white house briefing room where any minute pres secretary jay carney is expected to be joined by craig fugate, and fema's relief as well as the cost that a lot of people are talking about the staggering amount of money to help those in need. and ron bloom is in brattleboro, vermont to, follow the flooding there. >> tamron, we are here where the water is spilling out of dams and reservoirs into trib towers -- tributaries. if you look at the fast-water rising you are seeing the mississippi last spring and seeing tires and pieces of refrigerators and propane tanks and enormous trees and tree trunks pushed down this river. now the governor of vermont was just in brattleboro a short time ago and he did confirm that there are multiple communities still isolated and still trying to get n because of the height of the flash flood yesterday afternoon, every road and highway in vermont was affected or closed. those barriers coming down today in most areas in those communities where they were trying to get in because of the rising water. still one fatality confirmed, but the governor was not willing to s

i spoke to craig fugate, the head of fema, the federal emergency management agency. he's been briefing the president regularly, and i spoke with him a short time ago in washington. craig fugate, welcome. this is both, of course, a national issue and an intensely local one. what's your main priority right now? >> well, the main priority for everybody is supporting the evacuations that the local officials are having to order and may have to add to as the storm moves north. and getting ready for the immediate response afterwards and supporting the governors as they prepare for hurricane irene. >> brown: are you satisfied with these evacuations orders and the orders so far? >> well yeah, i think the local officials are doing a good job. they know their areas. the hurricane center is providing the best possible information and we're seeing a lot of activity. and people are not even waiting for the evacuation orders, a lot are taking the time to get to a safe area just in case. >> and when you're looking at such a huge swathe of the country, the whole eastern coast, what k

we'll hear from craig fugate in a moment but we have team coverage of where the irene is headed. julie is in battery park that faces a threat of the a serious storm surge. >>reporter: yes serious storm surge. loir manhattan and battery park in particular is ground zero for this storm. mainlyy because of the electric supply here and the tide. the tide is reaching high tide. 8:00 this morning and expected storm surge of 8 feet would mean that lower manhattan, much of it would get flooded. we have seen flooding knee deep and the hudson river overflowing in lower manhattan and meat packing district north of here. zone a is where i stand. mandatory evacuation issued here which meant 350,000 people in here and rockaways and queens and coney ilandd. flooding and street and bridge closures and the george washington bridge, lower deck closed earlier today. and all of the bridges will remain open as longg as the winds don't get up to sustained 60 miles per hour wind. we have had gusts up to 60 miles per hour and so it looks good there. we are hearing that the linn contunnel. outbound. not

the president's emergency response team is headed up by fema administrator craig fugate who's been kindenough to join us from washington, d.c. i know you're in the business of tough calls and having ridden out katrina inside the superdome and in those days after that, i watched a lot of officials and politicians make some perfectly awful calls. do you feel at this point in the storm you've got it about right heading up the i-95 corridor? >> well, i do know this, this storm is going to have impact, no matter how well we prepare or how good the forecast. a lot of people are going to lose power, a lot of people are going to get damage from this storm, a lot of flooding, that's why we're asking people to heed the evacuation orders. >> and what, sir, is the risk that we're going to have, i heard today from three to six feet of standing water, above street level on a good portion of the east coast, from the tide water, newport news, all the way up to the new york metropolitan area, long island, new england. and the possibility of people actually being cut off, on their own camping for three t

joining me now, craig fugat, head of fema, as we all know it.e to have you on this morning, and i know you're taking to twitter and other social media to get the word out about this to people. how concerned, in your estimation, should people be as they watch this storm, as they watch irene unfold? >> let's make sure that we understand that, you know, this is not just a point on the map and that if people are ready, if they've got their plans and they've got their supplies, what they need to do is monitor to the storm. i would say the people that need to be concerned are the people who haven't gotten ready, don't know if they live in an evacuation zone, don't know what they're going to do if irene threatens their community. if you've got your plans and your supplies, you're good. if you don't, get ready. >> it's about having that plan in place so you can pull the trigger if you need to. it's the 19th anniversary of hurricane andrew. that's one of the most powerful storms to hit the u.s. this storm nowhere close to that. where are you moving your

