capture from gadhafi's farm around 15 minutes away, although there was a pretty intense firefight there that did kill one fighter and wounded number. let me show you this scene more for you. we have the rebels going through the rv, obviously marveling at the fact they do have access to some of the gadhafi's luxurious

i have done work at chad. a lock down facility. we are approaching young men they are incarcerated than attend the csu colleges. we become the keepers of the cages. very serious statistic. as an educator. i came out on a radio show not too long ago. an interviewer kept insisting being part of a gang like al-qaeda. that dehumanizes. i have spoken to so many of these students. when he shared that with me. i said, i refuse to go there. it perpet utes that paradigm. our paradigm changes ladies and gentlemen. what i would like to do is this. i want to pull the lens back to use that metaphor. what's feeding that monster. to think strategically. if anything, if you leave here today, you will leave with my accent. one last thing. i do speak to children an awful lot. i have a doctorate. education has meant more for me. i am under no illusion. i also know that having a doctorate doesn't confir wisdom. when people made fun of me. i remember me mom coming home. foreign long speaking. >> we had beans at breakfast, lunch and dinner. bean pudding

chad myers here in the weather center as well. you, too, were listening intently to what the president had to say. >> i don't think people really until they get in the water understand the power of what this rain is going to do to the northeast and into new england. if you're in north carolina, i understand you felt that power. here's the map behind me of all the flash flooding that's going on. here's the map behind me of all the flooding that's going on. all the rivers that are flooding. every county except for cape cod, every county from maine all the way down to new jersey, has some type of flood warning fwoing on right now. let me take you to just the latest. we're getting so many flood warnings coming in. here's just the latest that came in from -- at 4:48, the campton pond dam has been breached. in grafton, county. this is new hampshire. so many dams in trouble or at least water going over the top. the water is filling the dams. the dams are in risk of breaching, falling apart in some spots. you have to understand whether yo