ocean city, you're already going to get in about the next hour, 50 to 60 mile-per-hour winds. that's where jeanne meserve was. getting to atlantic city, there's some just offshore winds of 60 to 70 mile-per-hour winds. there's new york city. you get 60 to 70, and that happens at 5:30 in the morning. there are even -- orange here, that's sandy hook. that's a 70 mile-per-hour sustained wind moving right up into new york city. and wolf, when all of this wind at this point when it's very close to -- about i guess north of wildwood, south before long branch. this is when all of that water is going to pour into new york harbor. we're already up one foot, we just started. and i believe that the surge in the city, in the battery park area, especially into the east river area because water will be coming in the sound, as well. and those two things will converge in the east river. some of that surge could be eight or more feet. we don't know yet. we have to still watch. but the surge in new york city will be significant. >> what's left of irene after it goes through new england i assume

yeah. >> a mandatory evacuation in ocean city since last night.ny stragglers, any people trying to ride this thing out? >> one or two early this morning, but i'll be honest with you, the emergency officials have been on everybody. they're saying get out of town. the mayor told us earlier, there were 300 people left in the city and i see maybe three of them. so there is nobody here. the last store closed yesterday at 5:00 o'clock. there is no food here. it's very quiet. it's a ghost town at the moment. >> tucker, you say high tide was expected around 7:30. sue, if you're still here, when is this storm expected to pass right over ocean city? >> we think it's going to be closer to about 2:00 o'clock or 3:00 o'clock in the morning. we've just now seen the center of irene come offshore close to norfolk, virginia, or virginia-north carolina. i think it's starting to pick up, just eyeballing it. but that would put it around the ocean city area at the current rate of forward motion around 2:00 o'clock or 3:00 o'clock in the morning. hopefully closer to a

the water temperatures off the ocean city, maryland are in the 70s.ew england, in some cases, temperatures in the 60s. the carolinas will get hit by most likely a category 3 or very strong 2. you can see the black center line. it is really weakening until it gets past ocean city, maryland, that's why we're expecting a devastating blow to the coast there. now, as far as the wave goes, the wave action is going to be incredible with this storm, such a big storm, so much mass and so much potential energy that will be tossed into the waves. we have 18-foot waves now off the coast of south carolina. 14 just off of wilmington. 10 foot waves off of cape hatteras as the storm nears, those big huge waves will be crashing on shore and that's where we'll get our beach erosion. at the time of high tide, we'll see that surge. we're starting to get our numbers in for accumulated rainfall. this is only out through sunday morning. but that purple area in eastern north carolina, norfolk, chris, we're talking the possibility of norfolk up to 10 inches of rain in a short

mayor of ocean city maryland. what do we need to know. you need to know that we are getting the beginning of the storm, that just entered our area and you can see behind me it kicked up the ocean a bit. we are receiving a lot of high winds. this is the begin this is a big storm to hit ocean city. >> how did you get ready, mayor? >> we had put into affect a mandatory evacuation midnight on thursday. asking everybody to leave by 5:00 p.m. friday. we want to thank the visitors who came to ocean city, they heeded the warnings and understood the storm and evacuated and there are very few people emergency personnel here. >> is there a sense that you are out of the woods or is it thinking when the storm is packing winds of 100 miles per hour and drops below 90 miles per hour. still a category 1. are they lulled and we might have missed this one, this time? >> i think everybody understands it is not the wind, but the 8 foot storm surge and 12-15 inches was rain and put it together with sustained hurricane-force winds and that will create a proble

they're letting everybody back into ocean city in about 35 minutes or so. they have already let the residents back in, business owners back in, extremely minimal flooding. if you've got a home here or second property, what have you, rest assured it is probably in fine shape. i would venture to guess that 99.9% of the homes and businesses are on this stretch of the delmarva peninsula. and they are now waiting for a full sunshine day. back to you. >> i've got to tell you we can make light of it considering things in ocean city are pretty much okay, but not so much in new bedford, michigan. that's where you see that boat at least it looks like it's until power. there had been reports by ron allen who said there were a couple boats that seemed to be out there on their own versus lost moorings. but it looks like that may be get towed, this one. there is a capital been on board, though, so at least that's a good sign. we're going to stay on top of this. the receipt of where it is in connecticut, massachusetts a. well. it's a big storm. we'll be right back. and yo

ocean city is a big resort like atlantic city without gambling. >> it is a big resort. they opened it as quickly as they could. you saw what it was like with the rain coming down and the winds howling. the eye of the hurricane passed virtually right over us about 2:00 a.m. we woke this morning to find the city virtually unscathed. the city fathers called essential personnel back at 9:00 a.m. and determined at that point there was virtually no damage. we can get this city open right away. they opened it to the public at 12 noon today. about the only people to return were the surfers. take a look at this giant swell quite a ton tras -- con fras fr -- contrast from the life threatening seas yesterday. they worked so hard in convincing people that it was okay to come back our hotel room tonight, our hotel is virtually empty except for the remaining tv crews that are here. it is really, really hard to try to convince somebody who got their hotel refund and went back home 200 miles to washington or the 250 to baltimore or philadelphia say hey kids let's pack up the car again