keeping a close eye on what she's saying there, the head of the american red cross preceded from craig fugate, head fugate and bill reed from the national weather service and janet napolitano. we'll get the information and summarize it. we have a sad piece of news. paramedics report a man in north carolina was killed outside of his home because of a falling tree branch. of course, that's the kind of thing that can reek so much havoc and in a tremendous tragedy in north carolina, begin killed by a tree branch falling on him outside of his home. it's of grave concern of those homes beautifully surrounded with the landscaping by the trees. in a situation like this, doentd get anywhere near them. when you have winds of 70-mile-per-hour plus in that area, and, of course, north carolina has had landfall three hours ago of hurricane irene, this is a precarious situation at best. paramedics say a man in north carolina killed outside his home by a tree branch that went down. here's a look at nags head north carolina where you see some of these homes as you can see are built on stilts in order to withs

and fema and craig fugate, the director of fema, will be keeping people closely posted in the next 24. thank you very much. >> there we have it. president obama speaking from martha's vineyard, telling us federal resources are in place for the storm and its aftermath now, pointing out what fema has done. also the fact that the president has been speaking with governors and mayors along the eastern seaboard to express the fact they'll have the full support of the administration, however this storm plays out. joining us is msnbc's mike viqueira, our white house correspondent. and joins us now to talk more about this. mike, the president not saying anything about leaving, not getting rattled by an earthquake, moammar or irene. >> that's right. the president and his family continuing their ninth day of a ten-day viks acation on martha' vineyard. the president is scheduled to leave there tomorrow saturday, well before the worst of it gets up there. 65 million people, american citizens, potentially in the path of this storm, thomas. the president, almost as if the mayor in chief, asking h i

joined today by my secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano and administrator of m fema, craig fugate to provide a brief update on our ongoing response efforts to hurricane irene. first, let me say that this is a storm that has claimed lives. our thoughts and prayers are with those who've lost loved ones. and those whose lives have been affected by the storm. you need to know that america will be with you in your hour of need. while the storm has weakened as it moves north, it remains a dangerous storm that continues to produce heavy rains. one of our chief concerns before irene made landfall was the possibility of significant flooding and widespread power outages. and we've been getting reports of just that from our state and local partners. many americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding, which could get worse in the coming days as rivers swell past their banks. so i want people to understand that this is not over. response and recovery efforts will be an ongoing operation. and i urge americans in affected areas to continue to listen for the guidance and direc

there's no one who's handled more hurricanes at the state level than craig fugate. he was the chief of disaster response in florida when they were hit with more hurricanes than any year in the state's history. obviously, george bush had the history of michael brown, who had been an arabian horse official before he took over fema. you've got the right person in charge, a great team at noaa doing the forecasts, and getting the country ready for what's coming. >> the president was expected back, he was going to be the big speaker at the martin luther king ceremonies, the dedication ceremonies. we don't even know if that's going to be delayed. so far this week in d.c., we've had the earthquake with significant damage to the washington monument, to the cathedral, the national building museum, and other buildings. plus libya. the president on his vacation has had to deal with libya, which has been a constant. >> yeah. so i think it's time to finally put a fork in the idea that august is a quiet month in washington. >> perhaps. >> between the debt ceiling and libya and the

headquarters of fema, the federal emergency management agency and speak to the administrator, craig fugate. mr. fugate, good to have you with us this morning. i know the president has convened you and others on his team to get the latest updates. at this point, what is the headline from this storm? >> i think the big headline is power outages. you know, we've got damages down in virginia and north carolina from flooding and storm surge, river flooding, but i think most people are being impacted across the area, really with power outages right now. >> what about flooding? we're talking about surges in the new york city area and that part, as you go up the coast a little bit into new england. how is that affecting everyone also on the new jersey coast? >> well, yes. as governor christie said, they already have a person missing, and that's why it's critical people stay inside, stay off the roads. i'll give you an example down in north carolina where irene first came ashore, they were reporting over 76 swift water rescues where we had to rescue people in the storm. so we expect the rivers are

