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East Coast Braces for Hurricane Irene; Fighting in Libya Continues; Hurricane Irene Threatens East Coast; Storm Chasers to Fly into Irene to Gather Data; Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple's CEO; Moammar Gadhafi is Still at Large

Aired August 25, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: In for Brooke today.

And, boy, have we got a day for you. We are tracking, watching, bracing for Hurricane Irene. Millions of people could be impacted by this monster storm, much of the Eastern Seaboard now from the Carolinas up to Maine on alert. Irene is a major Category 3 hurricane. It could come ashore two different times.

North Carolina first gets hit on Saturday, and then somewhere in New England after that. Even in areas that don't get a direct hit, though, there's the flooding damage, the wind damage and power outages, a major pain.

You're looking at live pictures from Folly Beach. This is in South Carolina. Residents keeping an eye on Irene. It could pass by, though. They haven't been told to leave. They are urged to take precautions. Evacuations are under way though in the North Carolina Outer Banks. The governor declaring a state of emergency ahead of the hurricane. Many areas are accessible there only by ferry, so voluntary evacuations have now become mandatory, residents and tourists told to get out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BEVERLY PERDUE (D), NORTH CAROLINA: We have the Web site posted with where there are shelters. There are sheltering options in several counties. I know Wilson is one. We have those on our Web site and the local emergency management has them and are publishing that data. And then obviously on Sunday you will hear immediate response from the local emergency people and the state emergency folks talking about the methods of getting back into the coastal communities if an area is damaged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: As they always do, the U.S. Navy sending its ships out to sea. These are heading out from Norfolk's naval station to protect them from damage.

The governor of Virginia joining Maryland and New Jersey declaring states of emergency. Another big worry, what impact Irene could have on scheduled dedication of that Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. That's in Washington on Sunday. We just did get off the phone with the organizers. They are going ahead right now as planned, Sunday morning, dedicating that new memorial on the Mall in Washington. We will keep you posted on that.

We know so many of you are going there. So many of you are there right now.

Ireporters showing us some of Irene's mother. Reinaldo Forbes shot this as the storm hit the Turks and Caicos. Scenes like this intimidating to New Yorkers, not used to hurricanes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has not called for evacuations yet, but he is encouraging people to at least take precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: There are different ways to evacuate. One is to suggest that people move. Another thing is the mayor apparently has the power to issue an executive order and to force people to move, which we would do, I think, only in the worst of circumstances.

But we certainly would encourage people at this point in time. For example, if you have a car and you live in a low-lying area, my suggestion is park it on top of a hill, not in the valley. It's those kinds of things. And in your house, start moving some stuff upstairs if you have a two-story house. Take some precautions now so that if it gets to that, you will have less to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Common sense. As we have said, Irene is a monster. You know, check out this image from space, Category 3, expected to grow and to be even more powerful as it hits the U.S..

And, Chad, we're looking at all the tracking and everything like that, but it's the size of it, too, and the duration of the rain that's going to pelt, that's going to knock down waterlogged trees, et cetera.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, the line on our map, Drew, is this big.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

MYERS: That's not how big the hurricane is. The hurricane 100 miles in both directions of that line.

So I know everyone focuses, oh, it's going to hit left of me or right of me by 15 miles. Well, that's bad, because that means you will be in the eye wall or you will still be in 60- or 70-mile-per- hour winds or storm surge.

So I'm going to show you the line. I'm going to show you the cone. I just want you to understand, and you have to understand which way the wind is going to come depending on what side of the line you might be on. So let's go to this right now. I'm taking you to the eye of the storm. It's actually on radar from the Miami radar. It is about level with West Palm, and it is a little bit farther west, if I go all the way up there, than Cape Hatteras. So it's actually on the way. It's in this little bend. This storm would literally have to stop going west, turn to the east and go out to sea to miss North Carolina, and that is not in the forecast.

So let's put it into motion. We will put it up to the north as a Category 3. Right now it's a 100-mile-per-hour storm. I know it says 115, but it's just not yet. A little bit disorganized. I have been watching the hurricane hunter aircraft. It will reorganize. It will turn into a 125-mile-per-hour storm, and it should, staying in this -- notice how the cone is getting smaller.

