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Continued Live Coverage of Hurricane Sandy

Aired October 28, 2012 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Don Lemon here. Look at that, shaky camera at the Atlantic city boardwalk courtesy of our affiliate WPBI. It just show you - illustrates what is coming. And guess what, it not even that close yet. So, it is going to be a monster.

More of our continuing coverage right now of hurricane Sandy. You know, this storm is coming and you know will hit the east coast somewhere probably late tomorrow. And more than likely in the area of Delaware, Maryland and southern New Jersey, that is the CNN severe weather team. And I have Chad Myers standing by right here, right now, to get the very latest on the position, the storm track, give us the storm track, get to him in just a second.

But, I want to look at all the places we have CNNers out tonight. Chad, of course is here, and we have Josh Levs, also our Nick Valencia. And they covering from here at Atlanta at the CNN hurricane desk. Chad, is in the CNN severe weather center for us.

Sandra, Athena, Alison, They are on the coast where the hurricane is headed, right where Sandy is headed. And we are going to talk to them all this hour.

So, let's get the very latest on Sandy's track now from CNN's Chad Myers. Chad is here. You know, I'm doing the talking between Chad, because Chad is are the star of this show he knows what's going on.

We have talked about -- you said don't let the category fool you. This is a big storm. And I just read where it was going to come to shore. Do we know for sure, because it said D.C. earlier in that area. But, do we know for sure?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, I don't think D.C. was ever in the middle of the cone.

LEMON: Right.

MYERS: I mean, you can't focus out middle of the cone. I keep saying that although you still look at it.

LEMON: Right.

MYERS: Anywhere from Virginia/Delaware border, on up to almost New York city is still the cone. The center of that, somewhere over Atlantic city, New Jersey. That's kind of where we think, maybe Cape Maine Wildwood, Ocean City, New Jersey. This is the issue with the storm, Don. And you just - you reiterated it perfectly. Category one with this storm means nothing. This has the same pressure as a category three hurricane. It doesn't have the same wind as at cat three, as the same pressure. So, if it was a perfect storm and had a perfect eye, this would be 130-mile-per-hour storm. That means the potential is still there when this comes on shore, to be a big wind maker for a very long time. Typically, storms, they just hit the land and they die. I don't see that happening with this one. It is going to be a 60 to 80-mile-an-hour wind gust maker for maybe 24 hours.

Think about just that one tree in your yard that gets hit by a 60- mile-per-hour wind gust and then it gets hit again, and it hits again, for 24 hours. These trees are not going to have a chance, at least the millions trees, many more people without power than I have seen in a very long time.

Here is what's called the GFS model. And I have been tweeting about these models all week long. I just kind want to show you what the model is saying and what an enormous big spin this storm has. Here is the pressure in the west, the lines as they get closer together make more wind. The lines out west are calm, some light winds out here, but the bull's eye that is this storm, Sandy, will bring wind all the way to Maine, Newfoundland, as far as south as Georgia, it is cold and windy here outside right now. Here at CNN center and could even see winds over 60 miles per hour through Michigan, Down Lake, Michigan, big-time erosion on the southern of Michigan, 20-foot waves there on the south side. That would be like Garry and south haven, Battery, that is where you will see that pounding surf erosion and a lot of coastal flooding - Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Chad.

You know, we are going to get to the coast where our reporters are now, but I just want to update you on some of the information that we have here.

I want to tell you that the president declared state of emergency for Washington, D.C. That was just a little bit earlier tonight. Also, Russell Honore who knows all of this said that is a big deal when the president declares something, rather than a governor or someone asking for it.

Also, declaring a state of emergency for New York, the entire state of New York, again, I read that off the computer, off the advisory wires and General Russel Honore, rushed into the studio and said, hey, Don, that's big deal. It's only happen a couple of times.

GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: Absolutely. The first time it happened was hurricane Andrew. Subsequently, Katrina, believe it or not, and President Obama during hurricane Isaac just a few weeks ago, back in August.

Now, the significance of this for like the District of Columbia, which has a National Guard, as you know, is not a state. They could not deal with the overtime and the amount of effort it's going to take to clean up after this storm without that presidential declaration. And that same thing is true for each state to get the National Guard, pay overtime, get first responders out, open those shelters, get the red cross in there to run to shelters, all this happened as a result of the Stafford act and money appropriated by the federal government.