we're joined now on the phone by fema administrator craig fugate. craig, thanks for joining us. where are you guys sending your people right now? >> from north carolina all the way through to maine. we have teams in north carolina, teams going in to the mid-atlantic states, teams going in to the new england states. so we've been getting folks ahead of the storm, and also sending supplies in ahead of the storm. >> what are you telling people? obviously the story always goes some people just don't want to leave. they want to stay no matter the danger. how serious do people need to know this storm is, and why do they need to go if they're in the evacuated areas? >> well, it's the storm surge, which, for a lot of people, is hard to explain. but think about this. think about a tide with big waves coming in that doesn't go out and those waves are pounding everything in its path. that's the problem in the low-lying areas, that storm surge can be deadly. you don't get a second chance if it's too late. and that's why you need to go early. and again we know there's going to be a lot of tr

we will hear from craig fugate, and major blood from the salvation army. thank you for joining us on a saturday morning. as expected, hurricane irene made landfall earlier this morning along the north carolina coast. i've spoken to the governor this morning. she said they were hunkered down. they are ready to do damage assessments as soon as possible, especially for assets like the bridges and roads. irene remains a large and dangerous storm. people need to take it seriously, and people need to be prepared. as we have suggested, think of this in three phases -- preparation, response, and recovery act. some of our states are moving into the response mode. other states, as you are for their north are still in preparation mode. if you are receiving a warning to evacuate, please do so. even if you have not done so, -- received a warning, please stay inside, stay off of the roads so they can be clear for emergency vehicles for our first responders. we anticipate heavy rain, potential flooding, and significant power outages throughout the area of the storm, whic

i'm joined by the director the national hurricane center and by the fema administrator craig fugate on an update on irene. let me express condolences to those families who have lost loved ones in the course of this storm. even though the storm has now been downgraded to come and poses no less of a threat to communities in its path. we encourage individuals to listen to this as we move through the response. and we just concluded it briefing president obama on our ongoing efforts to support the state's being affected. he has instructed us to continue moving forward on our response. our number one message for individuals and families up and down the eastern seaboard this morning is that we are not out of the would get. irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm and hazards still persist. right now, hurricane irene's moving up the coast around the day. if you are in any of those communities, please stay away from the shoreline. mid-atlantic states need to stay focused on search and rescue. power outages remain an issue all up and down the coast. we are working with our private s

craig fugate is currented administrator is going an outstanding job. the initial response belongs to the local and states. they're doing an outstanding job. we've seen all of the governors up front not only telling people what to do, but how to do it. telling them what is expected to do. i've been pleased with the response. i have to tell you that. >> you know, in about two or three weeks, the attention that we're all giving this because it's in the moment goes away and then you do start seeing the political fights on funding on prioritizing. when you were at fema and you were in the middle of some of these political fights you wnt trying to have them, you're getting drawn into them. how do you keep going and fight for some extra funding that i know you need and at the same time try to keep the politics out of it? >> the whole purpose of the disaster relief fund is for what we're looking at right now. they help people get back on their feet that don't have insurance. help communities and states to rebuild the public infrastructure has been damaged. tha

. >>> here with me, craig fugate. give us a sense where you are right now, where the preparations are along the east coast. >> right now, basically north carolina through maine. hurricane warnings out to new england. so, again, the evacuations are starting to move up the coast. we've had north carolina evacuating and they're expecting to storm to make impact and early in the morning hours. we're rapidly moving to prepare to be ready to respond after the storm makes landfall. >> the former hurricane center director, the legendary max mayfield, told the a.p., this quote read a million times today. unbelievable. max said, one of my greatest nightmares was having a major hurricane go up the whole northeast coast. so what are you going to do? how are you feeling about making sure that this which clearly is a massive storm and has the potential to wreak so much devastation is going to be minimized as much as is humily possible? humanly possible? >> i don't think you can minimize damages. even with a good team it won't preve

