you're looking at where prattsville, new york, used to be. prattsville, parts of it are gone. the town of 600, parts of it washed away. everyone got away safely but don't have much to return to. of course, compared to jop pin, missouri, she was stranded there by rising floodwaters and joins us shortly. still stranded there tonight. irene dumped as much as a foot of rain on to full rivers and reservoirs. look at that truck trying to get through. that water has to go through somewhere. this scene in new jersey where big military trucks are having a hard time getting around. rivers and streams overflowing. some above record flood levels or soon to be. largely because of the damage could hit $7 billion making it one of the ten most expensive disasters in american history, as many as 5 million are still without people. lines are down nearly everywhere. several have been electrocuted. some have drowned. the death toll rose to 27. first how we got there, saturday, 7:30 a.m. hurricane irene makes its first landfall as a category 1 hurricane. waves slammed the north carolina coastline

they are in prattsville, new york, and this is an arena includes prattsville, new york, and you can just see the amount of water that has occurred a on the flooding that has occurred as this has taken over. you see the shadow of the helicopter as this has taken over areas of new york. we will have more on this and the story of the families trapped in that area after a quick break. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? be h

you're looking where the town of prattsville, new york used to be. parts of it are gone. the town of about 600 people, parts of it washed away. everyone got away safely, but they don't have much to return to. this is what it looks like at ground level. a correspondent who shot this compared it to joplin, missouri after the tornado. she was stranded there by rising floodwaters. she joins us shortly still stranded there, actually, tonight. irene dumped as much as a foot of rain on the northeast onto already waterlogged ground onto already full rivers and waters. look at that truck trying to get through the water. that water has to go somewhere and it doesn't care who or what is in the way. from virginia to vermont, rivers and streams were overflowing, some now well above record flood levels or soon to be. largely because of the flooding, damage from hurricane irene could hit $7 billion, making it one of the ten most expense si disasters in american history. as many as 5 million people are still without power. lines are down everywhere it hit. some have been electrocuted, so

the town of prattsville, itself, there is nothing left.here is fire down there and firemen and i believe that national guard is down there as well. >> diana, has anybody told you whether or not there's going to be a rescue party on the way or are you guys basically stuck there for a while? >> we are safe. we will be able to get out. it may take a long time. because the roads need to be repaired. but we are okay up here. >> all right. diana -- >> we -- >> we know it is difficult conditions that you and your family are enduring and we wish the very best for you, and we know it is a matter of days before people can communicate with each other. i want to go to a live event that we are being told that this is mitt romney. he is speaking before the veterans of foreign wars in san antonio, texas. let's listen in. >> called upon to defend liberty. we rightly call our fathers and mothers the greatest generation, but every woman, and every man who has or now defends american liberty from the beaches of normandy to the valleys of the hindu kush to th

the teams have rescued 87 people so far today in prattsville. high the water is. >> they are in the catskill mountains. it's a village of 600 people. here is the creek right where they are. to give you perspective, here is flood stage. you can see at 12 feet. major flood stage is 16 feet. where is prattvville tonight with water in the basement? 18.5 feet. 18 and a half feet, almost record stage for this area. it is just about one more feet. 19.6 feet. incredibly scary. this is the water. now sculhary creek at prattsville. . 18.47. flood stage is 12 feet. last octob t

more video of the area around prattsville new york, established 1824. briefly a boom town for hemlock trees used in leather processing. there were 300 occupied homes here. now that's anyone's guess how many homes might be able to be occupied. megan cruz and her photographer from cable news are responsible for the video you are seeing. you said the town looked like it was wiped off the map. >> definitely. we arrived here probably late afternoon. this is not in our usual coverage but when we came it was all water. i would not have known there was an established community unless somebody said, do you see that house there, there are supposed to be other houses there. >> you have been trapped there since last night, right? >> i have. let me give you an idea of the flooding. if you could follow me over here, can you see where the creek is now? imagine where i'm standing, that creek flooded to this point and a mile out of town even more. definitely this is flooding that no one has seen here before. the smaller roads around have been flooded. we are told there

