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Irene Makes Landfall in New York; New York Assesses Irene's Damage

Aired August 28, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're at the top of the hour here, folks. I'm T.J. Holmes, giving you the latest on storm Irene, which is now a tropical storm, not dealing with a hurricane anymore. With still has potential to be dangerous for a lot of people.

It made landfall, Irene did. A third landfall about an hour ago in New York City. The third landfall. The second was down in New Jersey, of course the first being yesterday, about 24 hours ago, in North Carolina. But a third landfall was made in New York City. The storm is now roughly 25 miles north of New York. What you're seeing on your picture there is what we have been anticipating. Some flooding in a number of areas including low lying areas of Manhattan. The video you saw there are of some of the rescues in the vicinity in the area going on.

You're seeing also the video you're seeing there, just some of the waves that have been coming in. A lot of rain water. But a lot of people will tell you maybe dodged a bullet in New York City at least. But the northeast still has to deal with a lot of water and maybe a lot of flooding with this storm. The Hudson River spilling over its banks. Floodwaters in Lower Manhattan, this has been going on the past few hours now.

In the meantime, North Carolina, where so much of our focus was yesterday. Millions of people there and all the way up to parts of New England have no power. We're talking about millions of people right now are without power and also this has proven to be a deadly storm, this Irene which is now a tropical storm, but since it made landfall for the first time yesterday, again, about 24 hours ago in North Carolina, we know at least 11 people have been killed by this storm. Just want to get you caught up on what we know about Irene just to reset it there for you. Right now, I'll hand it back over to Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J., thanks very much. You know, I'm coming to you from Battery Park. And this is a very different scene than we had anticipated, that the city officials had worried about. As you can see, I mean, it is -- the sun is still behind clouds, but there's really not any rain. There's some mist in the air which is basically because there is kind of still a stiff breeze that's blown water over land. But the water that had flooded in this area has largely receded. There's a few puddles of water on the ground, but really not much at all. And now there's certain to be a lot of people kind of coming out just to take pictures, stretch their legs after being cooped up inside a long time and get a look at the scene.

The police are going around, saying to people, go back inside. You know, the storm is not over, was still just on the backside, the telling of this thing. I just talked to the commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management, he said, you know, at least wait another hour. We'll know more at 12:00 in terms of whether or not we're going to continue to see any kind of high winds throughout the day. So over this hour, just try to stick with us. We'll try to get the latest information on what is going on. But it is a very different scene here. It is very good news for the city of New York. Obviously, there have been some areas that have been badly hit, prior the areas that most predicted low-lying areas out in Coney Island, out in the Rockaways. But the Manhattan itself, certainly not as badly hit as could have been.

Rob Marciano is out on Long Beach now. There's a lot of concern about Long Island in various areas Nassau County and Suffolk County. Rob is in Nassau County out in Long Beach. Rob, what's it like there? There had been some flooding out there, but not as bad as folks had worried.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. At one point it was looking really bad, it was looking really hurry. Then the rain stopped, the wind diminished. And that happened at the same time of the high tide. You mentioned Nassau. Suffolk County is obviously out here. About three million people total in Long Island. About half of that live here in Nassau County. And Ed Mangano, you're the executive. Obviously, you're going out to take some stock of what happened last night on the top of this. But what have you seen so far?

ED MANGANO, NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Oh yes, significant flooding. Very serious situation with the power outages, over 120,000 residents without power. Twenty transmission lines have come down. We're trying to assist in the effort to return power. We're keeping an eye on the tidal surges. Many of the roads are impassable either by flooding or downed trees. It's a very serious situation here. Please stay in your homes until we have a chance to get the county under control here and maybe get a safer place to venture out.

MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE) People are curious. They've been hunkered down. They want to come out here. Even though the rain has stopped for the most par -- water, but you're just encouraging people to hang tough a little bit longer.

MANGANO: Yes, we're encouraging that to hang tough. But citizens here in the Nassau County have been amazingly cooperative. Everybody is very responsible. We don't have any injuries reported. So, we got through a very catastrophic event so far without any real reported injuries. Let's continue to make this a safe cleanup and stay away from those power lines.

MARCIANO: All right. Good advice. Have a good rest of the day. I want to bring in Mr. Feeney, he's the director of New York State Emergency Management. Now, while looking across the entire scene, I mean, it goes Manhattan, it goes beyond to Five Boroughs, it goes beyond Long Island. Now, it's getting upstate and of course New England. But give us a status report as far as what this (INAUDIBLE).

