jacqui jeras, thank you so much. we will check in with jacqui plenty this morning. she mentioned an hour away from this thing making landfall. >>> we have several airports closed in the northeast. several more will close to all incoming traffic coming up at noon today. you need to check with your airline if you are trying to fly today. a number of flight cancellations. united/continental. delta and jetblue. airtran. we are talking about 5,000 flights that have been canceled in anticipation of the storm. some are allowing you to change your flight without any penalties. you need to check with your individual airlines. >>> coming up here, we are going to check in some more with these preparations that are being made. people are stocking up and watching the storm. we are talking about cities that are not used to be tested when it comes to hurricanes. we are back in 60 seconds. stay with me on this cnn saturday morning. : do peoe use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don

>> jacqui, we appreciate that. we will take a short break, and before we take a break, let's listen in to wcbs and their coverage. >> reporter: i am not sure about the delay, but what a difference an hour makes. it's calm right now and it started to clear up a little bit. look at all the damage and debris on the boardwalk. look at all of this on here. it's what washed away from the ocean. i just want to pan over to these impressive waves. they are absolutely incredible. i would say 20 feet high. look at this. and just unbelievable. i haven't seen it like this in a long time. look at all the plywood and all the debris here. oddly enough i was just speaking to the owner of the boardwalk and he tells me they don't think they took such a bad hit after all. jimmy, our photographer, we will walk over here and actually going to walk over to the owner of the boardwalk and let him assess the damage, because, you know, it's not as bad as they thought. thank you so much for joining us. you're looking around, and this fence, w

it's obviously, according to jacqui, going to be lasting 12 hours. it will be a big inconvenience today. but there's no doubt folks are going to be coming out and walking around unless the winds pick up substantially. it's just going to be an irritati irritation, very different story as we're seeing in a lot of these coastal areas. we continue to check in with correspondents all along the coastal areas. we'll be right back, our coverage continues. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow. [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before. >>> welcome back to our continuing coverage of hurricane irene. we'll get an update in a few minutes to see whether it

jacqui jeras here with me, giving me a forecast. have i said 24 hours earlier, but the projection, is it something like that, when the storm will probably get to new york/new jersey, that area? >> yeah. if you heard my microphone open up, sorry. they were saying, now they're issuing that evacuation? is that enough time? the peak of the storm is probably not going to be for tomorrow morning for new jersey. there is a little bit of time. and think about it, you don't have to go that far inland. you have to run from the water and you don't want to be flooded if you're on the low floors, right? if you're in a high-rise building, you have a friend who lives up on six, that would be lives up on six, that would be good. those are things you can do in terms of that evacuation. that water is going to start rising, later today. it's going to be a very long, a very slow process. this storm will be us through the entire weekend. here's the stats, just to update you, if you're just waking up and joining us, i hope you had a nice sleep-in. 85 mil

i'll check in with jacqui jeras in a moment.city was trying to make it as easy as possible for the city to evacuate. with the subway system shutting down at noon on saturday it made it difficult for folks to get around the city. the taxi and limousine commission sent in more taxis than they would normally have on a saturday. it was easy to get a taxi yesterday. a lot of people staying with friends farther up in manhattan if they're living downtown or any of the areas around the water and trying to evacuate to areas on higher ground. we're coming to you one block south of washington square park. this is an area that is prone to flooding only if it was a cat 3 storm. they're not anticipating large flooding here. different streets have different levels and also a lot of storm drains are clogged or filled, so you can get localized flooding. the main flooding in manhattan is anticipated to be in these low-lying areas. ali velshi is at the south street seaport. that's about a mile, mile even a half south and to the east of our locatio

since hurricane ike back in 2008. >> jacqui, thank you for that.e back, we'll be talking to general honore. he knows a thing or two about handling the response to a disaster. he's with me, stay here. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. if you have painful, swollen joints, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on p of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i'm surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've bee

let's turn to jacqui jeras.ou listened to the information from the news c conferen conference. what did you think? these were the same warnings we heard before hurricane katrina. this is for the east coast. >> yes. the population is so centralized right there. we will have more issues with power outages being widespread and the flooding. that flooding could being going on for weeks. a lot of important points. the intensity of the storm. you are splitting hairs when you talk between a two and three. a one or a two. if it say strong one or a weak two. will it make that much of a difference? prepare for the worst and hope for the best. just rush to finish all of the final preparations. a lot of great information about evacuation. get online if you have not already if you are in the evacuation zones. storm surge will be one of the greatest problems we will deal with the system with irene. it could go several miles inland. keep that in mind. if you get out of the way from the water, you will be okay. the other issues