ready.gov, get your plan on your mobile phones, you can go to m.fema.gov and get it on go. >> craig fugateu've got a busy couple days ahead of you, good luck. >> thank you. >>> we wanted to share this tweet from fugate today, got a plan? got supplies? prepared to evacuate if ordered? good. you're in charge, not irene. >>> next up i'll ask the head of one of the east coast's major power companies what his people are doing to prepare for irene. >>> and you're looking live at wrightsville beach, north carolina, where the waves are getting bigger and the beach is empty. hey! you want that? you want a warm, super-delicious strawberry toaster strudel yeah but now i have nothing to eat sure you do. hey! you can have the pop tart! pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat pillsbury toaster strudel. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 bill

he'll give you an update on the storm itself, and then you'll hear from craig fugate. bill?e secretary. i've got it on the image here, the satellite loop, the visible loop of irene. the center of which is now about 50 miles to the west of cape hatteras, moving to the north-northeast at about 15 miles an hour. the outer banks, nags head outer banks areas are going to be impacted over the next several hours. next in line is the tide water hampton roads, norfolk area. they're already having adverse conditions there. i've talked to several relatives in the area, where the rainfall has been incredibly heavy and the water levels are coming up now. i'd like to also report that a good story coming out of that, the information they've gotten in advance of this storm from the local officials on what to do or not to do in the event of this storm has just been outstanding. it fits right in with what they should be doing. next picture, please? radar imagery of this -- where you see these bands coming around the top here, every now and then, one of those will take on a characteristic on r

. >> reporter: fema director craig fugate and his team are keeping president obama up to date as hurricane irene approaches the coast. >>> just ahead on the "morning news" irene hasn't even hit but gas prices are already headed higher. >>> plus it may be tough getting around this weekend even if you're not in the storm zone. we'll tell you why. this is the "cbs morning news." e and a breakthrough formula that nourishes deep down, like no other. dove body wash. proven effective natural nourishment. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95, only fr

. >> reporter: homeland security secretary janet napolitano and fema director craig fugate will see the flooding for sthechthem today when they visit new jersey. tuesday they'll visit three other states including hard hit vermont. the national guard is having to use helicopters to deliver food and water to some towns still cut off. irene's torrential rains washed out hundreds of roads and dozens of bridges in the state. crews are already working to rebuild the crumbled infrastructure. this emergency road was built in just eight hours, engineers didn't wait for approval to move this creek. >> we'll apologize later. it had to be done. >> reporter: there's no time to waste in a state dealing with its worst flooding in a century. and today, amtrak will resume service between philadelphia and new york city, one of the busiest travel corridors in the northeast. the holdup there was extreme flooding at the trenton rail station, that has now been repaired. terrell? >> jessica stone getting us started from washington this morning, thank you so much. >>> more on weather now reminder that hurrican

administrator craig fugate will detail some of those efforts. every storm prediction is a bit of signs and a little art. this one has moved in and out and does move east and it's been a category three and a category two. given the amount of rain associated with this storm and the likelihood of flooding, i encourage you not to focus much on whether it is a category two or category three if you are in the storm path. you will not tell much difference. bill read of the national hurricane center will give you the most current update on the storm and its path. bill. >> thank you, secretary. [unintelligible] right now irene is a classic hurricane with the exception of one feature. it does not have a clearly defined eye. we are seeing high wind speeds. [unintelligible] we are calling for evacuation's well in advance of the hurricane. the carolinas will be hit this afternoon. eastern jacksonville florida could be affected. that is spiraling towards the coast. [unintelligible] you have probably heard me urologists talking about what might change the trac

i'll introduce craig fugate now. >> good morning, everybody.cretary talked about, we already have our teams linked in with the governors' teams and the operations centers and focussing on the evacuation center and the aftermath. one of the things we have to emphasize is well as the forecast has been all of the steps of preparation, it does not mean there will not be damages. it does not mean power will not go out over large areas and it will take some time to get things back to normal. that is why it is important for people to prepare. one thing we can change on is loss of life. that is why the evacuation orders in the coastal areas are key. people need to leave early. travel a safe distance. all of the planning and preparation will be in vain if you don't heed the orders. as the secretary points out, we have a whole of government approach. all of the agencies have been working together to get ready support. the governors and their support teams. it is about the ngo and the private sector. the key partner of that as well as the american red cro