LEMON: After Katrina?

HONORE: Absolutely, after Katrina. And after each storm.

LEMON: And after each storm. Very simple question, to the point here. First priority, what is it?

HONORE: People.

LEMON: People.

HONORE: Keeping people alive. This whole effort beyond the crafty words and one-liners is keeping people alive.

LEMON: OK. As you sat there and you listened to Chris Christie, New Jersey governor, you listened to Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York city and you saw the advisories, we talked about what the president is doing. So far - and also, we have Admiral Able on earlier, what do you make of the way people are responding now?

HONORE: They are doing the right thing. They are leaning forward. They are not worried about being wrong. They are doing the right thing. A lot of this hasn't happened before Katrina because politicians were worried about being wrong and people being angry. They understand the downside of not leaning forward, not getting people ready. And many people lose their life. They get prepared now and get their people ready. They do that with enormous risk, but it's a risk that they cannot afford not to take.

LEMON: Absolutely. So, the people who are writing into me saying, Don, I'm not feeling anything. I'm here. I'm not worried. I think I'm going to ride it out. You say?

HONORE: Good luck. But remember, the people we picked up after Katrina, who are they? The elderly, the disabled and the poor.

LEMON: Right.

HONORE: Where to do they live? Many times they live in the most vulnerable area along the coast, and their homes are there well prepared. And they don't have a backup generator. They don't have a car to go to a room and a hotel. They depend on the government making sure these type of activities happen.

LEMON: Do we -- as I talk to General Honore to talk about the severity of this, can we see the radar to see the scope of this?

Chad Myers, I hope you have your mic on and you're listening. How big is this thing? Because look at several states, if you look at, it doesn't have, like, a real -- an eye together or formed, succinctly formed eye.

MYERS: Right.

LEMON: But it's huge. It covers a bunch of state.

MYERS: From east to west, we just measured about 900 miles. And if you talk about tropical storm force winds, about 400 miles or so left and right of the center. So, if you taken a 800-mile-wide bowling ball with 50 mile or 60-mile-per-hour winds, you're going to push that right through New Jersey right into Pennsylvania and it is going to be there for days.

LEMON: It is not a well formed eye as what --- you have been saying that?

MYERS: I have and just watched a hurricane hunter aircraft fly through it and find 111-mile-per-hour wind up aloft. That's big wind. That doesn't mean it's at the surface. That means where they fly, 15,000 feet or so. But, that means the storm is picking up tonight. It's not done yet. The pressure's low. We talked about that. The pressure was always bigger that the wind. Now, maybe the wind is catching up.

LEMON: When you -- General, when you look at this thing and you know, we see several states, and you know, New Orleans, of course is, a big city. But, when you think of D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, New York, I mean, these are behemoth cities with a lot of people, a lot of lives at risk here.

HONORE: The quote from my good friend, the mayor Mitch Landrieu in New Orleans, don't let a category one fool you. A category one that's moving slow, like this storm, bringing a lot of water in, a lot of surge. It can defeat you. It can destroy a lot of property and it can kill people.

So, people need to be prepared. And these mayors and governors are doing the right thing. It is not an overreaction. They are trying to get people ready and the people that they are trying to get ready is the most vulnerable population, those who live in the low-lying areas and now, this storm with the winds we are talking about, it's going to pop windows in high rise buildings. There will be falling glass in high-rise buildings. So, that's going to have an impact also when they get into metropolitan area.

LEMON: My family has an apartment there and they texted me today and said we need to get into your apartment to check the windows. And so, that's what they are doing. So, you're right. They are concerned about that.

Stand by, gentlemen, we are going to get back to you. Can we just show Sandy?

Sandra Endo has been in Ocean City, Maryland for us covering this all day.

And Sandy, you have been doing a great job, the pictures are incredible where you are. She has an update from the mayor and other information. We are going to get to Sandra Endo live on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, there you go. Look at this. The satellite image and then you can see the projected. That's on the left. Look at the projected path, right into the middle of the most populace area of our country. Some of the biggest cities in our country, New York city. The most populist in the country. And there it is. It is expected. You see 2:00 Monday. That is where is going to be. 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. And it is going on up into some swing states. It is going to affect the swing states. And it is going to affect the election. We will talk a little bit more about that because we don't know where it is going to end up, how big it is going to be, people lose electricity. Don't know, they maybe without electricity for a long time.