jacqui jeras is following the track for us. jacqui. >> the storm is getting closer, kyra. see it move near florida today. the storm is expected to stay 200 miles away from the florida coast, but the sheer size is bringing in showers and thundershowers and strong gusty winds. we have a picture right here to show you out of miami. the camera has been shaking around a bit. you have the occasional strong gusts as well as those rainy conditions. expect a couple inches overall throughout the day today. let's talk a little bit now about how intense this storm is. category three right now. 115-mile-an-hour winds. it will fluctuate through the day. it is going through an eyewall replacement cycle. it will weaken the storm a bit, but ramp back up. we are expecting this to become a four again as it continues to bash the bahamas. it will spend tomorrow moving along the florida coast and the carolinas. those watches, which are in effect right now, means you have 48 hours to prepare. make those final preparations really before you feel these conditions. saturday morning, you will feel i

jacqui and i had a smile on our face as she's reporting. getting whipped and all kind of stuff is hitting in her face and getting a little something in the ears. it happens. >> it does happen. it's actually very painful if you've ever been in that situation, getting sandblasted is literally doesn't feel good, not the facial you're looking for i guarantee you that. a very wet, very windy, very powerful storm. we had landfall about an hour ago. i want to show you how this storm structure has been changing quite a bit for the better. so we have been dealing with a category 1 in the outer banks as opposed to a category 3, one of our worst fears. that's the good news out of all of this. the bad news, even a category 1 we're looking at a lot of damage. we're getting reports of a couple hundred thousand people without power in north carolina into virginia, lots of tree damage reports. we're getting also reports of some damage of some mobile homes and at least one person we know has been killed from this storm in the united states as well. they wer

jacqui, we talk about the own winds of the storm. we think hurricane and the damage is does and the destruction. this is a rain and wind event we're talking about here. >> can you hear me. >> can't hear you just yet. got that microphone all right? we can get that worked out. no worries. we can get the microphone turned back on. you see this thing churning behind us on this map. the hurricane is 15 miles from atlantic city where you just heard jason carroll. he said it feels like it is on top of them. it puts it 115 miles from new york city. we've been focusing on new york. there is a reason to are that. new york is say place that has 8 million, 9 million people in op population. you're talking about a lot of people being affected in a place that's not known for its hurricane preparedness. new york is ready for a lot of stuff. it ain't quite ready for this. you have the airports closed, the public transit closed down. they're telling us, can you imagine this, tomorrow morning, rush hour, the commute, no public transit tomorrow in new

jacqui, thanks very much. we'll be in touch with you and staying on top of this with cnn's team. >>> the president of standard & poor's is stepping down. s&p's parent company mcgraw-hill announced deven sharma will leave his post which the end of the year replaced by the chief operating officer of citibank. beside's s&p downgrade of america's credit rating the agency is being investigated by the justice department for allegedly overrating mortgage backed securities at the height of the housing bubble. >>> in politics, new evidence that next year's presidential election could be too close to call. according to a new gallup poll, president obama is running neck and neck with the top four republican presidential candidates. he's ahead of congresswoman michele bachmann by four percentage points, 48 to 44. he's tied with texas governor rick perry at 47%. the president leads congressman ron paul by two percentage points, 47 to 45. and the president trails former governor mitt romney by two percentage points, 46 to 4

jacqui jeras will be here with us. i want to start with our meteorologist reynolds wolf out in north carolina where he has been the past few days in kill devil hills. reynolds, tell us how you have seen the conditions change and tell us how they are right now. we have to get a sense just from looking at your picture. >> well, i can tell you, t.j., the last couple hours we have seen things begin to deteriorate. right along this boardwalk things are, as you expect, getting worse. the atlantic ocean to our south. as this gets closer to us, we can expect more rainfall, stronger wind gusts with and with that the possibility of flooding. some places could get a full foot of rainfall. part of the beach down here to my right has really disappeared. yesterday we were to the water's edge. plenty of sand is now gone. on this side, a lot of sea oats, grasses, with extensive root systems that are made for these big piles of sands or the dunes together being thrashed a little bit. i would say winds are around 40 miles per hour susta

