in other news, authorities on the east coast of the united states from north carolina to new york city preparing for the arrival of hurricane i read this weekend. the mayor of new york said residents living in the lower levels of nyc should start moving out on friday before the expected arrival of the hurricane on sunday. it has already battered the bahamas, causing huge bad -- huge damage to buildings. we now speak to a teacher in long island, right in the path of the ongoing -- on coming hurricane. how are you preparing for this hurricane less than a week after an earthquake? >> all i am doing is i have bought some water and batteries from the stores, like everybody else. i have moved furniture off my balcony. other than that, that is about it. >> thousands have been evacuated. a state of emergency has been declared. is there a sense of panic? >> not at all. everybody is very calm. we have extreme weather on the island, from tropical storms to nor'easters. we are prepared for this kind of thing. everyone is quite calm,. but we have not had a hurricane on the island since the 1930's.

authorities on the east coast of the united states from north carolina to new york city are preparing for the arrival of hurricane irene this weekend. the mayor of new york has said residents living in low-lying areas of the city should start moving out on friday before the hurricane's expected arrival there on sunday. three hurricanes already battered the bahamas, causing huge damage to buildings. let's get the latest from john, a meteorologist at the u.s. national hurricane center in miami. we know the hurricane is not expected to hit until sunday, but what is the latest you can tell us about conditions there? >> here's the latest with irene. it's a category three hurricane. maximum winds right now with the hurricane are 115 miles an hour. at the moment, it's pulling away from the american bahamas and it's about 500 miles south of cape hat rass, north carolina. not a lot has changed with the system or the track. we still think it's going to turn to the north and likely begin to impact eastern portions of north carolina late tomorrow night and especially on saturday. the hurricane ma

from san francisco to san diego. irene is now slowly moving on to the east coast of the united states. the storm already lashing the outer banks in north carolina and expected to make landfall in that state tomorrow before moving up the east coast. a hurricane warning now in effect from north carolina. all the way north to massachusetts. president obama cutting short his family vacation on martha's vineyard, which is an island off the coast of massachusetts. he did not cut off his vacation before he took time to warn the other 65 million americans in the path of this storm to take this hurricane extremely seriously. >> all indications point to this being a historic hurricane. i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. don't wait. don't delay. >> the state of virginia residents are stacking sand bags against expected flooding. the governor there warning coastal residents to expect a storm surge of up to six feet when the hurricane comes ashore. in washington d.c. the mayor of d.c. declared a state of emergency warning of possible power outages and flooding. residents

united states. could make landfall anywhere from north carolina to massachusetts. keep a close eye on local watches and warnings. rainfall, the heaviest rains right now impacting these islands here. and even areas like hispaniola and puerto rico looking at showers. rainfall totals will really be adding up. watch out for continued high risk of flooding as well as landslides. in the next 72 hours, you can see the heavy rain moving into the mid-atlantic region of the united states too. so you will also want to start taking precautions now while you can. and finally, a look at europe. a big system sliding in towards the british isles showing good rotation here. showers are going to be just moving throughout the area over the course of tonight. showers will also start impa impacting western europe as well. and then for central areas and in towards the scandinavian peninsula, gusty weather moving through the area today. on thursday, highs will remain at 19 degrees in stockholm. looking much cooler. 28 in berlin, but very hot for vienna at 34 again. and steaming hot in bu

united states. it could make land fall anywhere from north carolina up towards massachusetts area. iera along where you want it to be the launch for this system, keep a close eye on rainings and warnings. impacting the islands here, even though there is a line towards puerto rico, rain shower totals will be adding up. watch aught for continues high risk of flooding as well as landslides. in the next 72 hours, rain moves in to the middle atlantic region of the united states. you want to start taking precautions now while you can. >>> finally, a look at europe. a big system in towards brit irn isles. showers are going to be moving throughout the area over the course of tonight. showers will also start impacting western europe as well. more central area and in towards the scandinavian. gusty weather will be moving through the area today. on thursday, highs will remain at 19 degrees in stockholm, looking much cooler. 28 in berlin. 34 again and steaming hot again in budapest. ke precautions for the heat. that is your weather for now. here is your three-day outlook. >>> stories this hour

