our jim spellman is right there in its capital. ng us up to date. >> reporter: yeah, being battered is right. it's just been hour after hour these driving winds and rains coming off the caribbean. fortunately so far we haven't had major damage but we are starting to get reports of power outages, downed power lines, that sort of thing. just within the last half hour or so we've seen officials coming out, police, people from the electric company, surveying the situation. unfortunately, we've seen a few onlookers who are curious. this is just nothing that anybody wants to mess with. the same when it hits the united states. people always want to come out on the beach and walk around and these winds come out of nowhere. i'm having a hard time standing up during some of them so i would definitely encourage people not to do that. they're really hoping here they can make it about two more hours here on nassau. unfortunately for all the people on this island there's nowhere for them to get too much shelter except staying away from the coast

i think they will make out just fine. >> jim spellman there in nassau, bahamas. hank you very much. get inside and get dry. >>> now let's take a look at the big picture from cnn meteorologist chad myers. chad, i want to ask you who needs to be worried, but maybe the better question is who doesn't need to be worried? everybody needs to be worried at this point. >> west coast of florida, you're okay. tampa to naples, won't get over to you. for a while, three days ago it was possible the cone was still over there. the cone isn't there anymore. the bahamas now getting cleared, although freeport and really the abaco island areas still under the gun. still 100 miles per hour, maybe 115. i've been looking at the hurricane hunter aircraft, probably around 100. they don't like to fluctuate up and down very much. kind of like to keep one solid number unless there's a big low ring of pressure or raising of pressure. right now it's now. the eye is reorganizing, and it will turn into a much bigger storm. it will get it that category 4 as it gets away from the islands. what we'

cnn's jim spellman is there. jim, what is the situation now? >> reporter: we're really just starting to get a taste of this, joe. the winds picking up hour by hour, getting some wind squalls here. this place has become all but a ghost town from the usual paradise. many of our viewers are familiar with paradise island and atlantis. all of the cruise ships have left port to get away from the storm, the airport closed earlier today. everyone who could get out got out, everyone who hasn't hunkered down in some of the big hotels here, which are fortified, hopefully built to deal with this sort of thing. if you haven't left yet you're riding this thing out, joe. >> jim, give me some sense, though, obviously tourists can go home, presumably, which doesn't sound real easy because it would probably be hard to get a plane, right? >> reporter: yeah, a lot of people were not able to get flights out. over the last few days people did know this was coming. a lot of people canceled their trip here and did arrange to get out on flights yesterday. not so lucky

it's going to be a continuing issue until the weather conditions change. >> jim spellman there watchings for us. jim, thank you. now i want to turn back to vermont. my colleague amber lyon is in wilmington. tell us how the roads are there. what's it like getting around? >> reporter: well, randi, i got to tell you, it's very difficult to get to some of these small mountain communities in vermont. they are mountain communities. a lot of them had roads that were wiped out by the flooding waters. just to get here, we had to take a small side gravel road, dirt road up the side of a mountain to get in and access this community. so right now, emergency relief crews are out there trying to open these roads as quickly as they can so people can easily travel between communities in vermont. here in the middle of wilmington, vermont, this is a town of about 1800 people, and look at this. today out here randi, it looks like some type of a bomb went off in this city. all of these shop keepers are pulling out their flooded inventory, into the streets to try to salvage these buildings anyway they can.

jim spellman, cnn, nassau, bahamas. >>> and welcome back. that report was filed earlier on you.an see the winds starting to pick up. the other story we're worried about with the bahamas and what we talked about with the turks and caicos unlie haiti and dominican republic, this area very flat. so the problem is, we're going to be dealing with heavy rainfall. that's going to cause flooding. but we're also talking abothat storm surge. we're talking 25 to 50 centimeters of rainfall. that's anywhere between 7 to 16 inches in some locations. isha. >> we are closely following this. this is pretty scary stuff. thank you >>> residents along the east coast are preparing for hurricane irene just days, just days after being hit by a rare earthquake. the magnitude 5.8 quake damaged an iconic national structure in the u.s. capitol. cracks appeared at the top of the washington monument. the popular tourist destination will remain closed until that damage is repaired. >>> a path of destruction is left behind by battles in the libyan city of bre dwrkz a. we look at the efforts by firefighters to

right now the storm's wind and rain are hitting the bahamas as well as cnn's jim spellman who is in nassau. give me an update of what is happening on the island. i know you are prehurricane at this point. >> reporter: that's right, candy, we're starting to just -- you can feel the beginning effect of the storm. the winds have been picking up significantly every hour or so with lashing bands of rain coming in about every half an hour. people here on the island, they know this thing is coming and they are doing their best to get prepared. almost all of the tourists that you would usually find on paradise island, nassau, cable beach, are almost all gone. everybody that could get out, got out. everybody else is hunkered down in the tourists hotel here hoping that this impact -- the winds coming, the storm surge we can get from this on such a low-lying island that the damage could be significant. candy? >> jim, we're talking about an island that is, like, 20 miles long. is there really anyplace to go on the island or is the only answer if you're seeking certain safety to get off the island? >>