i do want to say, though, that craig fugate and the people at fema, secretary napolitano and president obama, they have been excellent. they have been with since day one, and actually, before the stm arrived, they were here, and it's worked really, really well. this is a much better fema than the olden days. >> all right. and the olden days not that old, only about six yrs ago. governor o'malley, thank you very much. >> that's right. >> i want to go back to the state of virginia. bob mcdonald is the governor. of course, he joins me from the emergency operations center in richmond. governor, let me ask you, what about shelters, what about people who left their homes, how many have sought shelter in the state? is it more than you imagined? >> fortunately, right now, it's less than wethought. we have about 74 shelters opened, just under 5,000 people in those shelts. we were ready for as many as 100,000, so fortunately, people have made either plans on their own or didn't have to evacuate. >> governor, we heard about it from administrator gate fro fema, the big story here is power outages,

i'm joined by fema administrator craig fugate, live in washington. good to see you again. us. we have been showing people our possible projections given to us by the weather service about where this is going to go. and at this point the cone of uncertainty remains pretty unclear. i guess we know it is -- it is going to get pretty close to or on to the outer banks and then who knows what happens on the northeast. what's your biggest concern right now? >> i think the biggest concern is getting people to pay attention and make sure they are ready. if you are your plan and your supplyings aies and check every the only thing you need is if you are in the evacuation zone you need to be ready go. this storm is one you need to pay attention to and be ready. if you have your plans and your -- got everything you need and you are ready to go, then -- just monitor the storm. if you haven't done those steps, you still have time. >> we are talking about maybe coming on land in a category 3, category 2. maybe category 1 by the time it hits the weekend and northeast. that does send a sign

james, you heard craig fugate. did we learn the lessons of katrina from looking at irene?e and katrina are two, both separate kind of events in their own way, but we learned some lessons in terms of preparedness. but the big thing is our flood protection is substantially better here. we're still not where it needs to be, you know, in terms of the pumps, but we're significantly better than we were on august 29th, six years ago. and i think in about another four years we're going to be in pretty good shape here. but you wouldn't want to have a catastrophic engineering failure again like we had in 2005. that's very hard to prepare for. but, you know, i think that, you know, i think they have learned a lot. they had to have. >> mary, presidential candidate ron paul of texas said that the nation would be much better off without the federal emergency management agency. i want you to listen to what he said about fema, then we'll talk about it. >> fema is not a good friend of most people in texas because all they do is come in and tell you what to do and can't do, you can't get in

joining us now from washington is craig fugate. he is the director of the federal emergency management agency, fema. and, craig, we just heard from bill read. and he said prepare for the worst. what exactly does that mean to you? >> it means if you're still in denial it's too late. you need to get ready. this is really a storm that i don't think you'll see a bunch of structures that are totally destroyed except where we have storm surge. but i do expect a lot of trees down, a lot of power outages and a lot of flooding. and so, now is the time to get ready for those types of impacts. so, i'm really concerned that people again have kind of been hoping it's going to get better, not gotten ready. that window is closing. >> bill read also said that window has closed quickly. and it does not look like it's going to get any better and fall apart. so, we've been talking about how we have to get people ready. how is fema prepared and ready? >> what we've been doing is moving teams and supplies ahead the storm into states. starting in the sou

joining us now is the administrator of fema, craig fugate. we know it's a busy time for you, craig. so, we thank you for spending a bit of time with us right now. we just heard from sam. he's saying we're not sure point northeast and major cities like here in new york and boston. how worried are you about that? >> well, i think people need to pay attention and go ahead and make sure they're ready, from the mid-atlantic all the way through the northeast and new england states. as the hurricane center says, there's always some uncertainty in these tracks. it's going to be close. and whether we get a brush or whether we have a landfall, it's too early to say. so, we're recommending to folks in the mid-atlantic alalthe way up through the new england states. but particularly now it looks like with the outer banks and carolinas would be the first to see impact. go ahead and make sure you're ready. and if evacuation ordersre required, heed those evacuation orders. the hurricane center saying this storm is going to grow and strengthen possibly becoming a category 3 hurricane. and it's somet