As the storm gets closer, the cone is smaller and smaller. When you're five days away, the cone is very big because it could be this way or this way. So Cape Hatteras and even Morehead City right in the middle of the cone, could be Wilmington, could be offshore. There's not a single model right now that's offshore. There were models yesterday offshore. Didn't happen today.

The models are saying, no, onshore. And there are no models today that are saying direct miss. There's not a single model out to sea right now, and most of them take them somewhere either over Suffolk County, Nassau County or even right up the Hudson River.

If you take that, you think about what that possibly do, a Category 2, and you run that into any big city in the Northeast, you're looking at 500,000 to 750,000 people without power, and some spots will take 10 to 15 days for all of that power to come back. So what does that mean?

Drew, that means you might be camping in your house for 10 days. What does it mean to camp without power, without water probably, and how do I survive those 10 days? Take care of yourself and don't expect the government to take care of you.

Get the water. And I'm not saying buy bottled water. Use -- empty some old milk out of a jug, rinse it out and fill that with water. Make sure your bathtub is full of water too before this gets there, because that will be your gray water. You won't drink it, but you will flush with it. And you will do other things. You will water plants and whatever you need to do with water that you just wouldn't drink.

So there's going to be a run on all the supplies. You don't need to go out and run on all the supplies. Water is still very good. Drink out of your tap. Just make sure you have plenty of it in the freezer -- or in the fridge -- and turn the freezer on full blast, not the fridge. You don't want to freeze stuff in the fridge, but turn the freezer on full blast in case the power is out for a couple of days. That stuff stays frozen because it's 10 degrees below zero, not 20 degrees above zero.

See, you get it so cold, it won't melt. Those little things, you know, those little things you have got to think about.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: Exactly.

Chad, I want to ask you about those computer models because I did see them tightening up pretty narrowly today. There were some wild swings and everybody kind of hoped it would go out to sea, take the furthest right bend, but today right there they are all kind of converging. Why is that? Did something happen in the atmosphere, or the winds that made them all say this is not going to blow out to sea?

MYERS: Well, the closer you get to the landfall, the less inaccuracy you have. So let's say 10 miles out or let's just go 12 hours out -- 12 hours out, the inaccuracy or the error, one way or the other, is about 25 miles one way or the other, so you have got a 50- mile cone. And then you do another 12 hours, and have you a 50- to now 100-mile cone. And then you go out and out and out, and the cone gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

So they are more focused here because it's closer to landfall. They are also more focused -- let's get this one back and put this into motion -- they are also more focused here across parts of the Northeast because you will notice there are even some models as far west as -- that's about Harrisburg right there. So there are no models offshore because everything has brought itself, all the models are thinking now a little bit farther left.

That's because there's a small little trough in here, and that trough is going to try to hang that thing this way, rather than turn it up. The west winds -- almost down here -- the west winds usually blow it out to sea, but when there's a trough here, there's a small little east part of the wind. It's not going to do that. It's going to kind of come back at us and then go to the northeast then.

GRIFFIN: Chad, thanks. Stick around.

Hey, we will go right down to the Bahamas now, where our Jim Spellman been standing by riding out this storm.

And, Jim, I have been watching your pictures, seeing what's behind you. It's very interesting to me, and what I'm seeing behind you is trees still standing, cars driving by. It looks like the Bahamas, at least where you are, have relatively survived this thing pretty well.

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed.

And I will tell you (INAUDIBLE) did really make out OK here. (INAUDIBLE) 14 hours of this pounding, pounding wind, stinging rain, but it was just far enough way that I don't think we got above tropical storm level winds here. And so many of the buildings, especially the big (INAUDIBLE) they are built to withstand this stuff.

They have all made out just fine here. (INAUDIBLE) But everybody here is starting to come out of the woodwork and walk around and drive around and see how they made out. Everybody here is just delighted, because they were really taking this seriously. They prepared very seriously. I think that was the right (INAUDIBLE) came really close to just devastating Nassau.

GRIFFIN: All right. Jim, thanks a lot.

What you're hearing there, that crackle is not just the wind. Sometimes, there's water that gets into those microphone parts. So we want to move on.