that's awesome, jacqui.me we have that information about it which means you should prepare. >> that's right. >> michael bloomberg will have a big conference in new york. 8 million people in this town. >> this is not a great place to try to get out of in a hurry. have a plan. if you are prone to flooding, know you will probably flood in this case. >> i i think i would be much more afraid if i was on the outer banks of north carolina. >> absolutely. mayors up and down the coast are all today hunkering down with their officials trying to figure out what are we going to do, best case, worst-case scenario. how to make people take this serious. >> i a place like new york city, high-rises can be dangerous. windows blowing out and things like that. everybody just read up on where you are and what you need to do. we will talk with fema administrator craig fugate about what is being done to prepare for irene in these various regions. how it is being done differently. >>> historic shift of power at a company that's cha

the walkout does not affect verizon wireless customers. >>> jacqui jeras join us.y j's in there. i know, joe johns, with an update on tropical depression emily. and jacqui, you actually have some news on this. something is happening or not happening? >> we told you emily was having a bit of an identity crisis earlier. now she is saying bye-bye once again. emily finally dissipating into what we call an extra tropical area of low pressure. so it's no long area tropical depression. it's not organized anymore. and take a look at how the winds have just kind of blown this thing apart today. you can't find that center of circulation. it just isn't there. but do note that all the showers and thunderstorms have really picked up some of this moisture here across pars of south florida. so we're going to have some really heavy downpours and urban flooding is going to happen real easily as times as we could get one to two inches of rain an hour with these storms. no more emily. that is good news. we have gone through five names on that list. however, in case you missed it, ear

jacqui jeras tracking all that for us. it could turn into a tropical storm and here it is. >> it very likely will turn into a hurricane, too. we want to give people a big heads up and a big reminder that the uncertainty as to where the storm is going and where it's going to be impacting the u.s. still a bit of a question mark. models have been trending a little farther off to the east. you really need to stay tuned. the national hurricane center is going to have an updated advisory at 5:00 eastern time. we could see a shift in the track. in the meantime, here's where we're at right now with irene. this is really becoming a very large storm. the tropical storm force winds extend out 150 miles from the center of the storm. that's each side. this thing is pushing 300 miles. great outflow out ahead of the center of the storm. winds are very light. we do expect this to continue to intensify. 50 mile per hour the maximum winds. you've got to get up to 74 for this thing to become a hurricane. let's talk about the forecast track.

jacqui jeras joins us now live in the cnn hurricane headquarter.orm now in any computer models on where it might be going next? >> speaking of leaning a little right or left. >> yeah. >> those computer models have been trending to the right or to the east and we've seen that progressively over the last couple days and they just continue to do that. speaking of size, by the way, when you guys showed that map from space, take a look at this thing. if we put on distance tracker, just to give you an idea, this is not how far the winds extend but the cloud shield itself, take a look at that. we're talking almost 800 miles across. this is just a monster of a storm when it comes to size. it's going to be a monster when it comes to intensity soon. category 2, 110-mile-per-hour winds this will be a major hurricane later today. hurricane hunters are heading into it an hour from now, sample the winds from the atmosphere and we'll find out it will be a category 3 at that time. look how tight that eye is. we're seeing that stadium effect as we call it there. ta

our jacqui jeras is literally being handed new information as i speak to you here.rricane headquarters there. i guess i should just ask first, what you've got in your hand there? >> it's a tornado warning. and this is an area that's been warned several times already this morning. the city of chesapeake, the city of norfolk, the city of portsmouth and the city of virginia beach all under a tornado warning right now. this is a doppler radar indicated, very dangerous tornado, and is expected to be moving in, oh, say around 10:55 into downtown portsmouth, as well as downtown norfolk. so take cover. oftentimes, we do see tornadoes spin up with these types of storms. and you can see that we do have a tornado watch, which is in effect right up there, across parts of virginia, as well as into the delmarva and then we've got a new one, i believe, that was just issued, that extends further north here, and that's going to be in effect throughout the afternoon. there you go. there you can see the new watch box, in that area as well. so a developing situation, as this thing cont

as jacqui was saying that katrina had made landfall today actually all of the years ago.hat i think that is interesting, too, kyra, is that it is called a hurricane in your part of the world and the caribbean and in the eastern pacific, but in the western pacific, you know what they call it there, right? a typhoon. and that's because the way they call it, but it is considered stronger than a hurricane, because the waters in the western pacific are a lot warmer, and it creates more dangerous storm conditions because of that. kyra, thought you would like to know. >> well, i always love your bits of information and makes me smarter every single day, zain verjee. >>> in less than an hour president obama will focus on the nation's troubled economy. according to white house officials he will appoint a new chairman of the white house council of advisers and dan lothian is following that, so what can you tell us about allan kruger? >> well, he is likely to be the public face of the administration's economic team to follow austan goolsbee who is leaving earlier this month, and to