today at the white house, fema administrator craig fugate was asked what lessons his agency learned after dealing with katrina-devastated new orleans in 2005. >> we can't wait to know how bad it is before we get ready. we have to go fast, we have to base upon the potential impacts. if you wait until you know how bad it is, it becomes harder to change the outcome. >> it was six years ago today when hurricane katrina first slammed into new orleans. the storm and subsequent failure of the levies would claim the lives of more than 1,700 people and displace hundreds of thousands, 10,000 evacuees stayed at the superdome. today, a few blocks from the superdome, ed schultz gathered to help louisianeans without health insurance. joining me now, ed schultz, host of "the ed show" here on msnbc. ed, what was it like to be in new orleans today on this grim anniversary? >> well, you know, lawrence, new orleans has come a long way in the last six years, but every resident that came through the door today here at this health care clinic was quick to say we have a long way to go. this health care clinic,

with janet in a toll tanno and craig fugate will be there as well as others.is not over yet, though, i'm sure they're going to make that point very clear to folks out there. right now it is pounding massachusetts in particular, and will make its way all the way to canada. we had natalie morales on the waterfront side, but she referenced many times inland there were problems, and you have officials in hoboken who say stay out of water exactly like this. they are very concerned about the downed power lines. >>> janet napolitano is taking to the podium. >> and we're going to give you an update on ongoing let me begin by expressing condolences. as we move to the response of irene. we just included briefing president obama, and our ongoing efforts. he has instructed us on lead -- on the call with the president were other members of his cabinet. secretary of energy chu, and secretary of treasury tim geithner. our number one message for individuals and families up and down the eastern seaboard this morning is we're not out of the woods yet. hards still persist. out o

. >>> in a few minutes joined by fema director craig fugate and 7:30 eastern, mayor jeffrey jones ofe'll give us the latest on the water rescues and if there are more evacuations to be done and what his city needs to recover from this. and in our 8:00 hour, 8:00 eastern hour we'll talk with governor dan maloy of connecticut about the recovery effort from where you saw alina standing. >>> unrelated to the hurricane, a devastating wildfire in texas. burning out of control. 50 miles west of dallas/ft. worth. looking at these live pictures right now. spectacular video from our dallas affiliate, wfaa. it's a 7500 acre fire burned about 30 structures to the ground. and has evacuated more than 125 homes. officials continue to tell us that the blaze is 0% contained and it is growing. this is the worst fire season ever in texas. a record 3.5 million acres burned and ongoing drought. rob marciano is in the weather center for us. all sorts of sfratrange weather going on across this country. >> state of texas would take a tropical system right now, as you mentioned record drought, record fire se

we'll talk about all of the above, craig fugate will join us at the top of the hour, we'll speak withsandra sanders of vermont, a disaster in vermont. you've seen the pictures so we're all over those stories and all over what's going on in syria, new developments right now and also in libya. >> quite a situation in "the situation room." thank you very much. >>> 2,500 stranded on north carolina's remote hatteras island after hurricane irene wiped out the only road in and out. coming up next we'll talk to a red cross worker who is there. be right back. we search, browse, and shop from anywhere. we live in a social world. isn't time we had a social currency to match? membership rewards points from american express. use them for the things you love from amazom.com and more. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an

take a look here, where craig fugate is touring the floods and promising federal help even if it means postponing long-term help for prior disasters. in new jersey, first responders are rafting house to house rescuing hundreds of families, pets included, from the bloated passaic river. it is cresting today well above what's considered major flood stage. likewise, the connecticut river due to crest at midnight. from florida to massachusetts, at least 40 deaths are being blamed on hurricane/tropical storm irene. more than three million homes and businesses still don't have power. flood warnings still are in effect in five states from vermont to new jersey. all this brings me to my colleague, mary snow, in patterson, new jersey. mary, what is going on there around you right now? >> reporter: well, evacuations have been going on for the past 48 hours and they are only intensifying because you just mentioned, there are some rivers that have yet to crest. here in patterson, new jersey, which is about three blocks away from the passaic river, that has not yet crested. we are told it's about s