however, ocean city will of course get pounded.beaches will take a pounding, as the storm works its way up as -- as the hurricane works its way up to ocean city. there also is a greater threat anticipated from streams and creeks and your smaller rivers because of the huge amount of rainfall that is coming from this storm. but the good news is that the winds, as they turn around on this thing, will actually be creating a condition that has kind of a reverse tide to it as the storm passes through. so, if i haven't totally confused you, let me turn it over to richard, anything i've left out, questions we have. >> no, sir. good evening, everyone. once again, we now are going through the worst part of the storm as far as damage is going to go and we expect -- >> we've just been listening to a briefing coming from state officials there in maryland where they're reporting on the positive on what is the negative, hurricane irene, saying that the winds could actually help in certain circumstances. but they are still bracing for what is to c

the center is southwest of ocean city, maryland. 255 miles southwest of the new york city. that storm system continues on the northeasterly track. it is a category 1 hurricane and moving northeast at 6 miles per hour. and so not a lot has changed. it is still a big storm system. tropical storm wins 200 miles per hour are now less. so that has decreased and 245 miles out from the center of the storm and weakened a bit. but nonetheless. it is strong and far reaching. clouds in southern canada. and portions of north carolina where we were hit hard. 14 inches of rain coming out of eastern north carolina with widespread flooding. and that is continuing to track northward in areas off to the north. the other thing, we have had a tornado threat. there is a tornado watch in for the new york city area and long island in effect until 5:00 a.m. eastern time and tornado warnings in portions of jersey. there is a lot of rotations with the storms. we have a counter clock wise flow and there could be a tornado in central portions of new jersey. i hope you are hunkered down in your home an

we are doing a quick assessment here in ocean city. and the delmarva peninsula, and police are saying so far they don't see any significant damage. we do have power out to certain areas along the peninsula. we are still without power. but we're hoping that that comes back up. they're bringing the sewer system back up ever so slowly. they had taken it offline as a precaution last night. they're saying about 12 inches of rain, they believe. they also say that four to six-foot storm surge here. top winds here at least in ocean city, about 60 miles per hour on sustained gusts, sorry, 60 miles per hour on sustained winds, 80 miles per hour on the gusts. and it really started coming in hard between the hours of i would say about 11:00 p.m., and 2:00 a.m. and suddenly, 3:30 in the morning, it suddenly seemed to die away. and as you can see behind me, the ocean is still rough out there, but nothing like the kind of violent churning action that we had yesterday out here. no reports of any injuries according to the police, everybody heeded the w

ocean city, you're going to get that in about three or four hours. all the way up the atlantic shore, and eye moving right over a virginia beach, this is a 70-mile-per-hour wind gust, cape may and wild wood, all of this wind is pushing water into new york harbor, by about 3:00 in the morning, new york city is already 50 miles an hour and it goes up from there. there's the 60, 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts right along long island and even into connecticut and now into rhode island there's the eye, very close and just east of philadelphia, winds will be coming from the north in philadelphia because of the way the spin is here, so watch that when your trees start blowing trees to your north, some of those trees may fall. philadelphia has had 13 inches of rainfall this month, and there it goes new york through hartford knocking down trees in boston and even up into vermont as the wind speeds go down. those winds speeds are still 50 miles an hour. huge storm, lots of wind, just not that 130-mile-per-hour wind. big storm. >> you can see behind me, chad, we'l

the last time ocean city ordered this kind of evacuation was in 1985 for hurricane gloria. but emergency managers fear this time it could be different. >> we're going to get a lot of rain, we're going to get a lot of wind and we're going to get a lot of surge and it's going to come all at one time for an extended period of time. >> i'm not usually afraid of storms, but i'm afraid this time. >> reporter: in washington, d.c., they're also stockpiling sandbags and preparing for localized flooding, especially along the potomac river and in alexandria, virginia, right across the potomac from washington, d.c., old town always floods so they're watching that and stockpiling sandbags. but right now we have a vacant beach and the calm before the storm. >> the ocean behind you getting a little sporty there. tom costello, ocean city, maryland. >>> now we want to move past us here to the north and the city that has seen it all, except for this. new york city is under a hurricane warning tonight, extremely rare. so are the fact that mandatory evacuations are underway. lester holt is ins