thank you, jacqui.e television now, because you can hear how the cheers turn to fear and spectators are sent into horror as a pilot is sent to his death in a small bi-plane. >> oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. >> oh, my gosh, it happened at an airport in kansas city, missouri, and the pilot's name is brian jenson, and he worked for delta air lines and joining me is the man who shot that video, timothy dorsett, and his son caleb, who witnessed it. i'm sorry that you had to witness that. but timothy, we could hear you throughout the video saying, please god, be with his family and oh, my gosh. it must have been horrifying for you. >> yes. the microphone? >> timothy, are you there? >> yeah, the, we are actually on a television. >> that is fine. we can do it like this. and i can hear you in the video saying, oh, my gosh, and then also, you saying, i hope that god is with, please god be with their families and it must have been horrifying to witness that especially with your son right next to you. >> yeah, my initi

jacqui jeras in the weather center now.s takes flash flooding to a whole new level. >> so sad to hear about that. you never want to get too close to that water. you never know -- >> nine feet of water. some nine feet deep in some places. >> right. it is hard to tell how deep it is when you approach it. you might think there is only this much on the road, right? you don't know if the road is washed out beneath it or how deep it could be. never drive through it. flash flooding will be a problem throughout the weekend across parts of the midwest and the northeast. we have a really strong storm system that is moving through here. it is bringing in some great refreshing weather behind it, but first we have got to get through the nasty stuff. that's heavy downpours in addition to a lot of lightning and some wind damage as well. these are the storms that we're keeping our eye on right now. they move through the chicago land area earlier this morning. we'll take you into that area and show you that we have now got a severe thunders

let's head to at any time to check in with jacqui jeras.r again, isn't it? >> with what? >> i'm sorry. i was talking about daybreak because years ago, back in the day, we used to be together on another 5:00 a.m. show. >> sorry. it takes me a while at 5:00 a.m. i'm not doing it every day anymore. >> you're probably really happy about that. >> you know what? it's fun to do it now and then. the moon was gorgeous this morning. if that wasn't a reason to get up this morning, what is? >> i like your tude. >> right now doing okay out of the gate, we expect things to get ugly around boston. light rain and drizzle. low clouds, expect issues later this morning. orlando, miami, tampa, thunderstorms and heavy downpours from time to time. we'll see that fog across parts of the west again into the san francisco bay area. overall we'll be focusing in on the nation's midsection where we're expected to see showers and thunderstorms possibly becoming severe. already a rough start this morning across parts of nebraska, kansas and oklahoma. it makes for great

. >>> i want to turn now to cnn's jacqui jeras at the cnn severe weather center, jacqui, i understandother folks are getting a break from the heat as well. >> you're talking about dallas and parts of texas, i'm sure. what a great day for these people. normally you would say, rain, how dreary is that? this is a welcome release, this is the second day where you have stayed well below that 100-degree mark and we have seen some rain pushing in, 3/4 of an inch of rain for you in dallas. this is great news, certainly no drought buster by any means, temperature right now in dallas, 85 degrees and staying comfortable and serge certainly normal here. this is going to be the last of it and you're going to be back in triple digits by tomorrow. storms are a real problem in the midwest, up near chicago over towards detroit where a new thunderstorm watch has been issued. detroit got pounded with some hail a few hours ago and now the western suburbs getting in on some of those showers and suburbs. we also have some action going on up and down the east coast. enough to cause some major delays at the

thanks so much, jacqui jeras. appreciate that.e coverage of hurricane irene continues in two minutes. i remember the days before copd. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor a

our jacqui jeras live here from hurricane headquarters. give us an idea of how things are faring. >> this stays a very strong category 1 storm at this time. it's moving north, northeasterly. you can see as it's moving through the pimlico sound area. we have this heavy rain threat, a very strong wind right now. a lot of surge being reported as well. take a look at this. you almost can't even see it anymore. the power lines are swaying. lots of damage reports coming in now and hundreds of thousands of people without power in both north carolina and virginia as well. let's take this city by city and show you who's going to get what and when. keep in mind, when you take a look at the time frame on here, i'm talking about the peak of the storm. this is such a large storm and the rate that it's moving, many of you are going to be dealing with this for 12 to 24 hours easy. so virginia beach, we're looking at the height of the storm for you between 4:00 and 7:00 tonight. ocean city, maryland, between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. overnight when you're trying

thanks so much, jacqui. >>> here is a rundown of the stories we are covering first. a bounty is out for gadhafi. dead or alive. we will tell you who is offering and by how much. >>> and steve jobs resigns as ceo of apple. we will look at how he has changed the way we live. >>> and we will look at what is happening to apple stock since jobs' announcement. more on the man who will fill his shows. >>> who is leading the pack in the republican presidents al poll. u give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of su