I'm seeing her popping up right now on the coast of Maryland's surface swelling, the wind is picking up. There she is, Sandra Endo.

Hey, Sandra. The president declared state of emergency earlier there for North Carolina and that people tonight, Downtown Ocean City Maryland, were ordered to evacuate by 8:00 p.m. Eastern. You got the information directly from the mayor. Update us now.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don. I could tell you. We have certainly felt more rain, more wind, stronger gusts in the last hour. We really getting a beat down right now. And I could tell you, the local officials here in Ocean City are really worried about what's behind me, the high tide right now. Take a look at the waves. They are fierce, they are coming closer to shore.

But to give you a perspective, we are about 100 yards from the actual shoreline. You can see there's a dune here. Some protection where we are. So, clearly, there is still a little ways to go until it actually reaches any buildings here. That is the good news.

But really, local authorities are worried about the high tide and the combination of how long this storm is going to last. All the rain has been coming down all day long. And more hours of this clearly could equal a strong storm surge and that certainly something they will be looking over the next couple of days because clearly we are feeling the effects of hurricane Sandy already and we are still about a day away from the real front and center of the brunt of this storm. And you can see how strong the wind is gusting already and the rain just pelting down here.

The waves are huge and that is why there's been that mandatory evacuation order here in Ocean City as well as a voluntary one in the low-lying areas around here. But the silver lining for this area is clearly the fact that it's not the high tourist season right now, which is really the main economic driver of Ocean City. So, I guess it could have been much worse, but still, the worst is yet to come here -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. Hey, Sandy, and stick with this picture, don't go anywhere Sandy. What I like about Sandra Endo that is a great reporter, I wanted to see where you are, the moment I turned and look, I was going to say Sandra show us around, you did. Great job.

Look at those winds. They have been getting stronger and stronger since you have been reporting from there today. You were -- earlier, Sandy, you could walk over to that spot where you are now, to that railing easily. Now, you can barely stand up.

ENDO: Yes, it's certainly been getting stronger, Don, quite surprisingly, I have to say, because actually where we are, wary little bit shielded by some of the building here where we are at ocean front balcony. And it has been quite surprising how strong it gone over the last hour. And again, we are not even getting the worst of it yet. So, clearly, if this is any indication Sandy could be a tough one to ride out.

LEMON: Hey, Sandy -- Sandra Endo, not speaking to Sandy, the storm. Sandy, turn around, because that is going right in your face, so turn around, and look over that balcony and I will ask you a question so you are not going to get pelted. You are getting pelted in the face.

What are you seeing? Because the beach, we got you on the other camera, so, you don't have to look into the camera. The beach behind you Chad mentioned earlier that was disappearing, right? So, what do you see out there now? Is it pretty much gone? And how far is that water coming out?

ENDO: Well, we are about 100 yards from the actual water line and the national weather service is clearly worried about beach erosion here.

LEMON: Let's see her, guys.

ENDO: Sorry, he just getting pelted. So, something they are concerned about.

LEMON: We want to see Sandra go ahead.

ENDO: They are comparing this to possibility devastation after the hurricane Gloria that hit in 1985, which really devastated the boardwalk here. But, according to the mayor, they are prepared. They are hunkering down and they are ready for this. But their big worry is the storm surge. And with all this rain driving hurricane Sandy in, and those winds and the waves out there, that's certainly a bit concerning.

LEMON: You are a smart young lady to turn your face. You don't have to look at us if it bothers you, if that rain bothers you. You can look out.

So, Sandy, do you feel -- obviously, you can feel the intensity and you see the rain, feel the rain coming. But, it looks like it picked up the last couple of moment, a lot more than it was before. How high up are you on that? Are you going to be safe from the storm surge?

ENDO: It's very hard to hear you, Don. But the difference, I have covered a lot of hurricanes and this one is pretty strong. But also, it's very cold, hitting a different time of year, are the end of hurricane season. So, that's also a big factor. The difference is, feel. You know, Chad Myers can explain it better than I can.

LEMON: You read my mind again. I'm calling Chad in, too, as you were talking. So, can - do you mind bearing with us, Sandy? Do you mind staying with us?

ENDO: Sure.

LEMON: OK. So, Chad and I are going to talk here, as we look at these pictures from Sandra. Sandra continue what you said as Chad makes his way to the desk, you were talking about it's cold and the intensity of this?