You know, he's got a -- I guess we're turning now to Libya and this man and the hunt for this man. There is a near-$2 million bounty on Moammar Gadhafi's head. No one for sure right now where he is. Rebels in Tripoli, though, say they know, and they have got him and his sons cornered. We're going to take you live to the ground to the search for Moammar Gadhafi next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Chaotic fighting continues to rock the central part of Tripoli. We will take a look at it right now. That's late this morning where Libyan rebels claimed to have Moammar Gadhafi surrounded. Only a matter of hours later, though, Gadhafi apparently managed to get this brief broadcast out. Here's part of what he said.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): Do not leave Tripoli for the rats. Do not leave them. Fight them. Destroy them. You are the overwhelming majority. You have marched in millions. March with the same millions, but fight this time. Fill the streets and the fields.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: So it seems he is alive, but let's look at what's happened since then. After the rebels claimed they had Gadhafi surrounded, rebels by the hundreds converged on apartment buildings just south of Gadhafi's former compound.

Now, amid bursts of sniper fire, heavily armed rebels darted about that neighborhood, fired off rounds and searched potential hiding places. They did enter some of the buildings, made their way up stairwells, then went door to door, searching apartments, in some cases kicking their way in.

Hours later, though, still no Moammar Gadhafi. The rebels did overrun Gadhafi-held positions and set fire to encampments, several of which appear to have been abandoned rather quickly. Rebels also took a number of prisoners, some of whom are believed to be African mercenaries recruited by Gadhafi's defenders. Dozens of bodies were found in the streets, some with their wrists bound.

We warrant to go to Arwa Damon. She's the only Western reporter live at Tripoli's airport.

And, Arwa, what is the latest there?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The artillery pounding here has been quite intense, not just artillery, but Grad rockets being fired as well, various bursts of gunfire. There's a plane on fire at the tarmac.

We were able to get out there earlier when it was still daylight, and film it. But to be able to do that, our crews had to crawl up into the control tower and stay crouched down only filming through a small sliver because rebel fighters told us that there was a sniper in the area that had been targeting them regularly.

And we had been seeing the assault especially intensify at sunset when rebels would be breaking their fast. It is still the holy month of Ramadan. But while we were up in that control tower, some of the incoming artillery rounds, the explosions were so intense that the entire tower itself was shaking, and it has been like this pretty much for the last few days ever since we have been here. Gadhafi loyalists are really trying to win this key position back, it would seem, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Arwa, why? Are they trying to protect a possible escape route for Gadhafi to get on a plane and get out?

DAMON: Well, that's what the senior commanders here believe in terms of them trying to carve out some sort of an escape route. But they do not necessarily think that that would involve taking off in any sort of an aircraft from this location.

And it most certainly does not seem to be the case, because much of the incoming artillery and rockets is targeting the tarmac and the aircraft themselves. They believe that that is being assaulted because, first of all, Gadhafi loyalists want to wreak as much havoc as they can on the infrastructure, but also to keep the fighters bogged down in defending this key position, so that then Gadhafi loyalists could potentially carve out some sort of an escape route for Gadhafi to potentially move through these areas, because the rebels do not control the area to the east.

And we keep hearing the whoosh of artillery going past us. We always want to try and make sure, see what direction it's coming from, if it's incoming or outgoing.

GRIFFIN: Right. Arwa, we're seeing that plane, that airliner being burned on the ground there. Who set it on fire and why?

DAMON: Well, that was from one of the incoming artillery rounds. It seems as if it possibly could have been a direct hit. And that's not the first time that the Gadhafi loyalists have managed to fire artillery on to the landing strip and target one of these aircrafts.

Last night, another aircraft went up in flames as well. A number of other airplanes have been destroyed, too, and so the fighters here say that the Gadhafi forces quite simply are employing a scorched- earth policy. They want to destroy as much as they possibly can.

GRIFFIN: Strange.

Arwa Damon live at the airport there in Libya as the search for Gadhafi goes on, and I guess his supporters still think there's hope that they can somehow come back. Thanks, Arwa. Appreciate that.

Moving on to the hurricane now. It's already very powerful, getting stronger by the day. Irene is battering the Bahamas. It's headed for a collision course though with the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERDUE: Every citizen in this state who is in harm's way needs to prepare for the worst and pray for the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: In North Carolina, that means getting out of the way. The state's governor fears resident aren't fleeing fast enough. We are there for the mad scramble in the Outer Banks. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: All right. Here's the message this afternoon. If you live along the East Coast from South Carolina to Maine, get ready for Hurricane Irene and maybe many of you should get ready to get out. This thing is a monster. Check it out. This is what Irene looks like from the International Space Station.