. >> reporter: in the catskills, towns like prattsville were among the hardest hit. today, looking where her daughter's trailer once stood. >> she lost everything. she has a 2-year-old baby and she's having a baby any time now. >> reporter: meanwhile, in land-locked vermont, people in more than a dozen towns are reportedly cut off after raging floodwaters badly damaged or even washed away roads and more than 200 bridges. after getting married over the weekend at her childhood summer camp. >> the wedding was beautiful. the rain had not set in in the morning. it was gorgeous. >> reporter: the wedding party and more than 100 guests might be trapped for days until the army corps of engineers can replace the washed-out bridge. in ludlow, bulldozers cleared debris. neighbors got to work, too. >> is there anything i can do, really? >> reporter: in manville, new jersey, resources and emotions stretched to the limit. >> it's tough, but life goes on, you know? my dad built this house. and now i lost it. >> reporter: brian, there are decisions being made all up and down the eas

new york state has also been hard hit by irene, including the town of prattsville. take a look at this. this is video from sunday showing the massive flood waters raging through the streets. 21 people had to be rescued just yesterday with the help of a state helicopter. the total cost of damage could add up to $10 billion. >> the federal government does not cover insured loss, it only steps in for uninsured loss. we've been up in the air in north carolina, for example, we're going to move those as quickly as possible. >> millions are still without power and it could be days before it's restored to some areas. >>> now, irene is continuing to cause travel problems, even here at sfo and airports across the country. airlines are still trying to rebook passengers from flights that were canceled over the weekend, and that could take until the end of the week. as always, call your airline head of time and don't show up at the airport unless you have confirmed your flight. >>> san francisco-based wells fargo bank is trying to help east coasters affected by hurricane irene.

in fact, just up the road, at a town called prattsville, they're totally cut off, hoping for airlifts of food. diane. >> all right, jim, thanks. and so we know the floods are bad after irene, but a lot of the dire predictions about explosive winds hitting skyscrapers didn't happen. so was it really necessary to evacuate more than 2 million people? abc's clayton sandell decided to take a look at why some of the science was wrong. >> if you haven't left, you should leave now. >> reporter: the dire warnings were hard to miss -- >> monster category 3 or 4 storm. >> reporter: but with irene not quite living up to the hype -- >> people sitting on the beach in asbury park, get the hell off the beach. >> reporter: monday morning meteorologists are wondering what happened. some think irene might hit the u.s. as a category 4 catastrophe. when it came ashore, it was a much weaker storm. >> of course that's the problem, because the evacuations are, in large part, determined by the intensity of the hurricane. >> reporter: what happened with irene highlights that predicting hurricane intensity, how

. >> reporter: fast-rising storm waters surrounding a motel in prattsville, where at least 21 were rescued and are now safe. country officials there are urgigi residents to move to higher ground, a warning that just came after the creek crested at 15 feet. >> we're worry about the integrity of the giboa dam. there's a lot of water going over. >> reporter: just 15 miles away, if the giboa dam bretches, that water will come rushing north creating devastating floods. in windham, new york, this house swept into the overflow and the buses sank. as police stared in disbelief. in vermont, a situation equally grim. hundreds evacuate after raging waters flooded homes. submerging cars and stopping just about everything. >> the water came over the edge. took out this whole street. >> reporter: just look at what kind of stress these bridges are under. pieces of log jammed inside and in fact, this bridge itself was covered during the night. robin? >> jim, where you are, the flood water is receding. how fast is it going down? >> reporter: it's actually going down pretty quickly. as you can see, it's abo

we didn't know what prattsville looks like. this is not in our usual coverage area. it was all water. i would not have known there was an established community unless somebody said you see that house there, there's supposed to be other houses around there. >> emergency workers rescued close to 90 people on sunday before 70-mile-an-hour wind gusts ground the effort. dozens are believed to be in shelters and safe. >> to rob marciano. always amazes me after the hurricane blows over, what a beautiful day arrives afterward. >> it can also be really, really hot when the sun comes out. it has been pleasant, dry and low levels of humidity, but the waters in many areas still rising. one such place the passaic river west of here in new jersey one of our affiliates wabc had their chopper up and showing some of the flooding and preparations. in boontown, about 20 miles west of manhattan. the suburbs here where they're making preparations for this river which is forecast to crest later this morning through this afternoon. you see some of the rushing waters there. a little bit rag

. >> welcome to prattsville, new york, irene ripped through this placid community 140 miles from manhattanstroying homes, roads and lives. >> my job is pretty much no more right now. it's going to take a while to get back to where we were. >> flooding still a major problem in new jersey. the willow brook mall in wayne is all but submerged. >> fortunately we were spared the heavy winds from thurn. but this type of damage is far more devastating in the long run. >> irene veered into vermont with avengeance cutting off entire communities from civilization with the worst flooding in 0 years. >> out of the 15 record crests, the highest the river has ever gotten across the irene spread here, five of them occurred here in the state of vermont. >> that was jim cantore in vermont where we actually find our nbc's ron allen. ron, get us up to date on the rescue and recovery efforts. i understand that emergency management officials have been using national guard helicopters to airlift food and supplies. >> reporter: exactly. there are about a dozen towns in vermont that are essentially cut off. so man