ANDREW FEENEY, NEW YORK STATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Extreme rains and flooding headed up into the Hudson Valley. Governor Cuomo declared an emergency and sent thousands of state employees to help the communities. That's what I'm doing here today. I've been here looking at the Nassau County and looking at the damage. And we're out, you know, doing things like swift water rescue. We have our National Guard fully involved in the efforts down here. And we're really trying to make sure that's well coordinated.

MARCIANO: All right. Thanks for that report. Appreciate it.

FEENEY: Thank you.

MARCIANO: As you mentioned, the governor has ordered almost 2,000 National Guard troops to be activated, about -- there's about 11 what they call high action vehicles. Those are some of the vehicles that can get and go through high water. We saw those during Katrina when the National Guard was called in to be -- in there. And those kinds of vehicles will be very, very helpful in situations like this, as I look out across Long Beach which has seen a fair amount of flooding, a lot of that flooding from the surge is now stuck in the lower areas. So, it's going to take quite some time before it drains out.

You know, Anderson, a lot of people ask me, why are you getting blown around in the wind? Meanwhile people are riding by on bikes and they're kind of hang out. (INAUDIBLE) in the one spot, and I'm tethered to this one spot, and it happens to be near the side of the building. So, we're getting a lot more wind than you would if you were actually closer the surf. And you being in Manhattan right now, I'm sure you've experienced some of that effect, that tunneling effect that happens between buildings. And you can get that here on the -- as well. Back over to you.

COOPER: All right. Rob, thanks very much. You know, it's kind of unbelievable. The sun is actually kind of peeking out from clouds now. I mean, I don't think anyone anticipated seeing the sun at all today. But it is definitely coming out. How long it's going to stay, we're not sure.

I want to check in with Gary Tuchman, because although New York may have dodged the worst of this, the storm is now heading up toward Newport, Rhode Island, where they are bracing for it. Gary, what kind of preparations are you seeing there and what kind of storm do you now expect to get there?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Anderson, we're experiencing a lull in the rain. It's actually stopped raining. It's get a little windier. But the difference between here and New York City, is the worst is over for you. The worst is still to come. And as you can see, people are now packing the streets. A lot of people -- yes, there it is, as you can see, there's a lot of people like to be on TV, also.

But what we're hearing for a lot of people is, you know, the power is now out. They're not watching TV. So, they're assuming the worst is over. We don't know how bad it will get. But the worst here is not over. People are taking precautions here in Newport. They haven't had a hurricane for 20 years. It was hurricane Bob. But most people board up their business. And put tape on their business as you can see. This is a sun glass store and they put tape, with a "sorry, we're close," sign on the door.

This would be a very busy day. There's supposed to be 100,000 people in the city but only has 25,000 people year-round for this weekend. This is a beautiful city with mansions and this is a great example. This is a bed and breakfast here on Thames Street, the main street in downtown Newport, virtually empty, because the tourist that could go home have gone home. They'll be back next weekend for Labor Day weekend. But right now, it's remarkably empty. This is the busiest street in town. And most people -- and I say most because some people are out in the streets driving right now. You can see the fire truck, they're doing a good, the police with the fire truck trying to keep order here. But they don't know what to expect. So, right now most people are staying inside and bad and down the hatches -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Gary, let's hope -- we'll check in with you throughout this hour. Ahead, our coverage will going to continue. We'll be right back. Quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We're in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. I want to show you what's happening in Central Park through our affiliate WCBS. Let's take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The storm is over.

TONY AIELLO, CBS 2 REPORTER: I understood he said that he saw a couple of trees down in that corner of the park, closest to Columbus circle. It's been over there Brian, to push water over the embankment here and it's splashing out of the bay and it's starting to flood the streets here in Sheepshead Bay, here and then across the way there in Manhattan Beach. Marty, now we're seeing people come out to Central Park. Obviously not what you would normally see on a Sunday morning, even a rainy Sunday morning. But we are seeing people filtering out through the park. They want to see what the storm did to New York City's back yard. Live in Mobile 2, Tony Aiello, CBS.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That's not recommended right there. Tony, thanks so much. Running in the park, the last thing you want to be doing right now. The mayor said, don't do it. For good reason. You saw the trees that came down, the branches come down. John just said it, the wind is going to continue.

COOPER: Obviously here in Battery Park, is a much smaller park, not as many trees. There are lots of trees but not seeing a lot of, excuse me -- tree damage. There had been some flooding here, but the water has largely receded. The police are telling people to leave, they're saying look, the park is closed, you know, the storm is not over. Still stay inside. This park has closed. They have not officially reopened it. But as you can see, there are a number of people who have just kind of come here looking out at the water. The sun is still breaking out.