tonight, evacuations from north carolina to new york city, as hurricane irene takes aim at the eastern united states. >>> missing mom shocker. a stunning twist in the disappearance of susan powell. tonight, police search her husband's home, after he speaks to abc news and his own father makes shocking claims about his wife. >> susan was very sexual with me. >>> and bush's 9/11. for the first time, president george w. bush talks about the attacks of september 11th. >> first reaction was anger, you know? who would do that to america? >> and his reaction to the news of osama bin laden's death. >> announcer: frfr the global resources of abc news,ith terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 25th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. well, we're looking at a historic weather event now. it's rare that storms this big and this violent take aim at major american cities along the eastern seaboard, but that is what's apparentry happening with hurricane irene, now a category 3 hurricane, with winds of 115 miles per hour. irene blew past flolorida todayn its wa

north carolina. that would be for saturday afternoon. so we still have time to prepare if you're watching this from the mid-atlantic and certainly southeastern united statesyou're okay georgia, florida and even south carolina i think is out of the woods here. but north carolina and points to the north, that is where the danger zone is going to be in the next 48. and then of course 72 hours. it remains to be seen the exact track, the eventual track. that's going to be important on whether we get a significant storm surge in new york or not. if it moves further to the east we don't. if it hugs the coast, or goes further inland then we get into that dangerous easterlies side of the storm where the water gets pushed on in. then we're going to be not only flooding from of course the significant rains that are coming but also from the storm surge as well. there's the red line. that's the official track. and there you see the models kind of converging right on top of new england. living in boston ten years i tell you it does not take much to flood the subways there and new york like-wise there. so even the water that is coming from the sky that is this arm of wa

from north carolina to vermont, the east coast is counting the cost of carrying costs -- irene's destruction. >> a bipartisan congressional commission says the united states government has wasted at least $30 billion in iraq and afghanistan for the last decade. it blamed fraud, locks accountability for much of the waste. japan's prime minister has resigned as head of a vote. yoshihiko noda is set to become japan's 6 prime minister in five years. he faces a divided legislator and the daunting prospect of rebuilding areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. we are in tokyo and we look at whether he has what it takes to overcome these challenges. >> he is a pretty good orator. his biggest challenge is going to be reaching the divide in japanese politics. his own party is split as well between various factions. what we can see of what he has done since he became leader of this party yesterday, significant. he has been talking to the leaders of the opposition, hoping to draw the men. he said they should all work together. he spent a lot of time working out his cabinet, trying to satisfy all the various factions. the problem is that many of its predecesso

united states is bracing for landfall this weekend. president barack obamaished an emergency declaration for the state of north carolina. we get more now from reporter karen caffa. >> reporter: irene was no lady as she blew through the bahamas with winds of more than 120 miles an hour. on track for a weekend landfall in the u.s. the first east coast target, north carolina where waves and sunny skies on thursday morning marked calm before the storm. a stark contrast with the governor's declaration of a state of emergency. >> we are asking people all over eastern north carolina to take this storm very seriously. the storm can impact 55 million americans. maryland declared a state emergency. the emergency magment agency, fema says the impact of the storm will not be confined to the coastline. >> tell not just be a coastal storl. we can see impact -- storm. we can see impacts inland winds with power outages and trees coming down because of the soil and also flooding. >> reporter: in the densely populated northeast corridor cities like washington, philadelphia and even new york city are preparing for a wet and windy and potentially dangerous wee

from a hurricane. what impact that has had, coming up. >>> as you know, hurricane irene is expected to make its first landfall on the east coast of the united states in north carolina. a spokesman said it could affect 20 counties, 3.5 million people in north carolina alone. that's where john is from atlantic beach. john, what time is it expected to come there? what kind of preparations have they been making? >> 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, anderson. if the eye crosses us here, that's the time the center of the storm is expected to get here. so just after first light. preparations they have taken. not a lot of people who have put up shutters or boarded up. we did see some. most of the people here, at least a good percentage of them, did decide to leave. others said they would go ahead and stay. mandatory evacuation. that means they still can't force you to leave but sit a mandatory evacuation. shelters are open just over in morehead city over the bridge. three that we know of. salvation army serving meals there. anderson, one thing as we see the wind picking up, we have gone through heavier wind and rain now. it gets heavier and heavier all the time. inland flooding