craig fugate says a lot of things give absolutely no warning. you have to be prepared and have to be ready and apparently a lot of us on the east coast had not thought seriously about earthquakes and what we might need to do to be ready for that. >> a lot of government employees in washington simply evacuated all of the federal buildings. the epicenter was 80 or 90 miles away from washington, not far from richmond, virginia, and there's a nuclear power plant in that area as well, jeanne. what do we know about that? as soon as i heard about an earthquake, knowing there are nuclear power plants in this area, i'm beginning to think of japan, the fukushima nuclear power plant there. what do the experts here, authorities say? >> i spoke to the nuclear regulatory commission. they say the north anna plant, the plant closest to the epicenter in mineral, virginia, two units, both of them tripped offline, emergency diesel generators went into police station operation. that is exactly what is supposed to happen. this is categorized as an unusual event, the

i su a tweet from craig fugate, from fema, reminding people not to drive through your water. >> water are more deaths from trying to drive through water after the hurricane. >> that's right. >> in jersey, the smell of gasoline is in the air, people are revving up their chainsaws and same on the shores of north carolina. the outer banks were slammed so hard, some areas are only accessible by chopper right now. pounding surf watched over do you knows, covering roads. water and sand all in one big mess right now, stranding 2,500 people who didn't leave hatteras island. an emergency ferry will be spent there. the governor says, quite frankly, it could be 2 1/2 months before a permanent way to get out there. some of those people, every day, commute in by ferry to the mainland. very slow going there. that is closed for the season now. >> the navy is sending three war ships to the east coast to help with the post irene effort. heading toward the north carolina coast right now to help in the search and rescue effort. david mattingly is in kill devil hills, north carolina. what might they be d

homeland security secretary janet napolitano will brief, along with fema administrator craig fugate and the director of the national hurricane center. later today. >> now a eighth senate commerce committee hearing on protect emergency preparedness. it focuses on improvements. senators look at how congress can better is serve the needs of u.s. government agencies to help protect american lives. this part of the hearing is just under an hour. >> i am going to put my opening statement in the record, which pains me greatly. we have a vote, and the whole idea of doing statements and then going to you and then going to vote and then coming back does not make much sense. what makes sense is to have all of you say what you're going to say. and then we will probably be at the end of that time, go to vote, and question you when you -- when we come back. if you can put up with that situation. dr. william hook, we welcome you, bob ryan, senior meteorologist, abc, "washington journal l.a., covering 5 west virginian counties. and you do warn us. the professor of the department of civil and environmen

. >> and let's talk to the head of fema right now, the federal emergency management agency, craig fugate, is joining us. mr. fugate, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, sir. >> you just heard the president, he wants to make sure you're getting everything you need. are you getting everything you need? normally we hear from states, if fema's doing everything they can. do you have everything you need right now? >> yes, the support and response again we've been talking with the states, we have daily conference calls. one of the things we've been working on is trying to stay ahead of what they may need as we move from response to recovery and as you said in some parts of the area of impact we're very much still concerned about the flooding and what the weather service tells us may be another two, three days before some of these rivers will crest. >> but money is becoming an increasingly big problem for fema, you're telling us. you're running out of money in short, right? >> well, we reached a point where we felt it was prudent not to continue to fund new work and older disasters but

craig fugate what do we do to get ready? if you are home right now and watching you saying this looks bad. should ing at flashlights going to the grocery store. should i get water? batteries? what about my cell phone? can you tell me? what should i be doing? >> start with the basics. first question, do you live in evacuation zone. if you are not sure, find out now. and if you are in that evacuation zone, you need to move you and your family and your pets to a safe location. that's the first step. >> juan: hang on mr. fugate, evacuation zone basically that means you are on the coast, right? >> yeah. if you are on the coast in some of the low lying areas, find out from your local officials if you are in that evacuation zone and if the evacuation order is given, you need evacuate, move to higher ground. that's step one. >> juan: okay. all right. >> step two, there is a lot of things you need to do. we made it simple for you. go to ready.gov. there is a checklist of supplies. things you mentioned are exactly what you want to do.