ocean city maryland, over 12 inches. one of the areas hardest hit this month, shep, is philadelphia. 5.32 inches from the storm and over 18 inches in this month. wettest month they ever had. not the wettest august but the wettest month. the video coming out to us dangerous situations in the philadelphia area. the upper darby region. and streets turned inside rivers. we will be talking about a few of the rivers in the area of eastern pennsylvania and a lot of northern, new jersey, that are going to crest at record highs. we get a lot of flooding up a here and a lot of flooding that causes a lot of damage to areas in new jersey and area around the poconos and now some of the rivers will crest near or above their all-time records because of the amount of rain we have seen over the last month. that a barbecuin is a big conc. the flash flooding concerns continue. anywhere you see the dark color, the catskills up in towards th the adirondacks. residual flooding with continue for a number of area and then turn our eyes to the n

look at stronger winds than that and the storm is located just 15 miles to the south-southeast of ocean city, maryland. and that makes it 195 miles south-southwest of new york city. and the system has increased in speed a little bit, just to the north-northeast at 17 miles per hour. so the storm system's at a crawl. it is coming. if you still do not think it's coming. yes, we are looking at a category 1 hurricane, possible landfall across new york city and portions of long island. again, there is very heavy rain, power outages reported across jersey. i got a report out of nassau county, where my friends did text me that the power did go out there and on twitter, reports of power outages across southeastern pennsylvania. there is rain as far as central p.a., very heavy rain at that. now the other risk are tornadoes, unfortunately with the storm system. last night when we were on the air, we saw tornadoes across north carolina. now there is a watch, including in new york city area, long island and portions of jersey in effect until 5:00 a.m. eastern time. so the risk for tornadoes will be ongo

winds starting to ramp up, but nothing too major at this point along ocean city. into georgetown, we're looking at winds up 50 miles an hour. as we head throughout the next 48 hours, it hasn't changed much with that recent update by early on sunday morning. it's near the new jersey coast looirn, and then by sunday, 2:00 p.m., it's passing. it's just passed long island. we're still looking at a late morning noon event for new york city, and, you know, the storm surge is so unpredictable, and, you know, that's, of course, why all that will be affected here in new york. >> oh, yeah. unprecedented situation. they're shutting down everything in new york. we'll come to a standstill. pretty remarkable. thank you for that. let's go to the weather channel. stephanie abrams, who is live in long beach, new york, for us. okay, steph. how is it looking there? do you see surf picking up? >> lots of looky lous, as a matter of fact. not only on the boardwalk, but also on the beach. a lot of surfers out there. i don't know if you can pick them up on the camera. maybe he can try to

tom costello there in ocean city. thank you for that. place which is not unscathed right now and that's coney island. that's where we find peter alexander who has been braving the elements. it's the worse it's going to get. i told you that an hour ago. you're sustaining that a little bit. how does it compare to an hour ago? >> reporter: the good news is i would say about 20 minutes ago it was the worst we've seen it. right now it's changed. the wind is still -- you hear this howling sound. >> we can hear it. >> reporter: do you hear it? there's some old structures at this famed iconic boardwalk with the amusement park. i'll describe to it you this banging metal against metal. bang, bang, bang, bang. i think we're panning the camera over there to give you a sense. what you're looking at is, if you're familiar called the cyclone. home of the brooklyn cyclone. minor loeg baseball team. given the fact that we're experiencing a cyclone or a hurricane right now it's fitting, the name of the roller coast are ride that many americans come here t

i just talked to the mayor of ocean city. hat conditions have deteriorated to the point where he's stopping police patrols around the city. if people make emergency calls into the police department they will be considered on a case by case basis but he doesn't want to put people out here in these dangerous conditions unless he absolutely has to. the winds as i mentioned are picking up. we've seen a few windows blown out. we've seen other property damage lakesiding blown off. a few light roofs that are starting to give way. the real issue is the water. the mayor tells me -- >> we just lost our connection with jean. unfortunately this stuff happens, the technology is great but these are hurricane, this is a hurricane right now, so occasionally we lose audio and video, we'll check back with jean when we reconnect with her. let's go back to chad myers. chad, give us a unique part of this hurricane that our viewers will appreciate. >> the unique part is how winds changed direction from one side of the eye to the other. let me take

>> aloha from ocean city. what a contrast. good things await you in new york city and tkwropbd the new england coast if you can hold on a little bit longer. it is a delightful day here in ocean city. look at the surf today in contrast to the -- to the churning seas we had yesterday. the surfers are out enforce today. big, beautiful -- some great rise out here. as far as damage is concerned, listen to what the mayor had to say this morning. >> i'm always lost for words. what we woke up to this morning certainly wasn't what we and sis pated. we expected, based on the forecast, based on the projections the track of the storm that we were ready to face up to significant damage. it turns out that is not the case. a lot of things worked in our favor. almost a typical sunday morning here in ocean city. >> reporter: a typical sunday morning. in fact, at 9:00 they allowed the employees to come back to work. about four minutes ago, ocean city was reopened to the public. we see people coming back to the beach. they are trying to salvage t

