i'm joined by gale mcgovern. i know it's been a long day already for you. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me on the show, alex. >> you know, i'm curious of what is your biggest challenge right now. is it literally mobilizing all these efforts to get them into the places where they are needed? do you have to battle the weather to do so? >> well, we have supplies prepositioned around disaster-prone areas, and we started sending thousands of volunteers to the east coast. you mentioned our emergency response vehicles. our plan is to have two-thirds our fleet on the east coast, and they started out moving days ago. the one thing about a hurricane is it does give you warning, and so we've been preparing for this storm since it was out in the ocean, so the challenge at this point is to just make sure that all these shelters are stood up and that people evacuate and listen to their local authorities. >> yeah. and i know you have to be very proud of the team that you have in place because some of these folks may be leaving as volunteers for weeks a

if you need to take shelter during the storm, red cross president gale mcgovern says they're ready to have 15,000 potential shelters sites through the effected area. and if any of your listeners or viewers need to know where the shelters are, they can find it on our website, red cross.org, or we have iphone app as well that will give them shelters maps. >> can you check for more storm updates and tips to prepare for the storm. at these web sites. >>> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] butter. love the taste, but want to cut back on fat? try smart balance buttery spread. it's heart-healthier than butter. with omega-3s. 64% less saturated fat. and clinically proven to help support healthy cholesterol. ♪ put a little love in your heart ♪ >>> what is government? well, if you ask mitt romney or any other gop presidential candidate, you'll get this answer. >> corporations are people. of course they are. >> corporations are people, yes they are, and my pet is a bank. romney is wrong and today proves, shows how wrong, he is. remember the union busting protest in wisconsin and the midwest

and we are going to be in the response mode here for weeks and months just like you heard gale mcgovern it is going to be a long haul. i think people need to be ready for that. ready for short term impacts and they are already starting it feel like you just heard keri talking about but you also need to be ready for the fact that there's going to be a long kind of recovery for this storm as well. lets snz let's talk about the short term and what the red cross is doing. shelters, food, tell us what you are doing right mou. >> right now our priority is shelter and food. we have them in carolinas, virginia, all the way tlup maryland, delaware. we have them in new jersey, new york. well support the ones opening in city of new york as well. so we have a huge concentration of shelters. we know there is a lot of people evacuating. that's the main priority for people to go and have a safe haven tore them as they evacuate and leave. >> do have you reports? are people showing up especially in north carolina? >> yes we did. we had a significant population lift overnight. i think by tomorrow morning

. >> we'll hear from craig fugate and the efforts from fema and gale mcgovern from the red cross and the salvation army. so thank you all for joining us on a saturday morning. as expected, hurricane irene made landfall early this morning along the north carolina coast. i have spoken with governor perdue this morning. she said they were now, quote, hunkered down, closed quote, but they are ready to do damage assessments as soon as possible, especially for assets like the bridges and the roads. irene remains a large and dangerous storm. people need to take it seriously. people need to be prepared. as we have suggested during the week, think of this in three phases. preparation, response, and recovery. some of our states are now moving into the response mode, but other states, as they are further north along the atlantic seacoast, are still in preparation mode. so if you receive a warning to evacuate, please do so. even if you haven't received a warning during the storm, please stay inside, quote, hunker down, until the storm passes. stay off the roads so the roads can be clear for emer