A state of emergency has just been declared for North Carolina east of I-95 and in Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland. We expect to get the first hurricane warning within the next couple of hours. That's a warning for the U.S.

Already under a mandatory evacuation warning is on the tiny Ocracoke Island on North Carolina's Outer Banks. The only way on or off that island is to put your car on a ferry.

Right now, too many ferries are like this one. Take a close look. Do you see how many cars are on board? North Carolina's governor doesn't either. She's worried too many people will wait until the last minute to get out. Listen to the governor and keep in mind those ferries can only carry about 50 cars at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERDUE: I was dismayed when I saw that many of the ferries were nearly empty. People on Ocracoke Island need to take this seriously because it's hard to get off if the ferries are full. Every citizen in this state who is in harm's way needs to prepare for the worst and pray for the best. That's what we do in North Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Indeed, that's what they do in North Carolina.

Kate Meier is with the American Red Cross traveling North Carolina's Outer Banks looking for people who need supplies or help getting out.

Kate, are people getting the message? What are you seeing there?

KATE MEIER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: We drove out to the Outer Banks this morning, and as we were driving in, there were long lines of cars with the luggage racks and the jet skis on the back, and they were leaving.

But at the same time, we have been talking to local residents who said, we have seen this before. We're staying. We're going to stick it out.

GRIFFIN: Are you trying to advise them to leave? Is the Red Cross supplying them with things they may need after the fact?

MEIER: The Red Cross message is to be prepared. Make sure that you're staying informed. Make sure that you know how to keep you and your family safe. Get a kit. Get a disaster kit together, those emergency supplies you're going to need. If you are going to stick it out, make sure you have got that first aid kit, flashlight, extra batteries, water.

Have a plan if you need to evacuate for your family. And above all, stay informed. Keep watching the news. Keep watching to see what the storm is going to do.

GRIFFIN: And when this storm passes, what will the Red Cross' role be after that storm for the people who need you?

MEIER: Immediately, the Red Cross will be on the scene. We will be doing damage assessment. We will be handing out emergency supplies, like food and water.

We will have shelters set up if we need to for people who have been evacuated or displaced as a result of the storm. And really we're just helping people get back on the road to recovery.

GRIFFIN: All right, Kate Meier, thank you so much. She's right now in Nags Head awaiting as this storm is approaching.

Well, Steve Jobs calling it quits, and the market already reacting. The news isn't good.

Plus, it's worse than we thought. We're getting new video of the damage inside the Washington Monument. This is after Tuesday's earthquake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: If you're just tuning in, here's what's happening on this very, very busy news day.

We're watching fast-moving developments in Libya. The big question right now, where is Moammar Gadhafi? Rebel fighters have sent more troops to scour a cluster of buildings near his compound. Rebels say they believe Gadhafi, who has a $1.4 million bounty for his capture or death, may be holed up nearby. Meanwhile, rebel fighters and allied special forces are still encountering pockets of resistance across various parts of Tripoli. Libya's rebel leaders working to consolidate power and have started moving the rebel base in eastern Libya to the capital, Tripoli.

Take a look at this iReport showing Hurricane Irene hitting the Bahamas. The message for the East Coast this afternoon, get ready. This tomorrow is a biggie. The governors of four states have already declared states of emergency as Irene is closing in. The storm could impact 55 million people from North Carolina to New England.

The man who revolutionized home computing and brought us the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone is stepping down as Apple's CEO. Steve Jobs says he can no longer run Apple day to day, though he will remain as the board chairman. Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, taking over at CEO. The price of Apple, by the way, fell following Jobs' announcement.

And we're getting a better look at the damage done to the Washington Monument caused by that earthquake. These pictures obtained by CNN show a distinct crack at the top of the structure, pieces of mortar on the floor inside the observation area. The monument is going to stay closed for now. Engineers who specialize in seismic events and historic structures have been hired to just assess the damage.

Well, he's lost his compound, his government is now his R.V. Moammar Gadhafi wanted dead or alive today running for his life. Have the rebels finally found his hiding place? We will take to you Libya coming up next.