let's go back to doug mcelway, live there, in ocean city.e evacuations, what are they calling for and are people heeding these warnings? >> reporter: we'll are heeding these warnings, in fact i spoke to a lifeguard who is still on duty today. but, the lifeguards in ocean city, maryland are helping police in this town go door-to-door to help get the word out that people need to leave the town, everybody has to be evacuated. by 5:00 p.m., and, the vast majority of people are heeding the warning and the best evidence of that is the boardwalk behind me, you see a little bit of a rain storm but it's not an outer band, it is a storm system that came through last night and people are, as you can see, heeding the warnings. ocean city, this entire part of the peninsula is basically a barrier island, a glorified sand do you know. very narrow strip of land, that stretches from ocean city, off the fenwick island to the beaches up to the delaware bay and can be overtaken by water very, very quickly and is hugely important for people to get out of here an

. >>> ocean city, maryland is reopening to visitors now. ity bay bridge is reopened. the biggest problem is downed trees, even power lines. tom costello is live in ocean city, maryland. what's the latest there? especially on the power outages. >> yeah. it seems to be in our general vicinity the power outages have been addressed and we have plenty of electricity in ocean city. oh to be a teenager and live in ocean city and be a surfer dude. i have austin here, he's 16. jimmy, 15. you guys surf all the time. what is it like the day after the storm? >> it's better than it usually is. it's bigger. it's going down in size. but it used to be bigger. >> what was it like when you came out here this morning. >> it looks smaller from here, but when you're out there it is the bigger. >> this the best surfing of the summer? >> probably. >> we saw this place suddenly, dozens upon dozens upon dozens of surfers rush the beach, starting at about 11:00 this morning. they are all up and down the beach right now. the aftermath of irene. as for ocean city, i th

ocean city replenishes its beaches every four years.me was 2010 when they spent $9 million to build up dunes to protect against major storms, dunes that are still standing today. charles kessel, who owns a bicycle rental business, rode out the storm with no problems. kessel says he's unhappy with city officials for ordering the evacuation of 200,000 vacationers at the height of tourist season, but mayor rick meehan defends his decision. >> you have to err on the side of public safety. you have to do the right thing. they are hard decisions to make but they were the right decisions. >> reporter: as you can imagine, scott, there's tremendous relief here in ocean city. the mayor said they didn't just dodge a bullet. they dodged a missile. >> pelley: chip, it looks like the sun is breaking out there. i wonder how long it's going to be before folks can come back to the beach. >> reporter: well, they said they are going to open the beach today. there are already some people out there walking on the beach. they said they are going to restrict

the mayor of ocean city. and so that has already begun. that's a mandatory evacuation. we've -- we are also evacuating some of the bay islands and some of the lower-lying areas as the gentleman in your prior interview said, we're encouraging our coastal residents to find a family member that you can hunker down with for the weekend. if you're in a low-lying area, find somebody that you love that's in a higher elevation, because this is potentially a very deadly and dangerous hurricane. >> and obviously you have different advice for ocean city, maryland, which is basically get out and get out now, than you do for, say, someone inland in bethesda. but this could potentially obviously come into d.c. and in bethesda which borders as you full well on washington, d.c., what are you telling residents that are not immediately on the coastline? >> well, what we're telling residents is they need to be prepared in their own family, in their own home to provide for themselves on their own for 72 hours. the ground is very saturated. the slow-moving storm has a lot of rain and a lot

abc's jim sciutto in ocean city, maryland, good evening to you. >> reporter: david, the hurricane still several hours away from landfall here but already feeling the strength of the storm, the winds gusting a >> bre: 50 miles an hour. times when you have to hold on here. ed rain is horizontal and pouring already for serving hours. expecting 17 inches of rain over the next 24 hours but what we've been watching i ihis surf, watching waves grow from a couple of feet to several feet. the seas churning and what is happening now they're coming up along these dunes here which are the last line of defense for the hotels, the homes, the businesses of ocean city. ocean city, david, nowow bracin for a storm surge above eight feet in the next 24 hours. >> jim sciutto with maryland before irene even arrives. thank you. >> this is the track sam champion told us irene would follow. let's turn to sam in lower manhattan where hundreds of thousands have been evacuated because that parar of new york s low-lying, real risk for flooding. which is irene now? what is the time line going forward? >> reporter:

, it's called the ocean city, and the ocean is both its blessing and its curse. this store right here appropriately known tropical gangsters. people are putting boards on their windows because they have dealt with the nor'easters, but the last time they zedealt with hurricane, but the last time they had a hurricane here in rhode island, was 20 years ago last week, that was hurricane bob, but they still talked about the hurricane of 1938 that killed more than 600 people on long island and southern new england, injured 1,700 people, destroyed tens of thousands of houses, i mean you talk to the old-timers here, they still talk about it like it was yesterday. this city is a remarkable place, and i'll tell you why. it was founded in the 17th century, there are beautiful mansions, some of the largest homes in america are in new port. many of the homes are 100, 200 years old. so there's many concerns what the storm could do to the architecture here. this is the place where our cnn founder and patriarch ted turner won the america's cup back in 1977 so water is their life

and irene is not done yet with more on the storm, we go live to ocean city, maryland. >> reporter: the rain continues, the sustained winds are stronger than they have been all night. we're bracing ourselves for the brunt of this storm. now really just miles away. more than 1 million people will spend saturday night in the dark. hurricane irene has carved a path up the eastern seaboard, claiming lives, knocking out power and leaving a mess behind. >> so is this this is a very dangerous situation. flooding is going to be significant. >> reporter: still a category 1 hurricane, irish has her eye set on the mid-atlantic region, where conditions have spawned at least one tornado and prompted the national weather service to issue several tornado watches. >> we're looking at anywhere from 6-12"f rain throughout the state, high winds throughout the state, and extraordinary damage to the barior islands. >> reporter: new york city execute and unprecedented evacuation in low-lying neighborhoods, even shut shutting down the transit system. >> the time for evaluation is now over. everyone should go

mandatory evacuation of ocean city.ing on through many parts of our states is mandatory evacuations of low-lying areas where more susceptible than most states to coastal flooding. this is a very serious and deadly storm. this is the real thing. and people are very right to take it seriously. i mean for the first 72 hours that this monster hit, families are on their own. so the first 72 are on you. and moms and dads need to make provisions for their families if they can get out of the way of this storm. that's ideal. if they can't have provision to hunker down for the first 72 hours. critical lew important. there will be power outages. there will be fallen trees. there will be a lot of debris. this is a deadly and giant storm. >> governor, thank you very much indeed. good luck there. >> thank you, piers. >> now i want to turn to general russel honore. thank you for joining me. are you fearing a similar kind of catastrophe that we saw in katrina, if this hits new york? >> well it could happen, piers. we had about an 80% e

wind, the tropical storm-force winds pushing everything around, the waters, the treetops, that's ocean city, maryland, so when you look at the official slosh model for new york city they have to make she is plans in case a storm like this ever moves in. in a category 1 hurricane where it is completely dry and the water is out there, the water would then be in here and probably standing someplace near my neck at about 5 feet. that's just a category 1. if it's weaker that water would be a little bit less but try to imagine lower manhattan just covered in water. dan? >> sam, thank you. >>> stand by. i know we'll come back to you in a few moments. we want to bring in the director of the national hurricane center, bill read. bill, good morning to you. >> good morning. how are things up there? >> well, we're bracing for what's coming our way, and i want to ask you about that. what is your current assessment of the storm? this morning inow it's gotten a little weaker. should we be taking any comfort in that? >> well, only a minor amount. i've got on the screen behind me here, the radar image. this

back to you. >> tom costello, thank you very much for the update from ocean city.michelle franzen who is live in jersey shore for us. check out those waves. that's massive waves there in bellmawr. not a lot of people are out there surfing much longer. good morning to you, michelle. >> well, good morning to you. we've got a little bit more time here in the whole state of new jersey to prepare before irene gets here. take a look behind me. the boardwalk. we still have some people coming out here, but the ka sis in the last 48 hours has been get away from the shore, get a plan, get prepared, and hunker down for the storm when it moves in in the next 24 hours. the businesses here will be closing up, those that haven't already by noon etoday. all 21 counties throughout new jersey have shelters set up. the governor, of course, driving this message home, making sure that he -- that people understand that not only with the storm surge expected here, the heavy rains, but also the wind that the entire state could be facing some power outages as well as some flooding in this

as we had to ocean city, md. gus will be at 105 mi. per hour. tropical storm force winds scheduled to last 24 hours. as we head to new york city, gusts could get up to 100 mi. per hour in forecast to hit this evening lasting 21 hours, into tomorrow evening. in portland, maine dust could get up to 85 mi. per hour and forecast to last 12 hours. now we're going to head back to the bay area weather. here is a live look outside for the mt. tam cam. and little bit breezy. stake clouds and patchy close to fall. as we head into the afternoon sunny and warm conditions getting really warm inland. we are expecting a lot of '90s and we will see overnight fog and clouds come back into the forecast. let's take a look at temperatures outside, mostly into the 50s and 60s. 51 in santa rosa, 53 now. mid-50s through oakland as well as concord. some of those 60 degree readings in places like mountain view and san jose. afternoon highs will be warm and places like livermore. the same for antioch. mid-60's for half moon bay. as you head to the north bay we are expecti