. >> in the united states, people on the east coast are bracing for the arrival as -- the arrival of hurricane irene. there is a state of emergency in effect from new york to north carolina. the new york mayor michael bloomberg has ordered the mandatory evacuation of a quarter of a million people in low-lying areas of the city. all along the eastern seaboard, people are boarding up windows and stocking up on essential supplies. >> behind these clouds, irene charges ahead. they point to a star map historic proportions. more than 60 million people living on the densely populated northeast coast are in danger. >> good morning, everybody. >> president obama send a clear warning. >> i cannot stress this timely enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. do not wait. do not delay. we all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. >> on the coast of north carolina, people are doing what they can to batten down the hatches. many have experienced the threats of an approaching hurricane before. >> i have been in this house for 11 years. this one looks like it'll be the worst. >> it is just going to get bigger. >>

from the turks and caicos. evacuation orders are ready in the united states, the barrier islands off of north carolina. let's take a look at the hurricane passed. -- hurricane path. >> it is expected to go to the bahamas over the next 24 hours. when we will be right back does the kron 4 morning news continues. h >> this propane fire has been burned for hours outside of sacramento and the town of lincoln. you can see here how much fire in enflame the are dealing with. the concern is now that this is showing signs of melting. their risk is no increase for an explosion after the israel car caught fire of last night. firefighters are trying the best they can to keep it cool, but it does appear to be coming apart. this is something that we are really monitoring. the 29,000 gal. taker is overloaded with a liquid propane. the fire started last night. this is a video. thousands of homes in the area have been evacuated. they have also canceled school. the first of school was supposed to happen in this town. school has been cancelled. they're keeping everyone away. developments in libya, from an unknown location

united states. irene is packing maximum winds of 115 miles an hour and may get stronger today. we'll have a live report from north carolina >>> the opening bell has rung on wall street. more gains yesterday led world markets to stay positive as investors hoped for more of the same today. >>> and in tripoli, the hunt for moammar gadhafi may be nearing its end. a group of rebels say they have gadhafi in and his sons surrounded in a cluster of apartment buildings near gadhafi's compound. we'll keep a close eye on this developing story. >>> other stories making headlines -- >>> "forbes" released its annual list of the world's most 100 powerful women today. german chancellor angela merkel tops the hlist, hillary clinton is number two, michelle obama is number eight, and lady gaga is number 11, and michele bachmann is 22nd, and sarah palin at 34. and also making the list, nbc's very own ann curry coming in at lucky number 66. those following the vice president's asia trip may have noticed something we rarely see from world leaders. a little bit of time travel. the vice president's plane, air force 2, depart eed yakota air force

places along the east coast of the united states, from the carolinas, all the way up to maine the next couple of days, so evacuation evacuationse already underway on north carolina's outer banks. what can we expect in the days ahead from this monster storm? joining us on the phone from miami, bill read is director of the national hurricane center. bill, welcome, good to have you here. what's the latest on irene? >> reporter: good morning, martha, and your listeners, we've got irene is in the southeast bahamas, aircraft flying this morning has confirmed that it is intensifying as forecast and is now 115 miles per hour, category three hurricane. it will be moving slowly towards the west-northwest and west today and mostly through tomorrow through the bahamas and of course a lot of the interests on the east coast are paying attention with these that are moving northwest and north, so the entire coastline from the carolinas through new england should pay close attention because that is the area of potential impact as we get into late friday through early monday. martha: what about the speed of this storm? you know, obviously it's over those warm waters in t

from nebraska state treasurer, donald rumsfeld -- donald stenberg and from charleston, north carolina, this is about 20 minutes. [applause] >> nebraska will be represented by a genuine lifelong conservative in the united states senate. as nebraska's next united states senator, i'll vote to repeal obamacare. [cheers and applause] i will vote to secure our borders. [cheers and applause] i will vote to cut federal spending and balance the federal budget. [applause] i will vote to defend life, the second amendment, and religious freedom. [applause] i'm honored to have been endorsed by red state and by mark levin, and honored to have the support of many, many tea parties all across the state of nebraska, and i'm honored to be here today. you all are the salvation of our nation, and god bless you for all that you do for our country. [applause] america, today, is going in the wrong direction. we have a president who apologizes for our nation instead of leading it. we have a president of the united states who bows to foreign dictators instead of standing up to them. we need a new direction. we need a new president, and we need to restore america. restoring america must begin with defending our freedom. our fo

states of emergency from new york to north carolina. leaders there are warning residents to simply get out. find higher ground. even the president of the unitedt he calls an historic hurricane. more updates straight ahead. >>> and how one man turned a deadly diagnosis into a new mission helping haiti's poorest kids. this week's cnn hero after this. we were so blessed when we had triplets. if by blessed you mean freaked out about money. well, we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive, so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. [ laughs ] thanks, honey. yeah. you suck at folding. [ laughs ] that's my tide. what's yours? [ female announcer ] find the tide that's right for you at tide.com. it's true. you never forget your first subaru. >>> when this week's cnn hero was diagnosed with incurable cancer, he sold his business and started helping children in his native haiti where many still live in tent cities after last year's deadly earthquake. >> haiti, ever