we'll speak to a reporter who is trapped in a town in prattsville, new york, as that place was devastated when the flood first started happening yesterday, i'm telling you the water, it's like an established community. it wasn't even there. that's how bad it was. it was all under water. when we tried to figure out how to get out, everybody laughed at us. they said there's no way out. all the surrounding roads are flooded. and the power is out. so it's kind of too dangerous to drive through, so we decided to stay at the red cross shelter and come down here this morning. >> we'll tell you what it's like for residents tonight. we're following the revolution in libya. several of gadhafi's family members have escaped to algeria. how they did it, and the question of course remains where is gadhafi? we'll talk with reporters in tripoli. and plus, nic, he tracked down the lockerbie bomber. apparently on his death bed. and new reports about the convicted child rapist warren jeffs. he fell ill, he was rushed to the hospital. tell you why he's now in a coma. he looks very different. a very different

we'll head there for the latest and speak with a reporter trapped in prattsville, new york. devastated. several of gadhafi's family members fled to nigeria. how did that happen? the question remains, where is gadhafi. we're in tripoli for the latest. >>> and the trackdown for the lockerbie bomber. the only libyan held responsible for the deaths on that flight. he's on his deathbed. we'll hear about the conversation he had with his family. >>> plus, polygamist leader and child rapist warren jeffs. we'll show you how his followers remain faithful. right after piers morgan. eaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. >>> join once more my special guest mark cuban. if you're watching mark cuban right now, you'll realize he needs to run for president. hash mark, mark cuban 2012. i must imagine one of the great days of

new york state has also been hard hit by irene, including the town of prattsville. take a look. this video from sunday shows the massive flood waters raging through the streets. 21 people had to be rescued yesterday with the help of a state helicopter. the total cost of damage could add up to $10 billion. >>> irene is continuing to cause travel problems here at sfo and airports across the country. airlines are still trying to rebook passengers from flights that were canceled over the weekend. that could take until the end of the week. now, as always, call your airline ahead of time and don't show up at the airport unless you have confirmed your flight. >>> san francisco-based wells fargo is trying to help east coasters affected by hurricane irene. the bank is waiving the fees normally charged to customers when they use another bank's atm. the fee waiver only applies to customers in new york, new jersey and connecticut. other banks such as jp morgan chase are also waiving their own atm fees. >>> time now 5:09. a police search in santa clara following an attack at a denny's restau

new york governor andrew cuomo toured some of the devastation in prattsville in the catskill mountains we believe at the end of the day the total damage will be close to $1 billion. over 600 homes destroyed. six towns inundated. 150 major highways have been damaged. 22 state bridges closed. in the area of agriculture, over $45 million in damage. 140,000 acres and still climbing. >> brown: in northern new jersey, new evacuations took place overnight in paterson-- the state's third-largest city-- as the passaic river crested. elsewhere, people like bonnie riddick of lodi, new jersey returned to their homes to find a daunting clean-up ahead of them. >> this is my second flood in five years. i'm getting the hell out of here. so, my whole apartment i can't get back in for like a month, two months, until we gut all the walls, do all the electrical work again. so annoying. >> brown: power outages and flooding also meant that summer vacation will last a few days longer for schools across new england. a number of districts delayed the start of the new school year, which had been set for this we

the town of prattsville, new york, also one of the hardest hit areas, and we want to show you video. take a look at this if you haven't seen it, this is from sunday, showing the massive flood waters raging through the streets there. total cost of damage could be $10 billion at this point. stay with us here, though, on the ktvu channel 2 morning news because coming up in just a little bit we're going to go to one of the other hard hit areas, agawaw, massachusetts. adam housely was out there and he was talking about the number of bridges that are wiped out because of the flood waters. so, of course, that means people are going to be stranded, it's going to take a long time to get back to anything close to normal, but the president heading to that area. >> i was thinking yesterday also about the after effects, snakes. >> oh, gosh, yeah. >> mold and all kinds. >> in new jersey they're dealing with sewage, brown water through the town. it's really just a mess. >>> time now 6:11. get ready for tiger, how bay area golf fans can get up close and personal with the biggest star in golf. >>> a