the evacuation of ocean city began at midnight. everybody is supposed to be out by 5:00. maryland's governor warned people in the hurricane watch zone to get prepared to go it alone in the immediate aftermath of the storm. >> look, the first 72 are on you. in other words, every family needs to be prepared to weather 72 hours in the dark without electricity. there will be electrical outagesoutage outages. it will be so widespread it will take us quite a while to get to them. >> in the meantime, red cross is opening shelters, mobilizing thousands of volunteers and stock up for the long haul. >> we're anticipating that as i said it's going to be a huge geographical area with lots of people impacted and from the time perspective this could take weeks, maybe even months to be able to respond to. >> we also learned this morning residents of new port news, virginia, have been ordered to leave there by act tonight. and as you can see there some people have been taking advantage of the great waves along the east coast getting in a little surfing time that's unlikely to last for mu

ocean city faces the threat of flooding from not just the ocean waves or from a possible foot of rainrom the back bay on the western side of it. it can't seem to make up its mind. we've got giant ocean waves rolling in. it almost looks like a ski boat or a jet ski or something like that meeting the wind blowing from the opposite direction. this is the amusement park in ocean city. electricity is not making that ferris wheel spin around right now. on the other side of me, hurricane irene did not cause jaws to interest that building. but it looks like it's trying to make him wiggle his way out. this is one of the great vacation lands in the mid plantic region. a lot of amusement parks like that, putt putt golf, things like that. a lot of them have -- we'red designs that i can't believe will survive this store. the economic impact is going to be severe. we'll lose a lot of those boardwalk kind of businesses and amusement arcades, i would imagine. we are having damage in our hotel in the sense that the wind is pushing the rain that virtually all the floors are dripping wet inside the hote

and overnight hours, weather on the coast past ocean city and impacting the delaware bay and storm surge and high winds . by early morning moving up the coastline of new jersey affecting all of the resort areas in new jersey, and in the morning hours and making its next big landfall in new york city. i don't want you to get too carried away. you saw in the radar and satellite imagery. it is a broad area, hurricane-force wind and we'll keep them in the forecast at least for now. right up to final landfall into new england. next slide, please. tropical storm probabilities as we talked about. this gives you an idea of how large of an area likely to be impacted by tropical storm-force winds while hurricane irene makes its trek up the eastern sea board. those last for hours. that's the area we'll focus on for the wind damage associated with trees coming down and the like. next slide, please. >> if you get higher than a four foot storm surge, right now, the high surge is where it is happening. also point out the likelihood of exceeding four feet in the james river and chesapeak and the ocean a

chris welch is in ocean city along the eastern shore of maryland. >> reporter: heather, the rain is picking up. the wind is picking up. we're just hours away from the blunt of irene. we're just waiting to see what kind of damage this storm will do here. from north carolina to virginia and onto maryland, hurricane irene is charging on ward with her sights set on the northeast. with sustained winds of 85 miles an hour, the damage reports are stacking up and thoses are spending the weekend in the dark. despite irene's destructive run the federal government says it's ready. >> what we heard the biggest concern i'm having right now has to do with flooding and power. it will be enormous on a lot of states. >> reporter: the government officials continue to urge residents to take pre-cause cause precautions and above all, take irene seriously. >> 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 emergency vehicles for first responde

chris welch live right now in ocean city, maryland with the latest, chris? >> reporter: this time yesterday the very beach i am standing on was an entirely different place. there were tourists everywhere. you would never guess there was anything out of the ordinary. today, however, that is a different story. a ghost town. everyone listened to the officials and gotten out while they still can. the skies were grayer, the waves were rougher, and north carolina's coastal communities braced themselves on friday for the arrival of irene. >> we are prepared for the worst and we continue to pray for the best. i urge every citizen along the coastal plains to evacuate. >> reporter: after a north carolina landfall the storm will make its way up the east coast. president barack obama signed an emergency declaration for new york while residents in new england started preparing for the worst. >> the hardware store down the street. you can not even get in. they -- you have to ask someone to open the door for you the line is out of control in there. >> it sounds serious. ne

folks down in virginia we had the lights go out here in ocean city.em out five seconds and came back on. and down south in the downtown part of the stay and so it went out again. we'll see how far it goes. i don't expect it to get better. highatoid occurred at seven : 45 and the water from the ocean remains in the lip of the do you knows and not surprised - surpaysed it. and looks like the sea wall is holding up and not in. and and shout out to every possible and that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and i can show you a piece of equipment if i can get my jacket open quickly. even my little receiver. i can't receive it. it is wrapped in baggies and this is duct tape. brilliant. thank you, back to you. >> all over the fox family they are doing that. thanks. we'll be right back. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids. but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian. and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it everyday, and i love the great

and most folks took that seriously. >> reporter: i'm jim sciutto in ocean city, maryland. normally on a friday in the summer, this would be packed with people and cars. but tonight -- nothing. a mandatory evacuation herere a they're worried about two things. the storm surge, up to six feet, almost as tall as me, and time. the storm expected to sit over here for 13 hours from saturday night into sunday. heavy winds, heavy rains. that storm surge. they say it simply won't be safe here. >> reporter: i'm kenneth murton in atlantic city, new jersey. and i ine is expected to hit here tomorrow night. this is the famous atlantic city boardwalk. and tonight it is just about empty. the governor has ordered the evacuation of four coastal counties, which could impact 750,000 people. casinos like trump plaza here have started to board up and close down one by one. >> reporter: i'm marcy gonzalez in q qens, new york. and we're expected to start feeling the effects of this storm tomorrow night into sunday. and for the first time in new york city history, mandatory evacuations are under w