united states is on high alert. hurricane irene is closing in. pelting the east coast. right now blasting away as a category 2 hurricane showing no mercy. so far forced evacuation of more than two million from north carolina, maryland, delaware, new jersey, new york, connecticut, on to massachusetts. irene is fierce and you should take her seriously. this could be a matter of life and death. it has not just life and death, she is turning the country upside down. 2,400 flights cancelled. amtrak trains traveling the eastern seaboard, cancelled. governors warning citizens, governor christie warning people to get the hell off the beach. adding you are done working on your tan in new york city, the country's largest mass transit system getting shutdown for the first time ever because of a natural disaster. mayor bloomberg says some refuse to evacuate and he doesn't have the manpower to drag people out. let us a repeat this is serious. if you don't follow evacuation order you could be in irene's path of rain and you could be in big trouble. we are expecting new advisory, as soon as we get it we'll bring it to you. joining us fox news meteorologist maria molina. >> everyone needs take this seriously. it is so la

united states. i am not running to be any person's judge. and i -- i ascribe dignity and honor to all people,no matter who they are. that's how i view people. >> laura: joining us now from north carolina with some thoughts on how representative bachmann handled those questions. the purveyor of bernard goldberg.com. mr. goldberg. bernie, good to see you. so, how did she fare yesterday? she did the big rounds. and i don't know. i watched it i thought she acquitted herself quite well. she got some tough questions. >> yeah. i disagree. i disagree. first of all, i think they are not only tough questions but fair questions. michele bachmann went to a church a while ago and said that her husband had told her that he thinks she should become a tax lawyer. she said at the time i'm not interested in taxes but then she told the church group, but the bible says a wife should be submissive to her husband and so, therefore, i did it. laura i don't care if she is submissive or her husband is submissive. nic anything about that when she is asked a question and her explanation is submissive means respect. no, it doesn't. the two words aren't synonymous at all. >> laura: she was obviously talking about

from a hurricane and what kind of impact that has had coming up. >>> hurricane irene is expected to make its first landfall along the east coast of the united states in north carolinaate spokesman says he is concerned about the eastern half of state that it could affect 20 counties, 3 1/2 million people in north carolina alone john zarrella is with us from atlantic beach. >> reporter: 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, if the eye crosses us here that's the time the center of the storm is expected to get here. so just after first light. prpgss they're taken, not a lot of people have put up shutters or boarded up. we did see some. most of the people here at least a good percentage of them did decide to leave. others said they were going to go ahead and stay. mandatory evacuation, of course that means they still can't force you to leave. but they did issue a mandatory evacuation. police are patrolling all up and down here. shelters are open just over in morehead city over the bridge, three shelters that we know of. salvation army is serving meals there. anderson, one thing to point out as we see the wind picking up and we've gone through some heavier wind and rain now, it ju

united states. >> explain this to me. because the moment it happened, we're all on twitter and getting tweets from georgia. georgia. south carolina, north d.c. all the way up through manhattan to martha's vineyard, ohio, west virginia. people all over felt this thing. why is that? it's because it's one single plate. >> the earth's crust west of the rockies is different than the earth's crust east of the rockies. earthquakes in the eastern united states propagate over a much larger distance and can be felt over a much larger area than the same size earthquake would be in the western united states. it's not unusual that we're feeling this earthquake over such a large part of the united states. >> also curious, the aftershocks. i talked to someone in walk ton d.c., no they didn't feel them. talked to someone where the epicenter was. gosh, she's felt five. how does that happen? >> earthquakes are an almost inevitable part of any larger earthquake. just because it takes a while for the earth's crust to sort of come back into an equilibrium after an earthquake. the aftershocks are smaller than the earthquake. this is a 5.9. it was not that la

from space as big as the state of arizona right now. heading towards the coast of the united states. >>> overnight the national hurricane center issued a hurricane watch for parts of north carolinaericans along the entire eastern seaboard are being told to be on alert. mandatory evacuations begin one hour from now for all visitors on north carolina's outer banks. >> in the bahamas reports of heavy damage still coming in. officials saying 90% of homes in at least would settlements are destroyed. electricity is out in parts of the country. >> jim spelman is in the bahamas in the town of nassau. meteorologist jacqui jeer as is at the cnn head quarters in atlantic. let's begin with jim. we know you are bracing for a very rough day there. are the winds picking up? what are the conditions like now? >> reporter: yes. the winds definitely have been picking up over the last few hours. and -- sos that rain. rain that pounds you. the whole island is taking a beating here. we have seen it pick up. now that the sun is up, we can see and of these teresa little more, you can see how steady this wind is, just pounding everybody here on the island. one of the big issues here, when this hits the