ENDO: Yes, it's very different from -- there's things flying off, actually, the roof here, but --

LEMON: If you need to be safe -- hang on. If you need to be safe, go ahead. If you're comfortable staying, then stay. But, if you need to get to -- something is flying.

ENDO: Yes I think it was a light fixture or something. But, you know, the good thing is that a lot of people have taken the warnings seriously. We haven't seen people outside looking around at the waves as we do with -- in some hurricanes.

But yes, this one feels a little different, I have to say. It feels colder. It feels just, like, constant, constant rain, constant wind. A lot of times, you see squalls, where it eases up a bit and then comes back around, wins around. And I'm sure Chad can explain it much better than me, but it's a convergence of different elements we are feeling out here.

LEMON: OK. Sandra, you are such a trooper. Great reporting. Thank you. Stay safe. Get safety, if you need to but Sandra Endo, this is what she's -- she signed up for this. This is what we live for here. And she is doing a great job at it our Sandra Endo reporting.

Chad Myers joining here, as I said. She is a trooper and it is only going to get worse. And she said this one feels different.

We will talk about that on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, there is Atlantic city, look at that. there is the boardwalk and there is a shaky camera. The winds are picking up there. Sandy is offshore somewhere lurking, not really lurking, barreling towards that shore. Courtesy of our affiliate WPBI. Look at that.

There you go. Those are the latest images. And the person who can talk to you more about that is our meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad Myers is here now.

Chad, the storm is massive and it is very slow moving. What is that mean? MYERS: It means that is building energy and also the bubble of water, the dome of water under it. So that, when it comes on shore, that dome will make a large storm surge. It is also very cold. You just saw Sandra shiver.

And let me tell you, Don. I have shivered in Charlie, Francis, Gene, Ivan, in the regular hurricane in the deep south, it is cold. You get wet and that wind blows 60, doesn't matter what you have on, the wind blows through everything and you're cold. But, it's not a tropical storm anymore. It is transitioning to the hybrid. This cold air that's been over the eastern part of the plains, moving to the east is now getting sucked into this storm. And so, now we have the moisture and the heat that was, the hurricane, and the cold air coming together, that's the hybrid that we talked about that we knew was going to come. It is finally now, getting its way there. They are coming in, spinning around right there and eventually come back at us there from the east. That's when will come in from the east.

Here is the storm, talk by talk, we call it tick tock. Sunday, 9:00. Where we are right now. Most of the winds still offshore. We have 40, 50, 60-mile-an-hour gusts all along the coast from Atlantic city southward all the way down to Hampton roads. And so, the most moisture as it comes in, the center will get closer around so a lot gusts, they will get higher.

So, by 9:00 tomorrow morning, have our reporters' right along this coast of New Jersey, winds will already be gusting 60 to 70 at that point, and those 80-mile-an-hour winds are just offshore. By 2:00, 3:00 in the afternoon, you begin to see that moisture and that humidity all of that wind, the rain is translating down to New York city and there will be gusts very close to long island, somewhere 60, 70, 80 miles per hour, and that's went surge pushes in. That's when all that water tries to bubble into New York harbor right into New Jersey causing all of that flooding.

It may be quicker than 5:00 tomorrow afternoon because even though the center of the circulation comes on four or five, 6:00 tomorrow. That means half of the storm is already on. I always get a kick out of people saying when is the eye getting onshore? Well, that is great, but has the storm is already happened by then. This storm is going to moving all the way in district, and the others have the other half of the storm starts to go in don't. So, don't focus on the eye. You have to focus on this whole system. There's going to be wind over 60 miles a hour from Maine to North Carolina.

LEMON: Chad Myers, hang with me here, a lot of people are concerned saying, oh, my God, I can't believe you guys have Sandra out there in that -- in the weather blowing around like that. It really, those winds really picked up during the live shot. And we said to her, if you don't feel safe, go ahead. This is what we do. We are outside so you don't have to be outside. And this is a picture from where Sandra Endo did live shot just a short time ago, and we are checking on her to make sure, you know, everything is safe where she is, in case we have to pull her out of that location because it's just too dangerous, she said to us, nope. I'm going to stand here and do this report, and I appreciate the viewer, Mr. D, who said who's tougher, Sandy or Sandra? Probably equally as tough.