there's nobody else up and down the peninsula at all, especially in ocean city. i did economcheck with the loca police departments a while ago. they have no reports of injuries or deaths, which is a good thing under any circumstance but especially because yesterday we had surfers too tempted by what they saw out there. today they're all away. that's too dangerous today. it really is interesting how the storm is to our south, and yet we get hit by the rain coming in from the north. the meteorology there is awfully interesting. back to you. >> yeah, i know we've had, you know, your colleague just to the south of you there, we had mark potter talking about the one, two, three punch. we often here about the one, two. but he said it could be a one, two, three punch out of the storm, which is pretty significant. with regard to ocean city, though, tom, when you talk about the evacuations that were required, how many people seem to have defied those? do you see the presence of residents there? >> reporter: no, i don't see -- i literally all morning i've seen two people w

the storm moves north before it gets to jersey, though, it will pass by maryland and doug is in ocean city, maryland. what is the situation? >> a friend of my registered 45 miles per hour and it has been increasing all day and it will continue until about 7:00 p.m. when we will get hurricane force winds running through the early morning hours of sunday. the good news, and i know the beaches quit well coming here since i was a kid i have never seen surf this high on the delmarva peninsula. the television ill imagine does not do justice. probably 10' or 15' waves. the beach here is very, very broad and probably like 100 yards wide and i have not soon the water come up beyond where i am, high tide is at 7:00 p.m., so we will see where that goes. the sand dunes, it is important, need to stem the flow of water and further down to the south of where i am stand 20 blocks, the boardwalk, and the water guard there holds that and after gloria in 1985 it destroyed the boardwalk and they erected a wall, there, which is 2.5' of credit. (inaudible) >>shepard: it is windy and knocked our signal off. so t

that's not something that typically happens here in ocean city.o see because of the six to eight foot storm surge, because of the amount of rain that's predicted, with eoar going to see a lot of flooding in the low-lying areas. o. >> now, he beliefs the city is in much better shape now than it was in 1985 when hurricane gloria slammed into ocean city. the army corps of engineers built bums and dunes down there to protect the development. earlier today, members of the army corps were down there with surveying equipment. they tell me they're trying to get a fix on how much sand is down there now so they can tell how much irene washes away after she's left. >> are they worried that people have no experience with hurricanes in ocean city? >> well, you would think they might be, but the people i talk to here seem to well understand the risk. as i say, most of them have already heeded the orders to get out of town. the police here have been going door to door, knocking, telling people it is time to go. and for the most part, they tell me people have bee

we've invested a lot of money into the dunes and protecting ocean city. the boardwalk's in good shape and ocean city's going to be open come noon today. so, that is great, great news. now, in southern maryland, a little harder hit than we had anticipated, and we're going to be digging out for a while. >> governor, i'm looking at some of the data here, expecting about 12 inches of rain when it's all said and done, and you've got nearly 800,000 people without power. at's it going to take in terms of how long before you get that power restored? >> well, we don't have an estimate on that yet, but i can tell you this, david, before the big snowstorm, snowmageddon, we had -- or rather, at the peak of it, we had about 300,000 people out of electricity. today, as it stands right now, we have 800,000 out. so, this is going to be a long effort, and we're just going to need to keep working at it. 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, a

also we will ask that all citizens of ocean city seek shelter elsewhere and evacuate ocean city. >> reportere not taking any chances. our chances we have seen what it can do. and it's not a pretty sight. you have to respect the power of nature. >> reporter: irene's second landfall effects major cities like boston and new york. >> what we have to do is assume the worst and prepare for that. irene's course and strength and time of arrival remain unknown. >> reporter: amtrak and major u.s. airlines are canceling routes and flights or are putting them on a watch list because of hurricane irene. the latest information we have regarding its location is that it's about 350 miles south of cape hatteras, north carolina. now back to you. >> thank you so much for that update. it's effecting flights. we have claudine wong at the airport this morning. a lot of people watching it. >> yeah we will be watching the flight flights. we are also following some traffic problems right now here in oakland. northbound 880 in oakland there is a seven-car pile up at fifth avenue. as a matter of fact, traffic is so qu

a beautiful day for ocean city. six hours ago we had rain, now we have blue skies and sunshine, and it's been a spectacular day, it will end up a spectacular weekend. in ocean city, they've got a total of about 12 inches of rain. they also had gusts coming off the water of about six feet or so. they were told a surge of about six feet, and sustained winds of about 60 miles per hour with the gusts of 80 miles per hour, so they too dodged a bullet. they are prepared for real substantive flooding, and we're only aware of one death in maryland, tragically a woman -- oops, that's a face full of sand. but for the most part maryland has dodged the worst of it. it seems the worst has been in virginia and north carolina, and i know new jersey and new york and new england are starting to feel the effects, but as a hurricane itself, it seems the worst of it was to the south of us, and is it weakened by the time it got to us. back to you. >> tom, it is great to see the contrast from what you were experiencing last night, but i