And if you would like to see more of the incredible video we're getting out of Libya or anywhere else in the world, check out the bold new look on CNN.com's groundbreaking new video experience. You can get it at CNN.com/video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: I want to get right back to Libya tonight. As we reported, heavily armed rebels are searching apartment buildings door to door in a section of central Tripoli, this after claiming today to have Moammar Gadhafi surrounded. Hours later, we still don't see Gadhafi anywhere. Arwa Damon, the only western reporter at Tripoli's airport, a few hours ago. Rebels came driving up in what they claim is an RV that Gadhafi may have been using as a hideout. Watch this as Arwa takes us on a tour of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're here at the Tripoli international airport, and the fighters here that are part of the fighters from the western mountains just drove up this mobile home. They say they got it off of colonel Gadhafi's farm that is located around 15 minutes away from here. They came up. They were honking. They were absolutely overjoyed. They were describing what they had seen on the farm as being Gadhafi's life of paradise, everything that they were deprived of. And they say that they have managed to secure around a quarter of the farm. Just to give you an idea though of what we have here inside in the layout here. This is obviously something of a sitting area. We might have some restrictions due to the cables that allow us to do our live broadcasts.

But there's also a few rooms to the back. There's a bedroom back there. I don't know if you can try to zoom in on it. There's a bed that's been made. And the rebels were speculating, they were saying that perhaps Gadhafi himself had been sleeping there.

They have also opening -- and they're still rifling through the stuff that they found here and show this bathroom, also has female products in here, too, makeup remover. And now they say that they are pretty confident that this is in fact a mobile home that was used by cad if you and his family because they say it is familiar to them, that they have seen him use this on a number of occasions in the past.

Now they did encounter some resistance when they were coming in to Gadhafi's farm. They say they detained some people. Here we have the kitchen, all sorts of utensils, garbage bags. We're actually just going through this ourselves for the first time. Spices -- I'm not an expert on the kitchen spices.

But they say that they did detain some individuals. It looks like, I mean, that this has been in use. It looks like it's been packed away, but most certainly it's been used. Everything is full, you know, packaged away.

Again, they say that they did detain some people at the farm. There were some brief clashes. They managed to push them back. They are going through trying to clear it all. He brought this out. Not entirely sure, but he's speculating that maybe Gadhafi was wounded. No way of verifying that at all.

This is a gas mask. He found this in the living room area, gas masks. So the rebels still going through all of this, still trying to figure out the bits and pieces here. Certainly, you know, for them, this is yet another victory because they are now seeing and penetrating Gadhafi's farmlands themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Some of the excellent reporting of Arwa Damon in a bizarre scene out of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi's RV.

Up next, while most folks are fleeing hurricane Irene, there are actually some who are headed straight into, it literally, a hurricane hunter. We'll talk to her in just a few hours from now. That's where they will be going into the sky and inside Irene right into the center of it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: Our coverage of this hurricane continues. Millions of people on the east coast on alert for this unwanted intruder. Her name is Irene. Underscoring how dangerous this category three storm is. Four states, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey have now declared states of emergency.

There's an exodus of ships, cars and people from North Carolina's outer banks, a mandatory evacuation order for both residents and tourists in effect on Ocracoke Island. Governor Bev Purdue concerned about something she is not seeing on the ferry boats. She's not seeing a lot of cars there, not a lot of people heeding her warning to get off that island which is only accessible by boat.

The U.S. Navy ordering ships out of harm's way. Warships from the Norfolk naval station began moving out to sea today to prevent damage. You're probably going to see a lot of airplanes flying out of the way, too.

The very eastern tip of long island, New York, is monitoring Irene. Montauk is preparing for a possible power outage and flooding should Irene keep its current storm track. They are even taking hurricane precautions in New Hampshire. The big worry is lowland flooding. People are being advised to stock up on food and supplies. Irene, of course, could impact the area later this weekend.

Our iReporters are giving us a look at Irene's power. Luis Ortiz shot this video in Puerto Rico. He said there wasn't much damage but the winds were fierce.