Sandra is a tough reporter. That's why we have her out there she can handle just about anything. But, we know her limits and she knows her limits as well. So, not to worry about Sandy. She will be OK.

But Chad, those winds really are starting to gust and it's not even -- how far is it offshore now?

MYERS: Three hundred miles.

LEMON: Three hundred miles.

MYERS: Now, we talked about this earlier, Don, when the colorful part of the satellite comes onshore, that's when it's going to get windy. And when the colorful part goes away, that's when the winds will die off.

Our Sandra at Ocean City, Maryland, right there. So, this colorful part now has about rotating around the center of circulation there and she is in it. And she will be in that weather now for hours.

LEMON: Right.

MYERS: Until this part comes over her. Then the wind may go down to 20.

LEMON: All right.

MYERS: So, away from the center, the winds sometimes are brighter around bigger than the winds closer to the center because of the way this one is shaping up.

LEMON: Chad Myers, all right. We have thrown out the run down. We don't know what's going to happen. And that's how it's going to be for the days to come. You said you don't know what it is going to be like for people who have to ride this thing out. We have thrown out the run down, taken the words off the screen, the teleprompter and we are just going to go with this until we figure out exactly where it is going to head, where this storm is going to make landfall, how soon and how much these winds will pick up in the next couple of hours.

Continuing coverage of hurricane Sandy, making its way to shore. And it appears to be a monster of a storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Welcome back to our rolling coverage. See that shot there, that is Sandra Endo's shot, all the people worried about her. Sandy is doing a report now live for one of our affiliates around the country. That's what she's doing tonight. As it pap back over, you will see Sandy is OK. Still out there reporting. We checked with her crew. They said not to worry, they're fine. This is why they are there, to cover this story. That's her job.

Again, she is not doing a live shot for us but she is doing a live shot from one of our affiliate, one of our many affiliates, hundreds of affiliates around the country.

OK, an update now, New York city stopped the subways two hours ago. Now, beginning this hour the buses are stopped. No trains, no light rail, no buses are running in New York. It's all in anticipation of the high water expected when hurricane Sandy comes ashore.

So here's what's happening in other areas, a state of emergency now in effect in connect. The governor has notified hundreds of National Guard troops to be ready to help. Sandbags and more sandbags and more sandbags on the jersey shore. Beach residents, business owners, broke out the plywood before heading to higher ground.

And check it out, this is Annapolis, Maryland, right there. Same story here, city passed out sandbags to residents, business owners, provided 20 tons, 20 tons of sand, coastal Maryland could see a foot of rain. You know, just the beginning but already, but already New Jersey is beginning to feel the wrath of what is hurricane Sandy right now. All state offices have been closed. They have been ordered closed tomorrow ahead of this storm.

New jersey was the first to announce a mandatory evacuation. Our Alison Kosik has been in New Jersey. She is in Ashbury park, New Jersey, right, if I'm looking at the home of the boss.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

LEMON: But where Sandra is now, winds are slow. Winds are picking up where you are as well, Alison.

KOSIK: They definitely are. We come down to the boardwalk here in Ashbury Park. You look down this way, you know on a Sunday night, even at this hour, there are people walking around but there is not a soul to be seen, except for the wind whipping back and forth. Clearly, the sand, you can see that sheet of sand going. The waves, another talking point. You can't forget the waves. High tide happened about I'd say -- about a half hour ago. It has washed a good portion of this beach away. Another high tide is expected to come in the morning. I was talking one security official here and he thinks that by morning high tide, that water is going to be right over here, it is going to jump right over onto the boardwalk, Don.

LEMON: How high up is that boardwalk, I really can't get an idea just from seeing it on television, how high up are you?

KOSIK: How high up? Not very high up right now. We can sort of pan down here. We are not very high up, but certainly a good portion of the beach has been washed away. These waves -- actually, the waves look quite calm compared to what we saw earlier, but this wind, no doubt, has picked up. I'm being pelted by a lot of sand. It hurts, Don.

LEMON: I can only imagine. Hey, stay safe out there, thank you very much, Alison Kosik. We will get back to you as well.

I want to get some other information here, really some first-hand information on hurricane Sandy from NOAA flight meteorologist Ian Sears. Ian Sears is on board of one of those hurricane, hunter aircraft that fly into the massive storms.

So Ian, as I understand you are right now, are you in the middle of this thing? What are the conditions like for you? Ian, can you hear me?

