is jacqui jarvis standing by? mary snowe is down in battery park. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: well, anderson, the hudson river has gone over its banks. it's high tide. there had been a fear of a storm surge of 4 to 8 feet. so far it's flooding but it's under a foot. we have been seeing the waters rising over the past half hour or 20 minutes or so and this is really the low-lying area that the city was very concerned about. you might say this is the entrance to the ferries that go to the statue of liberty and ellis island. but contrast to what we're hearing in other locations, we're not feeling the kinds of winds i had been anticipating hearing the reports. it's still too early to say how high the waters will rise, but again really officials had been warning about a storm surge of 4 to 8 feet. they knew when there was high tide there would be flooding. right now there is not a foot of flooding so far. >> reporter: so mary, is there water by your feet now? you're on the ground. is there water covering your feet? >> reporter: yes. yeah, there is several inches of wat

>>> and our jacqui jarvis told us a few moments ago, we should have an increase in heavy rains in newk, and we're getting an advisory around the top of the 8:00 hour whether or not this is still a hurricane. chances are it's now a tropical storm and we'll get the official word around 8:00. let's check in with wabc right now. >> the battery in lower manhattan, we will keep an eye on that, if it breaches and comes down it will make a mess here. >> and they are going over the 8:00 a.m. advisory from the national hurricane service about the latest on hurricane irene. we will take a quick break and as soon as we come back we will check on the latest on hurricane irene. >> reporter: ali velshi is on the east river of manhattan. how is it there? >> reporter: well, just like you said, anderson, it just kicked up and got rainier. here is a storm sewer you were talking about. it's almost up to my knee here, but it looks like it's been receding until the last gusty got. the issue is the electrical powers in manhattan is underground. this is the con ed, and some of it, here is the more -- and it'