Amtrak is cancelling train service tomorrow through Sunday for areas south of Washington, and right now service along the northeast corridor is still rubbing, but you better check in with them. Meteorologist Chad Myers, of course, keeping an eye on everything, including flight cancellations and everything to come.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think flight cancellations for the northeast are a sure thing. There's so many tweets. People asking me, trying to get to Atlanta today and try to fly back to New York City on Sunday night. Am I going to make it? No, I don't think so. The airlines will not put their planes in harm's way. The planes are worth $1 million, and plus your lives are worth more than that to them.

So they are not going to fly planes into places that they don't think they can get them out and they're not going to fly them into places where they think it will be dangerous to land. So best case scenario you're in the air and trying to go to LaGuardia and they say we're not taking any more planes to LaGuardia and you end up in Binghamton. And then you're at Binghamton for three trying to rent a car to get there. So most of these airlines at some point in time, whether it's today or tomorrow, will start doing the free change things.

So just take your time, be patient and do what you can. The cars are safe. I'm not -- cars are safe is something else, because look at this. And I haven't had this graphic up all day, drew. This is six to 10 inches in purple of rainfall. Let's say that the forecast is correct, somewhere here, here and here. Because of the way the waves come in and because of the way the wind comes in and the elevation change here with the Appalachian Mountains, everywhere from eastern North Carolina, almost the low country of South Carolina, and up into New York City, D.C., will all get six to 10 inches of rainfall, some spots a foot of rain.

So some of these roadways are actually going to be flooded. This is just a weekend to not go to the beach, hunker down at home and watch television, and I heard somebody say get -- I don't know what channel it was. Get your portable TV. Do portable TVs even work anymore? Get a radio. This is like going back to going camping. If you have no power for five days or 10 days and the water coming out of your faucet that's safe to drink, how do I survive for ten days in my house? How I do not go stir crazy? I can't help with you that one. How do I survive? You get water. You get some food and you just get ready to hunker down just like you're going camping. And it's going to be hard. Travel is going to be very, very difficult, and airline travel I think will be completely shut down.

GRIFFIN: Yes. You get your iPad and CNN app and just watch us, I think.

MYERS: You have to get an inverter to plug in your car so that you have power to charge it, or you get the charger that plugs into your cigarette lighter.

GRIFFIN: Come on over here, because we're going to bring in one of those hurricane hunters, Nicole Mitchell.

MYERS: Oh, yes.

GRIFFIN: Have you talked to her before?

MYERS: No.

GRIFFIN: Incredible person, meteorologist herself. She is going to be going up very soon, is that right, Nicole?

CAPTAIN NICOLE MITCHELL, HURRICANE HUNTER: Yes. I'm actually resting right now for that mission, and we're getting called in at like 1:00 a.m. in the morning. That's the downside of any type of weather. It goes 24 hours a day.

GRIFFIN: And your goal and your mission is to fly right into this thing to get the data that we cannot get because it's over water, is that correct?

MITCHELL: Correct. So we have the satellite over water, but unlike over land where we have radars and weather stations and all of that stuff, over water we're a little blind. So we fly the planes right inside the storm. People ask us this a lot. People think we're over it, but we're right inside, it and we'll stay usually in a storm crisscrossing through the center for about six hours, not just the center. But we warn people, don't always just focus on the center because the big storms, we also fly out to the periphery to see how far out the hurricane winds go and things of that nature, and then all of that data is sent right from the plane right back to the hurricane center for their forecasting.

MYERS: Captain, this -- this is Chad. This has to be a bumpy ride. I'm thinking this is probably my worst nightmare flying from D.C. to Atlanta in a thunderstorm, and you're doing it for hours and hours and hours. What's the ride like in.

MITCHELL: It depends on the storm. If the storm is close to land, then you get part of the storm and the friction of the interaction with land so that will make it more turbulence. A rapidly developing storm has more of that upward motion that we talk about. Those are the storms where we get a little bit more. I've seen hail. Sometimes eye walls have even to be dose in them. So we do have our radar on board. Try to steer around the worst of it, and it's our job, and if you're really sensitive to the motion sickness, you probably stare away from doing this job.

MYERS: Is it truly dangerous? Is the stall speed indicator buzzing on you? Do you ever feel like I just lost control, I have to go down and tray to catch this again? Is it that bad or just a normal day for you?