IAN SEARS, NOAA FLIGHT METEOROLOGIST (via phone): I can hear you.

LEMON: OK. Ian, describe the condition. What are you seeing?

SEARS: Yes, you broke it.

LEMON: Listen. I'm just going to tell you, guys. As you can probably imagine, it is loud in the plane where he is, probably some rough conditions, we are having a little bit of trouble hearing. I'm going to ask one more time.

Ian what are you experiencing now?

SEARS: Hi, yes. We are just exiting hurricane Sandy. We just made three passes through the storm. We are headed southwest back home to Madill (ph) air force base. We just had a really rough ride on the southwest side. We did see hurricane-force winds at the surface, 90- knot winds at flight level, which is about 11,000 to 12,000 feet. We finally saw a really good presentation on radar of the eye and the eye wall.

You know, we are just out here, trying to gather data for the hurricane center, folks on the east coast, everybody be prepared. (INAUDIBLE). We see the wind field continuing to expand and the pressures have dropped to 950 mill bars at the center. So it's a big storm and very powerful.

LEMON: All right, Ian, thank you very much. Ian is on board the -- an aircraft flying right through the massive storm right now and he is a hurricane hunter, he works for -- flight meteorologist Ian Sears. So, he is fine to the information.

And just before we go to the next story there, the information he gave you, you heard him say, Chad, what does that say to you?

MYERS: It tell us the wind is kind of catching up to the pressure. Earlier, I tweeted this. We talked about this on the air, that the pressure was equal to a cat three. We just don't have any cat three winds. It appears, it is not going to get to cat three. It appears that at least some of the wind that potential with this storm is catching up.

So, when it makes landfall, it easily could be that 80 or 85-mile-per- hour storm that some, including us, have forecast because it is mixing with a storm that is on shore right now. So, low pressure center that could be a snowstorm. It is going to mix with the hurricane and we are going to get 60 inches of snow in parts of West Virginia. On the back side, on the cold side of this, where the east part of this will get winds over 80 and storm surge, even in New York harbor, up to 12 feet so far. That number could still go up. LEMON: Look at those waves, man, Ocean City, Maryland. Don't go anywhere. More coverage, Chad Myers here, also our reporters, all along the eastern seaboard. More continuing coverage, hurricane Sandy, as she makes her way to shore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, hurricane Sandy coverage continues now the one good thing about this mega storm is that, you know, people throughout the northeast are getting words about evacuation, getting word about evacuations through various outlets, from TV news conferences to twitter feeds.

There are a lot of moving parts here and CNN money tech reporter, Laurie Segall, joins me now with some helpful tools online. This really can be helpful, especially, you know, you get powered out, may have battery power. Some tips for you to track these updates.

One thing I think pretty cool you talked about, you mentioned to me during the break, are these web cams popping up. What is that?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Sure.

You know, we are seeing more and more people tracking us online, so people are putting up web cams and we are able to really get an inside look of what is happening, everywhere from Virginia beach, to places in New York. There's one called Sandy cam. It actually just popped up. It already has tons and tons of followers. And it is essentially, located, looking at it right now, located in New York, facing you the financial district.

You don't see much movement now, Don, but I guarantee you will probably see, you know, overnight and tomorrow, we will see. Sandy as she makes her way through New York's Hudson river and the skyline. So, that's when it is getting a lot of tweets. You can follow that a lot of attention. You follow that online.

Also, you know, it has a live chat feature. So, a lot of people are watching and chatting with each other during this. You can embed it easily into facebook. So, you know, this isn't the beginning it. We are seeing these web cams pop up all online and they really do give you an interesting inside look into what's happening as this storm progresses.

LEMON: All right, anything more do you have for us, Laurie, besides the web cams?

SEGALL: Sure.

You know, I will say, right now it is so important to know if you need to evacuate. You know, Chad says the potential of this storm is just catching up. You are looking right now at -- it's a WNYC evacuation zone map.

Right now, if you are in New York, it rains these regions right nearby, take a look and see if you are in zone A, you see that red right there make sure, you know, governor -- mayor Bloomberg earlier already issued mandatory evacuation.

So if you're in those zones, important -- it's very important to know you need to get out. You know, you can see zone B, zone C there, the orange and the yellow, see some flooding there. So, I would definitely go online and look that the before you do anything else, Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Laurie Segall in New York. Hey, stay safe there in New York. All right?