. >> janet napolitano and craig fugate. raging river has crested. look at all that water. >> yeah, it has crested, but veronica, a lot left to go with receding waters here. this could be a little bit of what federal officials see today if they come to that paterson area, all this flooding still cutting off some of the neighborhoods. of course, we've had some dramatic rescues here in the last few days too, hundreds of families taken by boat to safety yesterday as well as 1,000 other people evacuated from this area. down river they are having a problem just as much as they are having here. it's a story all along here in paterson, many families out of their houses for days don't know when they are going to get back. >> what is the transportation system? i know roads have been closed, what about railways? >> well, the railroads also are in tough shape here. certainly, new jersey transit is trying to get back up as well as local bus service in the area, but it's not just about the trains, it's about the roads here, because some of the secondary roads are

that's the question for craig fugate the head of fema. president obama seemed pretty serious there.sonally briefing him on irene? >> yes, we have. actually the day of the earthquake we briefed him and briefing him each day after. >> and is there a good reason for him to sound so serious? your going to feel now that it's almost inevitable that new york city will take a direct hit? >> there's going to impacts and, again, the hurricane center has said that this forecast track is pretty much not going to change. we expect to it make landfall in carolina and go up the east coast. so we're going to see impacts. that's a given. just how bad and where still needs to be determined, but we're preparing as state and local officials are preparing based upon this forecast. >> i mean, are your being overly cautious, post-katrina? not that anybody would possibly blame you for doing that, but some people are suggesting as a slight overreaction this time to make sure that that kind of thing couldn't possibly happen again? >> well, i don't know about that. this is how i've always been operating. this

craig, fugate, by the way, the fema administrator learned a lot during hurricane katrina. to dispatch crews and emergency congresswomen before this storm even hit. remember this storm did cause a lot of damage more than 20 people were killed, caused billions of dollars worth of damage and there's still millions of people without pour. the white house feels as though the response was appropriate. just today we heard president obama saying there's more work to be done. take a listen. >> it's going to take time to recover from the storm of this magnitude. the effects are being felt across much of the country including in new england and states like vermont where there's been an enormous amount of flooding. so our response continues, but i'm going to make sure that fema and other agencies are doing everything in their power to help people on the ground. >> craig, you may have noticed it was important that the white house to show that the president was working on this during the weekend. as you mentioned he came home from his vacation a day early. we saw some images of him this

evacuations in the area in the last 24 hours, just a little bit of what janet napolitano as well as craig fugate will see. earlier they were in new york surveying the damage there along with the governor, and this afternoon, when they come to new jersey, we're expected to hear exactly what they saw in these devastated areas, chuck, town after town and counties and states here that have been dealing with the flood waters that have been on the move, and we are four days here in new jersey after irene made landfall. >> all right, michelle franzen in paterson for us, thank you very much. >>> the congressional black caucus is wrapping up their effort to get black americans back to work. what does the cbc want to hear from the president in his jobs plan wednesday night? we're live in los angeles with the chairman of the cbc, emanuel cleaver. >>> and ten years after 9/11, are we safer now than we were ten years ago? 9/11 commission co-chair governor tom cain tells us where the biggest gaps still remain. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on a big, busy day on this last day of august only on msnb

. >> joining us now, fema administrator craig fugate, he's monitoring this storm from washington, d.c., mr. fugate, thanks for joining us. >> good morning. >> what is the biggest concern, right now? what is the worst-case scenario you're worried about? >> still watching to see if we get a lot of flooding in new york and manhattan. the other thing i think you're seeing a lot of, as you know, power outages, across the carolinas, moving up into the new england states. >> how do you plan on dealing with worst case scenario when it comes to flooding in new york? >> i think the mayor's team did thatyou know, local officials and mayor bloomberg, ordered those evacuations, like you told people, you can not prevent damages from the storms when they come in. but we can minimize risk of lost of life and safety. then as soon as that happens, and that water movov back out, then we'll start working with the states and local officials about what kind of damages and what repairs need to take place. >> what's your advice for the people in the path of the storm and what's your advice for the people who