jim spellman, cnn, nassau, bahamas. >> all right. we do have to talk about what's going on in the western pacific. if you think irene is big, take a look behind me here. we're talking now a super typhoon that is in the western pacific. the winds are now up to 241 kilometers per hour into the 140 range. we're almost at a category 5 storm here. super typhoon namadal. look at this eye. that is just textbook stuff. an unbelievable pin hole of an eye just to the east of the philippines here. the eventual track is going to be critical. it may skirt with extreme northern point of luzan here in the next 24 hours regardless of that eventual track, the torrential rains, isha and john, are right on top of the flil peeps right now with significant flooding and the potential for mudslides and landslides in the days to come. >> it has a lot of people very, very concerned. ivan, thank you. we'll get ivan back here for another update hurricane irene in 30 minutes from now >>> we're also going to see how one of the world's biggest cities is preparing

jim spellman is in the bahamas. let's begin with jim. you are in nassau. how is the powerful storm where are you beyond what we can see? >> reporter: hi, fredricka. it is plenty powerful. it is probably tropical storm-force winds. it has died down in the last hour or two. this storm is so big and it has been over 12 hours of winds like this. you can see what it is doing to the trees and high surf coming in. amazingly, i think, in nassau, there have been no reports of any major damage. all of the preparation have been holding. i just spoke with a couple of police officers. they have not had any trouble. no roofs off homes. unfortunately, some of the smaller bahamian islands are not doing well. whole settlements wiped out near cat island. those islands are getting pounded right now. it is not good here. it is not anything people want to be out in. so far, they feel like they have not had any major damage here. they are very glad about that. fred. >> jim, are a lot of folks who have generators or did people board up significantly? >> reporter: people have gen

jim spellman, cnn, nassau, bahamas. >>> jim spellman, thank you.e're talking about hurricane irene. but let's talk about the earthquake from yesterday. are you one of the millions who felt that earthquake in we're getting all kinds of video now from all over the country. capturing the frightening, some saying fun moment when it struck. we're going to show you some of the images we're getting next. perhaps lost in all the east coast quake coverage, this. another earthquake and a whole other part of the country. [ waves crashing ] [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. >>> so that earthquake that shook parts of the eastern u.s. yesterday, first had people scrambling for safety, then they sc

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

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

jim spellman joins us live from nassau. paring in the islands for what looks like a monster storm, aren't they, jim? >> yeah, indeed, christine. we've already seen the winds pick up here steadily this morning. the message is clear, get out or baton down the hatches. u.s. state department has put out a travel warning for tourists encouraging them to leave. the cruise ships pull out a few hours ago. the airport is packed with people trying to make their way out on the last few flights before they shut down around midday. for the people who live here, about 200,000 that live on the island they have a lot fewer options. the whole island is only about 20 miles long. so they don't really have too many places to go. government setting up shelters, trying to be sure people who live in seaside areas like this can have inland place to go. right now the scramble is on just like we always see with a big storm, food, water, prescriptions, diapers, things like that. stores are packed with the bahamians trying to ride out the storm. most o

. >> jim spellman is in the bahamas in the town of nassau. barbara starr is at the pentagon. , north carolina and jacqui jeras is in the cnn weather headquarters. jim, what do you see there in nassau. >> reporter: the winds have really picked up just in the last hour. we're starting to see i think the beginning of a storm surge. the waves have really picked up and you can see it just pouring out over the sea walls here onto the streets that line the coast here. they have been dealing with this for hours and they'll deal with it a few hours more. we think we'll be entering the peak period before it passes on. they have done all the preparing they can do. everyone is hunkered down. we haven't seen anyone out and about. they're hoping to make it through the next few hours, the peak of the storm here in nassau. >> all right, jim, we know you're going to be battered for much of the day. stay safe because the wind is really blowing down there. >> and the u.s. navy is ordering its warships to move out of irene's path. barbara starr has new developments from the pentagon. what's going

we'll go right down to the bahamas now where our jim spellman has been standing by riding out this storm. jim, i've been watching your pictures, seeing what's behind you. it's very interesting to me, and what i'm seeing behind you is trees still standing. cars driving by. it looks like the bahamas, at least where you are, relatively survived this thing pretty well. >> reporter: yeah. indeed, and i'll tell you, they did really make out okay. over 14 hours of this pounding, pounding wind and stinging rain, but it was just far enough way. so many of the buildings here, they are built to withstand this stuff. they have all made out just fine. everybody here is starting to come out of the woodwork and drive around and see how they made out. everybody here is delighted. they took it very seriously and prepared very seriously. >> all right. what you're hearing, that being that crackle is not just the wind. sometimes there's water that gets into those microphone parts so we want to move on. you know, he's got a -- i guess we're turning now to libya and this man and the hunt for this man. there i