SEGALL: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

And from Laurie, we are going to go to Josh Levs now. Because we are going to talk about what happens, Josh, if right New York city subway system, if it floods, one of the questions, Josh, officials across the eastern seaboard are facial as hurricane Sandy approaches. So you've been following this for us at the CNN hurricane desk. What are you finding out?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it really put us in context what we are dealing with here. Because officials all across the eastern seaboard have to think about these major situations that could arise here, including flooding, such as entire subway system. The New York city subway system alone has four million riders every day.

Take a look where I am, by the way. This is, for now the CNN hurricane desk. But, I want you all to know we have people who are looking at every single state in the entire renal than could be affected by hurricane Sandy. And this is just a little bit of the team that will be working through the night, working through the night. So when you get up tomorrow morning, you will also be finding out the latest information CNN has gathered all night long.

Take a look at this picture here right here. This is a picture of a construction worker trying to cover one of the many areas in New York city that needs to be covered if they are going to prevent flood nothing into the New York city subway system.

And there are pump stakes underneath that we have looked at before, that can help free up the area and get rid of the floodwaters. But, we are talking about massive expenses and this is just one dot out of all the places that we are looking at on the eastern seaboard. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, all facing serious questions about public transportation which obviously is necessary for the economy to keep functioning in these states.

Take another look here. I want you to see this very quickly, the nuclear regulatory commission is talking about the fact they are sending inspectors out to nuclear sites, nuclear power stations, and this right here, you might not know where nuclear power stations are. But, every little triangle there is a nuclear power stations. They are not saying there is going to be any kind of horror, I don't want to scare anyone, but sending inspectors to these sites just to make sure everything is OK.

One more thing I want to show, since we are at the computer here, we have already had a deadly storm in Sandy as it passed through the Caribbean and we have some really powerful photos I want to you see here. Sixty-seven people died across Haiti and Jamaica and other islands. And these are just some of the photos that we have of the destruction that Sandy already caused throughout parts of the area and you can see here, the situations people have dealt with. Already, 67 people died in the Caribbean. Obviously, we don't want to see deaths here in the United States. But Don, just a reminder of the deadly impact that Sandy has already had.

LEMON: Hi, Josh.

LEVS: Yes.

LEMON: I want to move you along because I want to ask some other stuff.

LEVS: What's up?

LEMON: And you know, you were showing these great pictures we are talking of the subway system. I'm sure the desk, folks are working on this. But I would love to see a ground shot from New York city right now. I'm not there, know what's happening. Back in question up, because I want to ask, great, I got it now. So, I would love to see that. If you guys can hear that downstairs.

And also, Josh, what if you find yourself stranded or in danger for this hurricane? Unfortunately, that does happen, what can you do?

LEVS: Yes, I find this really interesting. The federal government has actually put out some guidelines how you should try to communicate with loved ones if you find yourself stranded by hurricane Sandy, if something happens to you. And I put a few on the screen for you. I want you to take a look. who is this?

There they are. You really important things to keep in mind. Limit your non-emergency calls. Phone lines get tied up. The lines need to be available for people making emergency calls, 911 calls. Try texting. Often, texting can work in if you can't get through on a phone.

The government suggest you forward calls sent to your home to your cell phone so if you go somewhere else, people are able to reach you on your cell phone, even if they didn't know that number and not tying up the lines by calling your home phone number.

One more there safely use the car to charge your phone if you need to get in touch with someone and lost power inside your house. I will also mention the government and many others also say use social media before you even get to a phone. Post on twitter, post on facebook exactly how you're doing and what you need to know. And hopefully people can get in touch with you that way.

Don, we will look for the shot you are looking for and we will try to have it for you in a bit.

LEMON: Yes. But even if it is big pictures, and I should ask people too. They can send it to i-reporter or you can do it @donlemoncnn.

Josh, what is your twitter?

LEVS: Josh Levs CNN.

LEMON: Joshlevscnn. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: You got it.

LEMON: Hurricane Sandy, of course, a monster. More than 70 years ago, New York was hit by a hurricane and you're going to see it, next.

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LEMON: All right. There she is, and there is a path. Look at how big. How many states again, you said it is all about?

MYERS: Well with, this is going to affect, damage in no less than 12 states.