>> jacqui, thank you once again. we want to check in with our rob marciano.in new york on long beach in particular this morning. give our viewers an idea, maybe haven't been watching throughout the morning, but how things have progressed and changed there. the conditions have changed for you over the past several hours. >> well, we're in the in-between stage, t.j. about an hour ago, we had a pretty good squall come through. probably the first of many feeder bands that will spiral in. we've got a little front that will act to steer the storm a little bit and that will help intensify those bands as they come in. but right now, we're in a bit of a dry spot. but, there you go, the surfers are out there, the guys that want to get on tv are out there, and the waves roll in. big sets of them too. and the surfers out here have been takie ing advantage of it. this on any other day is a surfing community. as a matter of fact, they were going to have a huge surfing competition this coming weekend. that has since been canceled. this place, believe it or not, no stranger

jacqui, what are we in for? >> the real deal. we are talking about a major hurricane making landfall here on the outer banks in less than 24 hours from this time. this is a monster storm that just really engulfs all of the southeastern part of the united states here. winds at 105 miles an hour. that is just in. it is down a bit from where it was before. don't get too excited by a weakening storm. because there is very little to make this weaken any further as it heads up toward the outer banks. we will feel those impacts increase throughout the day for today. we are already getting some of the outer bands that are pushing into the coast. look at the wind speeds. sustained winds around 41 miles an hour. that is tropical storm-force winds right there. that will increase as the bands push in for the day. we think hurricane conditions will move in by tonight for the outer banks. let's show you the track here and where we are expecting this thing to go and the timing of it. you can see at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, a category two, po

. >> thank you, jacqui. more from the "cnn newsroom" straight ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. >>> hilive pictures out of tripoli. the smoke is still billowing up in the air. this is what we know and what we don't know at this point. what we know is matthew chance who is hunkered down not far from there in a hotel not able to leave the hotel because of talk of snipers in the area firing into the hotel where he actually is. he said he can confirm, though, there is fierce fighting right there at moammar gadhafi's compound but here is what we don't know. we don't know if moammar gadhafi is on his compound, if he is hunkered down in a bunker somewhere or fled to his hometown. there are a number of different takes as all of the various factions are trying to look like the party that is gaining in what so many of our analyst have called a war, not a revolution, that is taking place here and libya. we h

. >>> meantime let's check in one more time with jacqui jeras in the weather center.e have been tracking them across michigan, a severe thunderstorm is in effect just west of the detroit area right now, damaging winds will be the primary concern as these storms approach, you can see those orange boxes, that means those warnings are in effect west of there and we do think that they could hold together as they move toward detroit, they probably won't hit there until about an hour from now. if you're heading out to dinner and if you're heading oud doors, if you see any of that lightning, make sure you go indoors and wait 30 minutes until that thing passes. one of the reasons that those storms out are there, a cold front is approaching and this is going to be bringing a relief for a lot of folks, from oklahoma city, down towards houston, heat indexes 105 through 110. but here comes that cold front and that's going to bring cooler conditions in the midwest, the northeast and eventually trying to sink its way down into the southeast as well. it's already feeling really good

meteorologist jacqui jeras is tracking it all for us, hoping that you can update us.s are getting a relief, others there should be more concern? >> yeah, we've been seeing the easterly shift over the last couple of days, and that trend continues right now, looks a little better for florida and a lot worse, actually, for the northeastern corner. irene is a category three storm, that makes it a major hurricane, that could bring a lot of devastation, we expect it through the southeastern chain of the islands right now, it's going to take all the way through the day tomorrow before we get beyond this. let's look at the big picture, it's anybody's ball game from the carolinas to the northeast coast, so everyone needs to be on high alert and be prepared for this. even if we get lucky, we still expect a big impact with heavy rains, strong, gusty winds, and power outages, so keep that in mind. kyra, you said last hour, you were asking me how long has it been since we've seen anything hit the northeast, new york, it's been 25 years for you when hurricane gloria hit. this shows

