tracie strahan of wnbc, thank you. >>> moments ago president obama canceled a campaign appearance in florida in order to get back to the white house sooner to monitor the storm. nbc's tracie potts has the latest for us from washington. tracie, what's going on? >> reporter: veronica, as you can see things are changing literally by the hour. the president is going to be here and not in florida this morning. so far here we just have light rain. as you can see these campaigns are taking no chances. >> reporter: governor romney will join ryan's bus tour in ohio. president obama canceled events in virginia and colorado. he'll do one last rally in florida today before heading back to washington. on sunday the president met with fema, the federal emergency management agency overseeing the government's plans to help states and cities. >> anything they need, we will be there. we're going to cut through red tape. we're not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules. >> reporter: in florida the president told campaign workers turnout is the key. >> whoever is able to get their voters out, they

right now we go to reporter tracy strahan of wnbc in rock way beach, this morning. tracy, what is it looking like right now? >> reporter: like these waves will quickly be approaches the boardwalk where we're standing, veronica. the winds intensified about a couple of hours ago. if this wind is only the beginning of the storm it's clear that new york city will be in for a hard hit from tropical storm sandy as it is now. 375,000 have been forced to evacuate their homes. mandatory order for zone "a" where we're standing in the rockaways. but driving around not a lot of people have heeded that warning deciding to stay put and batten down the hatches but are prepared for the storm and breaking out generators and boarding up their homes. it just remains un cleclear whe or not that will be enough to stand up to the storm. they're having coastal evacuations. the long island railroad that runs from new york city to long island has been shut down, service from new york city's buses and subways have come to a halt as well. there are evacuation shelters being set up in new york

. >> as tracy strahan reports, it all began because the man was sleeping on a couch. >> reporter: inments, this security video shows fists swinging at a crown heights outreach center. two cops versus one man in an incident lawmakers say crossed the line. some audibly gamsed during a news conference when showing what has become a viral video on social media. and called for the officers, seen unleashing on a seemingly defenseless man, to be disciplined. >> this is not new york city's finest. there are no two sides to this story. there is only one side. >> reporter: for their part, nypd says their officers were responding to a 911 call to a fight inside the outreach center which often houses homeless men. >> i don't know what this officer was thinking to assume that stance he assumed or to attack an innocent man after he is already in cuffs on the ground. but that's not police procedure. >> reporter: ehud hal eveni who has now crashed on this couch claims he had permission to sleep there. watch as the video captures the male police officer suddenly sizing him up, breaking into a fightin