LEMON: Yes. Don Lemon here with the meteorologist Chad Myers. And were going by another expert now, because with me on the phone, someone who has seen in reports on CNN, a man really who knows the coastal northeast like few other people, professor Nicholas Cook. He is a geologist at Queens College in New York city.

Professor Cook, thank you so much.

You are an earth scientist and listen, I feel qualified to interview you, be but Chad can ask you better questions than I can about this particular storm. Go ahead, Chad.

MYERS: Well, let's start out with what your biggest fear is and then go from other questions . Go from there.

NICHOLAS COOK, PROFESSOR, QUEENS COLLEGE (via phone): OK. Chad, a lot of the talk so far has been about the water rising in New York harbor, but when you look at the wind field and the direction, Long Island sound is a worse problem than New York harbor, because the winds are going to push the water on Long Island sound into that western part of New York. Flood Astoria and city island and at the same time, you will see the surge coming in from the ocean, and that is a terrible combination.

MYERS: Professor, when the water goes up the east river and tries to come down from the east river from the sound, what is going to happen?

COOK: Right. So we will see some massive flooding.

MYERS: You are talking about Roosevelt island?

COOK: In Irene, it came close to a foot of getting into the subway at south ferry, but I think we have a good chance that we will get salt water in the subways for the first time.

LEMON: Oh, really? That is really obviously not good for the electrical or anything to get Salt Water down.

COOK: Yes. Saltwater and electricity don't mix well. We have a big infrastructure problem and you know, putting the subway back in order and that is a huge economic loss to the city.

LEMON: When you look at the millions and millions of people who take the subway in the city.

COOK: The other thing is that we talk about the wind going over the city, but the city is not uniformed. If you look at skyscrapers, because they are all different sizes and difference spacing and all. And when the wind goes through the skyscrapers, you will get the complex interaction and the wind speeds up called wind channeling and that sucks out the windows of the skyscrapers.

MYERS: You think it will happen in the category one storm?

COOK: I think so, because I am sitting here in Queens, and I'm just getting the first pulses on my windows. And I can imagine what is it going to be like tomorrow?

MYERS: We have been talking to the people in east village saying that the winds are 40 and the garbage cans are rolling down the street already. This is the wind funneling effect. This is that wind tunneling effect you are talking about?

COOK: Right. The Bernoulli principle. As you squeeze wind between buildings, it goes faster and it develops suction forces that actually suck the windows out. And on the side, spacing the wind, you blow the win windows, it will suck the windows out.

LEMON: I want to ask you something, professor. Pardon me, Chad.

We were - can we put up these pictures some 1930. We were showing those. We have been showing those earlier. So, look at this. I don't know if you can see them where you are, but this is the famous hurricane of 1938, the one they called the great hurricane. And it was a killer. Is there anything that we can learn from this as - I mean, can we compare this to that?

COOK: Well, the lessons of the 1938 hurricane have not been learned. We have continued to urbanize and manipulate the shorelines by putting in jetties and (INAUDIBLE) and cutting off the same supply from eastern Long Island. And that is going to lead eventually to some real problems and we might see a harbinger of this in this storm.

This is an incredible meteorological phenomenon. And there is going to be tremendous beach erosion, and home destruction, I think, all along the length of Long Island. In Long Island sound, the predictive surges are even higher.

MYERS: Professor, let's talk about that, because the predicted surges we have here from the hurricane center and the meteorological center are 12 feet. Do you have anything other than that?

COOK: No. I mean, I don't model that, but 12 feet is a considerable thing. You got to remember it is going to be high tide, right.

MYERS: And a full moon.

COOK: And a full moon. And then you are going to have waves on top of the surge dome. See, now you are talking about a huge wall of water to go over the seawalls and the bulkhead. A lot of people say, oh, 12 feet is not much. But that is the surge. And on top of that is the tide, and on top of that is the waves. And then the wind.

MYERS: Some people predict waves of 25 feet.

COOK: Well, then you add that to the picture.

LEMON: Wow.

MYERS: Professor, thank you.

LEMON: Professor, thank you.

Fascinating from Queens College making puny look great. (INAUDIBLE).

But thank you very much, professor. And fascinating conversation.

MYERS: Absolutely.

LEMON: So Chad, we got a hard break just for a moment here where we are going to go to take a break and then be back with more information on hurricane Sandy as it gets ready to come ashore.

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