meteorologist jacqui jeras is joining us now from the severe weather center.f water and it's so hard to tell how deep the water might be on a road in front of you. we have had a lot of shower and thundershower activity across the midwest. a severe thunderstorm watch across parts of lower michigan right now. take a look at these pictures that we have from you that were from chicago earlier this morning from the same storm system. the air and water show has been going on. it started at 10:00 but they had to stop it at 10:30. but the police did step in and helped guide the crowd to safe places. there were an estimated 2.2 million people. the show did resume after the storms passed and nobody was injured and chicago, you're looking a lot better right now. in wisconsin, one person was killed, this was yesterday due to what's been confirmed now as a tornado, an ef-1 flattened a mobile home, hundreds of trees have been snapped off and caused damage in northern wisconsin. let's talk about where the storm system is moving right now and we're real concerned about what's

jacqui jeras in cnn's hurricane headquarters. risk that's posed to the city. >> the risk is really high, ali, even with a smaller hurricane or a weaker hurricane and that island you mentioned, has been built up. it's been filled in. this used to be a much swampier area and probably shouldn't have built this much here. this is a computer model basically that shows us what the storm surge is. this isn't just one big push of water. this is a consistent slowly rising push of water that's going to be moving in as those winds fudnnel into the bay area, up the rivers into manhattan. that's going to be one of the areas we're most concerned about as we zoom in here, those winds could make the rivers flow backwards at some time. this is going to get maybe ten blocks in from the coastal areas. that's a good potential. this is going to move into the shipyard areas. you know nothing is going to be able to navigate here. into the ferry. take you down towards manhattan island. battery park we think will get flooded all within this area. and in

es todo por mi parte, les informó jacquie guerrido. audición sin habla sin poder caminar. >>> fue hecho en la ciudad de santiago la causa del daño cerebral de la niña, fue un acceso de anestesia. me dice mami. a l niña se le fue la anestesia al cerebro. no entendía que dejaría a mi hija paralítica. >>> esta madre dice que otro médico quedó impactado al ver la situación de la niña. >>> el mismo grito, lágrimas le bajaron mami, cque le pasó a la criatur. >>> la llevé a una operación de amígdalas. >>> mami la anestesia. >>> el caso está en manos de la justicia en una audiencia la a necesite exista declaró que dejó por un momento a la niña bajo supervisión de una residente. >>> en lo que el caso se resuelve esta madre hace lo imposible para ayudar a su hija. a quien se dedica en cuerpo y alma. >>> esta madre ha sido luchadora incansable no ha parado luchando con su hija. tiene buena recompensa. >>> gracias a la ayuda de una f fundación llegó llegar a santos do doming para que la niña reciba terapias. >>> no se quiso dar declaraciones, la b

now we're going to bring in jacqui jeras. that's just so much rain there in charlotte.there, i don't think i have ever seen it flooded. >> this was two neighborhoods in particular that were hit so hard, low-lying areas and so much rain just came in a short period of time that the waters came up. this is what we call flash flooding, it happened very quickly, caught up unexpectedly for a lot of these folks, but we have had day after day, believe it or not of these popup showers and thundershowers in the carolinas, down across the deep south. so it was more in the coastal areas as opposed into charlotte as we speak this hour. so we have got a lot of activity out there, just hit and miss and some folks who are getting it are getting a lot and some folks are just suffering in this unbearable heat. if you have travel plans or maybe if you're even heading out to dinner for tonight, we're also seeing a lot of rain across parts of south florida and this could get worse in the next couple of days, we're keeping our eye on this cluster right here and this is is remnants of what wa

jacqui jeras, thank you very much. >>> and folks just like you sending in pictures. log on to cnn.com for more information and images on irene's impact. you can find it all at cnn.com. >>> here are some of the other stories we're keeping an eye on today. remember the cash for clunkers program? the guy behind that idea is alan krueger, he would replace austin goolsbee who decided to leave in june. >>> and then good news for the economy. a new report says personal spending was up almost 1% in july, and that translates to an increase of $88 billion. new car sales could be the biggest reason for that jump. >>> and the man convicted of blowing up the plane over lockerbie, scotland. he was found under the care of his family in tripoli. the son says he could die anytime. the bombing of the jet liner killed 177 people. he was released and returned to libya on compassionate grounds. much more on nic robertson's exclusive story when he joins us from tripoli at 2:30 eastern time. >>> and then all the astronauts could leave the space station soon. they could run out of supplies.