. >> we're going to go from new jersey to tom costello, who is live in ocean city, maryland.update on the residents there. you said previously they were being allowed to come back. wow, did i see surfers in the water behind you? >> reporter: surf's up, dude. they're taking advantage of this spectacular -- we have blue skies and sunshine, and it stopped raining, and they're letting everybody back into ocean city. people who own businesses, people who are residents, they've been allowed in since 9:00. at noon they're opening up to everybody el else. police say they've had no incidents whatsoever to speak of. extremely, extremely minor flooding, so it looks like ocean city is ready to resume of summer. with that, i think it's time to take off the garb, if you will, and next time you hit me, i'm going to be wearing shorts again. i know, i know, that's the kind of guy i am. >> there you go. tom costello taking it off on tv. i know earlier you thought it was fine, the rains came back in, but rains associated with what may be yet to come, i wonder if that's irene-related or not. ire

but i can tell you, we dodged the missile here in ocean city. >> reporter: irene spawned tornadoes in two states, including this twister in delaware that destroyed a home and damaged a dozen more. in washington, old glory over the capitol was tattered, but still flying. we got some additional photographs from ground level of north carolina highway 12. you can see here where the road literally just disappears. from the air it looks like a dotted line. the north carolina department of transportation plans to have ferry service to get people in and out of there while they deal with the longer-term project of rebuilding that road, brian. >> that picture on top, the flag on top of the capitol really gets your attention. kerry sanders, i'm glad the news is so relatively good where you're standing. thanks for your reporting over these two days. we're going to take a break. when we come back, two of the very best in the weather business taking on the question, what did we just witness happening here? e announcer ] from nutritional science comes centrum silver, with vitamins and minerals balan

island of ocean city. our goal to make sure that ocean city is evacuated by 5 p.m. on friday. so people should not waste time. this is not a time to get out the camera and sit on the beach and take pictures of the waves. jenna: well, a lot of folks are already heeding that warning as this large hurricane takes aim at the maryland shore. our very own doug mckelway has not taken that warning, he's there with a camera, aren't you, doug? waiting and watching to see what's going to happen. and what is the latest at ocean city? >> i'm breaking up a little bit, jenna, but i think i heard what you said. right now it's just as calm as it could possibly be, what a contrast to what we expect to see. just to pick up on what janice was saying, according to noaa, the hurricane-force winds from this storm extend 90 miles out from the center of the storm, and storm force winds extend 290 miles out from the center of this storm. so the potential for irene to cause major damage all the way up the east coast is intense, inde

city and there's atlantic beach. kind of dual communities, one's kind of the ocean and one's the city right behind it.n, you have a major cell just to your south and southeast coming your way. this is probably the biggest cell that you've seen so far. winds will at least be 50. right now you're only seeing about 35, maybe 39. so almost tropical storm force. but in the next 20 minutes you will easily get to 50 and 55 miles per hour with that nasty bunch of cells coming your way. it's one of the inner outer bands now. and as the night goes on, every single band will get more windy and more windy, and the gusts will go higher and higher. >> and in terms of landfall, you're still thinking what, a category 2 for that area chad? >> absolutely. and with that landfall an the way the shape of the land is, anderson, the eye being right down here right now, as the eye comes up and the shape of the land is almost like a bowl. and it's going to hoard all of the water and it's going to make a big storm surge right here as the storm rolls right over, right on top, literally, of john zarrella in about ten hours. >> c

city and there's atlantic beach. kind of dual communities, one's kind of the ocean and one's the city right behind it.a major cell just to your south and southeast coming your way. this is probably the biggest cell that you've seen so far. winds will at least be 50. right now you're only seeing about 35, maybe 39. so almost tropical storm force. but in the next 20 minutes you will easily get to 50 and 55 miles per hour with that nasty bunch of cells coming your way. it's one of the inner outer bands now. and as the night goes on, every single band will get more windy and more windy, and the gusts will go higher and higher. >> and in terms of landfall, you're still thinking what, a category 2 for that area chad? >> absolutely. and with that landfall an the way the shape of the land is, anderson, the eye being right down here right now, as the eye comes up and the shape of the land is almost like a bowl. and it's going to hoard all of the water and it's going to make a big storm surge right here as the storm rolls right over, right on top, literally, of john zarrella in about ten hours. >> chad, stand b