barrels towards the united states, mandatory evac yeas orders are underway for one barrier island off north carolina, with more sure to come. we are awaiting the latest storm update from the national hurricane center. according to the latest tracking informs, irene is now a cat two storm, packing 100-mile per hour winds, and could possibly hit the carolinas on saturday, as a category three storm. fox news meteorologist janice dean is live in the weather center as she has been all day tracking this thing. j.d. >> reporter: megyn, we are awaiting that advisory at 2:00, that will give us the coordinates of the storm, if it is strength thing and -- strengthening and we are expecting a category three, as you mentioned, a major hurricane, and there is nothing in this storm's way. we have the bahamas, 700 islands that make up the bahamas, they are going to feel the wrath of a major hurricane with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour which could be devastating and as this storm continues to move on up towards the u.s. there's really no major land mass to tear this storm apart which is what you really hope for, you don't hope for folks to be in harm's way, but we need to lose

united states is bigger than the continent of europe, so we're talking a lot of damage and it's not just isolated to the coast. >> what about the outer banks? i'm a student from chapel hill, north carolinafor vacation, a beautiful spot. a lot of people are worried about tourism season. officials are saying tourism come spend labor day with us. kate, does that sound overly optimistic to you? >> well, you know, the outer banks were hit really hard. there are still people stranded in hatteras and in that area. i would say proceed with caution. some of the roads are still probably dangerous and you know, i don't know. i've been out there. i know it's a fun time but you're talking about going into an area that just survived a hurricane. >> are you guys able to get into hatteras or ocracoke at all? i know there's a slow-moving ferry trying to get that way but if there in any sort of need for medical, how will they get it? >> the red cross, our mission is really to provide those emergency needs, which that ferry is h

from north carolina, the coast, all the way to the jersey shore. tens of thousands evacuating the shoreline as irene, which is a high-end category 2 storm, moves closer to the united statestions now spreading north. thousands of people have already been told to leave north carolina's outer banks, also parts of maryland and new jersey. new york city ordering hospitals and nursing homes located in low-lying areas to evacuate. >> irene forcing amtrak and a number of u.s. airlines to cancel routes and flight s american canceled 126 flights and more expected to be grounded today. american, u.s. airways, delta, jetblue, southwest and air tran all dropped ticket change fees for passengers scheduled to fly two or from many cities along the east coast this weekend. >>> let's go to rob marciano to tell us how bad a disruption this will be for 50 million people. >> the systems that try to kick this storm out have already been disrupted. we had that cool front that came through yesterday with thunderstorms. that tried to push irene out. now we have another one that's going to come through over the weekend. this thing is so big, it's like a big log moving down a stream. it takes a pr

north carolina. we can all name a dozen people who came here as students who were somehow immune to the charms of the united states. >> fromlibya. >> yes. >> i love his name. >> dozens of people who have come here and have not fallen in love, fallen out of love with the american idea. can you talk about that as a national security problem for a minute? >> the most important id log from modern islammist extremism is a fellow who became ral calized by living in rural colorado in the early 1940's and 1950's and so shocked by what he saw when he returned to his native egypt -- >> qatar. >> yes, he developed a whole ideology in which the west was a source of all evil. it's definitely true someone can go to an american college campus and conclude the united states is a cesspool of sin and should be wiped from the face of the earth. unfortunately, that's not the experience you would have at the university of virginia, i will just tell you right now. >> it's a very high-minded place. >> i'm sorry people have these experiences in places like north carolina and colorado, but you would not have that in charlottesville. it is true --

united states. parts of north carolina under a hurricane watch right now. you can see in this new video from republic that irene already causing major damage in that country as it continues to swirl right now over the bahamas as well as the turks and kaikos it's just moving out of. there she is, that's a gigantic storm. hundreds of miles across. it is not expected to impact florida significantly although the outer bands will. the big thing is over the next couple of days is going to be scooting up toward north carolina. and here's the more horrifying part of it. currently, it is a tropical -- rather, it is a category 3 at 115 miles per hour. it's going to be a category 4 within the next 24 hours. and then it's going to take aim on coastal north carolina over the next couple of days. probably make landfall as a category 3 and then as it moves towards the northeast, it has, perhaps, new york, either the city or long island, cape cod, in its sights. 55 million americans could be impacted by this storm. >> you know, i thought it was crazy but i saw it was going to rain today. has nothing to do w