thank you. >> thank you, jacqui.e someone on the line who is in prattsville, new york, and we have been talking about this situation so many people in a community of mobile homes lost their homes and ended up trying to get to an area they thought was safe, but the bridges have flooded out, and they are not safe. melissa, this is suzanne. i understand you are at a shelter, and what kind of situation you are dealing with you? >> well, the shelter is very good. we have two generators running now, and we have running water. but our town is devastated. we have all lost our houses. we have lost our jobs, and we have lost everything. >> i am sorry to hear that, melissa, and how do you know that you have lost your home? >> we went back down this morning, and the houses aren't livable, and there is fuel oil in all of them. it is -- mud everywhere. fuel oil everywhere and there is no way because the basements are still full of water. >> you were actually able to go and take a look? >> yeah, i went down to get my dog whom i lef

jacqui jeras is here now. >> here we go. >> a very active atlantic hurricane season?rough mid-august through mid-october, and that's what we call our cape verde season. they developed into major hurricanes oftentimes. this is irene, it's a tropical storm that developed yesterday. maximum winds around 50 miles per hour. this storm is showing signs of intensifying, and everything out ahead of the storm is very good environment for it to continue to do so. it is already moving through the u.s. virgin islands, puerto rico already starting to get some of the shower and thundershowers activity. the radar is bringing in some of the first outer bands. the rainfall amounts will be heavy, too, for puerto rico it will be especially gusting into these thunderstorms and it will head towards his pan yolo. that's haiti, where we expect the flood situation to be worse. they could see upwards of 6 to 10 inches, so that will be the big concern there for those folks. let's talk about some of the other concerns, watching and warnings are in place across the caribbean islands. the bright

let's bring in jacqui jeras, record-breaking in a lot of ways, monday tare etary and liv >> we releasedhis week the top billion dollar weather disasters in 2011 and we tie with 2008 as of this point for the most of them. there are nine so far. and it is only mid-august. we have a long way to go. most of these you're going to remember and they'll resonate with you. we'll start out with the first $9 billion disaster and that's the southeast ohio valley and midwest tornado outbreaks. tuscaloosa, alabama, yeah, i think we have video to show you of that one, just to refresh your memory a little bit. this was the deadliest tornado outbreak, an ef-5 hit northern alabama, 78 people killed in that one. there were many, many other tornadoes that touched down in places like birmingham, huntsville, chattanooga, tennessee and 32 people d7 peop. the second one, may 22nd to the 27th, this one in the midwest and the southeast. remember, joplin, missouri, can't forget that one, that was a $7 billion disaster with this event. and, of course, joplin just started school this week and they're doing that in

jacqui jeras here. isn't that something? >> yeah.re hoping next year, this has been so successful so far, that they'll be able to do it a little bit longer. >> i bet it'll work out. >> clean those rivers. >> that's right. meantime what do we have going on out there? a lot of activity behind you? >> a new update for you on irene. the 5:00 advisory in from the national hurricane center. little changes that are important that you need to know about. let's start out with the latest statistics. this storm is just almost centered over st. croix at this time. the winds are the same in terms of maximum sustained at 50 miles perp hour. we're starting to see structural changes, this thing is trying to get a little better organized. we do expect intensification. we're starting to get some very heavy rainfall over parts of puerto rico. we can expect to see those tropical storm force wind gusts. in fact, take a look on the ray tar picture here. this is st. croix right there. you can kind of see in this area here where that center of circulation i

. >>> we'll check in with jacqui jeras now. the heat wave has been something the entire country has been dealing with. now a little relief. maybe in a big way. at least for the folks in texas. >> huge. we have been focusing on dallas a lot. they have been seeing this streak of days and days. and today is really the first day that they have had measurable rain. they had a little measurable rain july 16th, .09, if you want to counsel that, which didn't do anything except make your sidewalk damp. cloud cover has been across the area. temperatures much cooler. we have broken that streak of 100 degree days. really since thursday. unfortunately, though, we'll have to tell you that things will pop back up. 83 now in dallas. you've got still 96 in houston. feeling fine in kansas city with 85. look at chicago, 83 degrees for those temperatures. you can see tomorrow, that cooler air stays in place here. but we're starting to see that bubble return unfortunately. we'll continue to see triple digit temperatures back in parts of this lone s

jacqui jeras has niad's forecast. why is she swimming at night? >> conditions are better overall.ttime the winds calm down, so the seas will be calmer. think about how hot it is in this area. 90 degree temperatures with the sun beating down on you is certainly uncomfortable. at nighttime it will be a bit cooler. and the seas will be calmer. that's got news. she'll be moving from havana heading up towards key west. this is about a 103-mile swim for her and expected to take about 60 hours. that's three nights and two days that she will be taking this swim. we're expecting conditions to be good overall. seas will be between one and three feet. isolated thunderstorms will have to watch out for. and water temperatures are going to be warm, closer to cuba, water temperatures are averaging between 86 and 88 degrees. as you get closer to key west, they're warmer, about 91 degrees. that's extremely warm. she will be encountering that florida current, if you saw those arrows on my map earlier, so she'll have a bit of pull coming in. things are looking good weather-wise. we always watch the