MITCHELL: I have to say as a meteorologist and I'm a bit of an adventure person, for me this is a dream job because you get to be right in the middle of it, even when it's turbulent. I think that part of it is kind of exciting, actually seeing nature as it's happening.

So for me it works. It's probably not the job for everyone. We do try and do it as safely as possible. We use a big sturdy C-130 cargo plane. You know, if we ever feel like the turbulence is getting too much, we'll climb to a higher elevation still inside the storm so we can still collect the data. And, you know, if the crew ever felt like it was unsafe, never had this happen on one of my flights, you now, there's the option to turn around. But this is what we do, so we do it as safely as possible, and we know the job is really important.

GRIFFIN: Chad, I want to tell you a little bit about her, because there's a little background here. She sky dives. She's climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, been up to Antarctica. Fair to say, Nicole, that you are a thrill-seeker. So I don't want to give the impression that this is super safe. You like it.

(LAUGHTER)

MITCHELL: I love it. Like I said, you know, any military job has an inherent dangerous part of it. None of us would get in a plane on a regular basis if we didn't think we were coming home so we do the job as safely as possible, and there haven't been any loss of aircraft of ours I think since back in the 1970s. It really is as safe as we can possibly do it.

MYERS: OK. You were in Katrina and Charlie. I know the answer, but I don't think people at home have any idea. Why do you fly propeller planes rather than jets? MITCHELL: As we're flying through the storm, the propeller and all the rain and the thunderstorm activity, the propellers are going to handle that better than the intakes of a jet. And the other reason we do the C-130 is because we can carry over 14 hours of gas, and our missions average ten hours, tomorrow will probably be 12 hours. So it lets us do a long ride as well.

MYERS: And will you report back your data in realtime, or do you land and then boot it up?

MITCHELL: We have a satellite link right to the hurricane center, so live time while we're flying. Data is collecting a few times a second and that's partly going to the hurricane center every 20 minutes and what we see from the eye of the storm, the vortex message, that's something that I type up and send out the second I have it done on the plane so the hurricane center has that almost immediately.

GRIFFIN: Captain Nicole Mitchell, we'll monitor your progress all day tomorrow. That's for sure. Impressive.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

MYERS: The next time I'm in a prop plane in a thunderstorm, I'm going to feel safer now, because usually I don't as the plane is doing this.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: Yes, great. That's always safe being in a thunderstorm. Thanks, Chad. See you in a little bit.

New York gearing up for a possible strike in this hurricane. The monster strike might pass over the big Apple. Folks along the coast already boarding up and bracing for the worst. CNN's Jason Carroll is in Rockaway Beach in New York. We'll catch up with him in just a bit. Just wave to the camera. Say hi.

(LAUGHTER)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Drew.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: In about an hour we expect to get the first east coast hurricane warning for hurricane Irene, and watches will likely be extended further north. Irene expected to take a path similar to hurricane Gloria which made landfall three times back in 1985. Gloria came ashore at North Carolina's outer banks, closely followed the coastline up to Long Island where it struck again, and then it hit a third time in Connecticut.

Jason Carroll is at New York's Rockaway beach. Jason, it looks like Irene is heading to New York City. Rockaway Beach is the first place where New Yorkers would be told to evacuate. It's hard to tell New Yorkers to do anything. Are people ready to go? CARROLL: Well, it's a very good question, Drew. And the short answer to that is, it depends. The reason for that is there are a lot of residents here who lived here for a long time they have seen it all. I'm going to get to that in a second.

Let's lay the land for you and just give you an idea of where we are for folks unfamiliar with this area. We're 30 miles south of Manhattan, if that helps at all. And this is a peninsula, a very large peninsula. And it's sandwiched between the ocean. You've got the Atlantic here on this side, and then just about three blocks down the street off the boardwalk you've got Jamaica Bay.

And there are a lot of folks who have lived here long enough to remember storms in the past where the ocean met the bay. And there was severe flooding p and that's what folks are worried about this time around. I spoke to a woman who has lived here since 1975. Again, she had seen it all. She has her own opinions about whether or not she will evacuate. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband and I might decide to stay. If it's dire predictions, we won't. You know.