. >> reporter: much of prattsville demolished. anastasia lost her house. and is now homeless. >> water started coming through the door, then the walls started to break and the moldidi started to pop and i knew i was in trouble. >> reporter: the town, she says, is devastated. >> everyone's lost everything. my brother's yearbook was found miles away. i mean floating and that was in the basement of our house. >> reporter: the national guard flew over the susquehanna river to assess the damage. now the cleanup. here in wilmington the water climbs the stairs of these businesses along main street with much more ease than i did. so you say the water was over your waist. >> yes. >> reporter: and now you have all this mud here. >> this is where -- this is how high it came. this is how high it came. >> reporter: so what are you going to do now. >> we're going to clean it up and we're going to look for stuff on the side of the road and start again. >> reporter: what's extremely unfortunate is that many of the homeowners and business own ers are in the same boat and d

we were there in prattsville earlier when a flood first started happening yesterday.elling you, the water, it's like an established community wasn't even there. that's how bad it was. it was all underwater. when we were trying to figure out how to get out, everybody laughed at us. they said there is no way out. all the surrounding roads are flooded. the power is out. it's too dangerous to drive. we decided to stay at the shelter and come here again tomorrow. >> play it safe like many suggested. megan cruz with affiliate ynn. appreciate your time. >> caller: thank you. >>> the u.s. could lose an important tool for predicting storms like hurricane irene. we'll tell you why right after this. >>> breaking news. let's bring to you the white house press conference taking place. the white house briefing. >>> charlie chris held that position until president obama asked him to lead people a he is here to take your questions and give you an update on hurricane irene and its consequences. so why don't we have mr. fugate make a few points. then i will take your questions on other

this is prattsville in the cat skill mountains. officials say the volume of water rushing through the riverbanks is more than what's flowing over niagara falls today. just think about that. it stranded people in their homes and hotels. no way for rescuers to get to them. next, i want to share video from rhode island. 300,000 people there in the dark. no electricity. several of these, you can see them downed trees, just sheer wind power took them down. half the state is affected here. listen now as rhode island's governor is speaking a short time ago. >> really what we're focusing on is getting the power back. rhode islanders without power getting antsy. they want to -- that's really where our focus is. we'll assessment damage and the cost and everything else. that's our priority right now. >> and in vermont, that is where it looks like the flooding is worse today. you know, some towns in the southern part of the state are completely underwater. others being battered by raging rivers that are far out of their banks today. let's go n

meanwhile, north of jersey in prattsville, new york, search teams continue looking for the missing. of missing now is still unknown. >>> president obama's uncle is arrested for driving under the influence. police say onyango obama, seen here, was arrested last week in framingham, massachusetts after failing a sobriety test. he is the half-brother of president obama's father. according to a federal law enforcement source, president obama's uncle is not in the united states legally and had previously been ordered to leave the country. his case is now reportedly going through the immigration process. >>> polygamist leader warren jeffs is hospitalized in tyler, texas in critical but stable condition. prison officials say jeffs is not in a coma as previously reported. jeffs reportedly has not been eating since he was found guilty of sexual assault. take a look at this picture of him in jail. here's a photo of jeffs during the trial on the left. as you can see, he lost quite a bit of weight. we will bring you more on warren jeffs next hour. >>> a controversial penalty at a high school foo

the village of prattsville pretty much doesn't exist anymore. and i was will listening to the earlier commentary about we're used to flooding, and as a ski community we're used to snow runoff in the spring and that kind of stuff, but the devastation this has caused not only in its severity, but it happened so quickly. the rain came and, you know, in buckets within a 5-10 hour window of time, and there was just no, there was no ability to collect it in the normal stream system. it just came down main street. megyn: and now you've had massive flooding, some of which we're seeing here. and i understand it's to the point now where food and water has become a critical issue. >> yeah. we're using the national guard to hump up both bottled water and potable water for people who are continuing to shelter in place. we're bringing gasoline up for use for home generators, even something as basic as diesel fuel for all of the emergency vehicles and heavy equipment vehicles that are moving away debris is running on short supply for us. so the storm may be ov

getting our first look from the ground at the stunning damage in the small upstate new york town of prattsvilleon that can be made is it looks like parts of new orleans did after katrina. without, of course, the extreme loss of life. only this is hours inland. record rainfall forced creeks to swell, walls of water surged down the mountains, ripped homes off of their foundations, slabs of concrete and layers of mud left behind. roads and bridges into towns were wiped out and that's left hundreds of people stranded. and take a look at this, a railroad bridge just gone. the tracks left behind, hanging 15 feet in the air. this came to us from an i-reporter in vermont. the railroad bed swept away by floodwaters from irene. >>> on the day after hurricane irene, an incredible rescue in new hampshire caught on tape. a father and his two daughters, age 7 and 9, nearly swept away while riding on a jet ski in the raging merrimack river. looking at them clinging to this dam cable kept them from going over a waterfall. rescuers got to the family with only seconds to spare. >> both -- all three hanging on to