jacqui jeras here with us. is oklahoma, sooner state, just a break that lasted hours? >> yeah. oklahoma city got so lucky today. we had showers that just kind of developed in a line here. it managed to keep you cool enough all day long that you only got up to 87. 87, can you believe it? that's glorious for you folks. i wish i could say it will last. because i think those temperatures will be back up to the triple digits again for much of the rest of the week. you're going back to work what can you expect in the week ahead? more heat expected in the plains, but it will be better in places like kansas city and st. louis. heat still staying across parts of the southeast as well. showers and thunderstorms have really been causing big problems up and down the eastern seaboard this afternoon. but we are expecting more of that tomorrow, severe weather in the nation's midsection, that's that cooler air coming in. it's kind of butting up with the hot, humid air to the south. that's why things could get nasty with damagi

cnn's jacqui jeras joins me with some intriguing details. that's right after the break.insurance. talk to me. should i bundle all my policies with nationwide insurance ? watch this. on one hand, you have your home insurance with one company. and on another hand, you have your auto with another. and on another hand, you have your life with another. huh... but when you bundle them all together with nationwide insurance... ... they all work together perfectly-- and you could save 25%. wow... it's all in the wrists. ♪ nationwide is on your side announcer: when life's this hard, it's no wonder 7,000 students drop out every school day. visit boostup.org and help kids in your community stay in school. >>> the desperation from the drought in somalia is heart breaking as families struggle to find food. what is causing the harsh climate? why is there no water? how dry is it in somalia? what kind of conditions are these people facing? >> it is extreme. the hompb africa is no stranger to drought but this is exceptional. it is the worst they've seen in decades. we're starting with a

our meteorologist, jacqui jeras, is here to tell us about the severe systems that are going through.the air show -- i lived in chicago for a number of years. it's amazing to see. they come right by the buildings. they had to be delayed, right? >> yeah, they did. it was able to go on. they got the people out of the way, told them where to go to stay safe. those storms have moved on. we've got another storm we need to worry about. this is braengeaking news for y guys. we have a new tropical storm. this is tropical storm irene. we've been telling you about it for a couple of days. this tropical wave than business in the open waters of the atlantic, it has a chance to become a powerful storm. it has a chance to have some type of an effect on the u.s. well, here's what we know now. this is tropical storm irene. maximum winds, 50 miles per hour. the hurricane hunters have been flying in this thing the last couple of hours. this on google earth is the track that they were taking, and you can see the criss-cross pattern through the center of that storm. and they did find a closed circulation

. >> reporter: jacqui never thought she would still be working at the age of 66.fact, she retired from her job as a call center manager for at&t back in 2007. the next year the stock market plunged and investments suffered a devastating ploe. >> it hit me hard. i lost about 50% of what i had. and i have not recovered from it since. >> reporter: her nest egg, a 401(k) and individual retirement account, was chopped in half. social security didn't cover all her expenses, so jackie had no choice but to go back to work as a customer service agent. >> i don't believe in my heart i will ever be able to retire. i will die working. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: that simple truth is a reality for many americans who, like her, are seeking work after retirement or even postponing it. more than a quarter of american workers now say they are not at all confident about retirement. according to the employee benefit research institute. that's the highest level in the two decades the institute has been asking that question. the job market has been especially harsh on older a

jack y jacqui jeras is here to tell us about that. >> somebody definitely will get torrential downpours, but we're not sure who that will be just yet. we want to give aheads up, because so many people going towards the beaches, and this could impact so many people. this is the cluster we're talking about here. the big blob of thunderstorms and showers. now, this thing is going to be drifting up towards the north and moving into the gulf over the next two days. some of the computer models are developing the low out to the west, and others bringing a closure into the north right now. we have a blob in eastern florida, and it could be a huge moisture maker. look at the water temperatures. we're talking 90 degrees up here near the coast. this is bathwater ripe for potential development to support something, so we could see a tropical storm, and most of the modals are developing that, but not consistent on where they are going. it could go towards texas and make a lot of people happy. we're talking six inches of rain easy over the next 48 hours. >>> we'll keep an eye on that for you, of cour

this is the inland flooding that rob marciano and jacqui jeras was saying a problem would happen all are there doing the right thing and getting people out of their homes to safety. thank goodness for them. >>> we will jump out there for now. a check of the morning markets up next. china cracking down on lady gaga and katie perry. 23 minutes after the hour. and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postag