CARROLL: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's basically what we'll plan. I would think that there will be a fair number of people that will stay. Like I say, so many times we have been expecting the worse and, I mean, some days they would expect a hurricane and we were on the beach that afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Well, Drew, we're hear that tomorrow New York City's Michael Bloomberg will announce whether or not he will ask for evacuations. If that, in fact, does happen, this area will be one of those areas affected. Actually anyone living in a neighborhood at least ten blocks from coastal area will be asked to, in fact, evacuate.

In the meantime the city has done things to prepare. The mayor announcing this a little bit earlier. Some of the things -- some 143,000 catch basins throughout this city, they are doing their best to clear those out to help ease the flooding. Some of the subways may be shut down to help with the infrastructure system. Also, 33 police boats will be out in the local waters to take care of emergencies as they arise.

But as you said at the very top, whether or not some of the New Yorkers who were asked to evacuate actually will, that still remains to be seen. Drew?

GRIFFIN: Jason, I guess the other question I have is, evacuate where and for a lot of these people in a larger area, how, because not everybody has immediate access to transportation? CARROLL: Very good point. And obviously some of those who live in areas like this will have to do it soon, because there's not a lot of ways to get out of Rockaway. So you don't want to be in a line of cars hours long trying to get higher ground, so to speak.

There are evacuation centers, like for example where we are here, that have temporarily been set up in higher areas further out. So they are working on that. But it's really a matter of timing. If you decide to evacuate you have to do it in enough time to get where you need to go.

GRIFFIN: Jason, thanks. We'll continue to follow this story with you there. But I just remember, you know, hurricane Katrina and one of the big problems in New Orleans was that so many people did not have access to transportation. Jason Carroll there on the ground in Rockaway Beach. One of our great reporters who is going to be following throughout this event.

Well, Apple's new CEO says things won't change post Steve Jobs. But that's not appeasing some nervous investors. Apple stock is down today. Is it a glimpse of things to come? We're going to check in with al Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange for an update. Stand by, Alison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Steve Jobs, the man who put an iPod, iPad, or an iPhone probably into your hands is stepping down as the CEO of Apple. That's not the kind of news Wall Street likes to hear. Alison Kosik is standing by at the New York stock exchange. Alison, the news came out yesterday. What happened on Wall Street today?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we saw more movement yesterday, drew. And afterhours trading yesterday shares fell five percent, a little more than that. Today not that much movement. You know we saw more of a dip towards the opening bell. Apple shares down half a percent now.

I think what you see happening here is investors are realizing that jobs' resignation isn't going to ruin Apple. Often analyst said, you know what, Steve Jobs brought in a lot of smart, innovative people to help run Apple. Of course, losing a visionary like Jobs is a huge deal. It's a really big deal. But the company still has, you know, a very solid pipeline of products as well as executives who very clearly understand what his vision is and can carry that on.

GRIFFIN: The stock has been on an upward swing as of late. What is the outlook for the future? Any projections changing because of this?

KOSIK: No. I mean, you know, experts say that, you know, what you're seeing with today's dip is really going to be temporary. You know, the stock trading at $374 a share right now. The majority of analysts actually have their price targets around $500 a share or even higher than that. You know, investors, they know Apple is a sound company. Even without jobs at the helm. And under Tim Cook's watch, since jobs -- since Jobs has been on his most recent medical leave, Tim Cook has been on the watch, apple shares have gained 17 percent. So you know, there is a lot of confidence, a lot of faith in Tim Cook. And there is a lot of confidence for Apple going forward.

GRIFFIN: I want to talk to you about Bank of America, because I know it's not this simple, but one guy picked up the phone today and put in a buy order and sent this stock sharply up. What happened?

KOSIK: You're talking about Warren Buffett. He went ahead and put $5 billion into shares of Bank of America. He bought preferred shares, which means he's going to get a nice dividend on that. That of course gave a real life to share of Bank of America. Bank of America right now up nine percent. They were up 26 percent at the opening bell.

But you know, what Buffett sees is he thinks Bank of America is going to recover. And you know what? He's thinking, I'm good with getting paid while that happens. And you know, it could be anything -- it could be more of a long-term play for Buffett. He sees value in bank of America for three to five years. He obviously thought this was well worth it. Yes, he's definitely giving a boost in the stock today, once again up nine percent. Drew?

GRIFFIN: Heck of an order. Thanks, Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.