I want to bring in Chad Myers at the severe weather center. Chad, I certainly did not expect to see sun, you know, in the 11:00 hour on this Sunday. It's a far different scene than we had anticipated.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The eye or the center of the storm became very large. And it's still over you now. And that's exactly why you're not seeing any wind at all. There's still wind on the south side of New Jersey in Jersey Shore. And there's a lot of wind up to the north. But what we or not covering and I really, I'm glad you came to me here, there's significant flooding going on. And there are high water rescues going all the way from parts of Upstate New York all the way in to Wyoming County and the Lehigh Valley and all the way back down to southern New Jersey. Anderson, we've had reports up to 14 inches of rainfall in some of these areas, and river, flood and flash flood warnings are going on. And flash flooding can be the biggest killer of a hurricane.

When you have all this rain pushing up into the mountain areas, you have the Adirondacks, you have the Catskills and you have the Poconos, all of a sudden that water has to run downhill rather quickly. It runs into these creeks and streams and the water flashes up very, very fast. Right now, I know back into parts of Wyoming County, I was just looking at the warnings here, there are 30 homes now completely surrounded by water and police and fire rescue are out there with boats trying to rescue these people with swift water rescues from flooding. So, I know, we're seeing that the calm in New York, and Providence, but there is very little calm in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and now even into Vermont where the flooding is really getting bad.

COOPER: And it's good to keep that in mind. In terms of what, you know, we saw Gary Tuchman up in Newport, Rhode Island there, anticipating the storm there. Do we know how bad it may be for them or at least what it's going to look like when it gets there?

MYERS: We looked at it. And it still seems like the best news is that Gary will get the push of the surge which will be about four feet at low tide. Because the tides are coming down now. So, it's essentially over. What this has turned into, and this was never going to be a windstorm. Irene will never be remembered as the windstorm. Irene will be remembered as a flooding storm.

And the flooding in some spots just beginning as the rainfall is still coming down or just starting in Bangor, just starting up in Portland. And some of these areas from Burlington, Vermont, and New Hampshire and also Massachusetts may still pick up another 10 inches of rain before it finally moves away. The rain pushing all the way back even here to water Elmira, back over here to state college and a very, very heavy band up and down the Hudson River right there. And that could cause flash flooding in a moment's notice. And that's why all those warnings are there, Anderson.

This storm started out in the Caribbean over Puerto Rico. It had a very big potential as it moved to the north of the Dominican Republic. And then it was forced to turn. And when it was forced to turn, that was when the wind that pushed it apart and the storm never recovered after being over the Bahamas. And as it came up, it still had a very big pressure, and very big wind and rain potential. The wind did never came, but the rain sure did.

And the rainfall, even the forecast for the rainfall for today will still be between two and four inches on top of a spot. New York City is already now for August picked up, 19 inches of rain. So, all the areas up state from Saratoga back even to Albany and Schenectady and Poughkeepsie, the areas up there have picked up almost 20 inches of rain this month. It is now, there's no way that the rain can soak in. It's just running off and people are in trouble. If you're in low-lying areas, when people tell you and the authorities tell you to evacuate today, they mean it. This flash flooding is serious.

COOPER: And Chad, the commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management was saying that, you know, wait until at least noon, we'll get a better sense at noon of whether or not these winds are going to be still be around throughout the day. What will we learn at noon? Is there another advisory?

MYERS: No. I think what we'll learn at noon, Anderson that, whether this back side, this south side of the eye is actually going to get any wind at all. Typically, wind in a hurricane only comes down when there is rain with it. And you'll notice it. You'll notice from the times we were in Gene and Charlie and Francis and all those other hurricanes back in the middle of 200s, when it rains, the wind really picks up. When the rain stops, the winds calm down.

And there's no rain, and so, therefore, at this point there's no wind. And if the rain comes around, if it wraps around, I don't expect it. That's when the wind will pick up. And that's why he's saying, hey, just wait until noon to see whether the rain wraps around and winds pick up. Because right now 20, 30 miles per hour, you're in good shape. But at 60 miles per hour, and it is still possible, because this is still a 60 mile per hour tropical storm, that's possible, if that comes around, I don't want people out there. That's why you're seeing it. Don't go out until we know whether this is done or just only half done.

COOPER: All right. Good advice, Chad. Thank you. We'll check in with you again. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back to our continuing coverage of tropical storm Irene, formerly Hurricane Irene. We want to -- we'll going to bring you a FEMA press conference which we anticipate sometime in the next 10 minutes just for the latest information about damage that has occurred, how many people may be out of power and in need at this moment. But I want to show you what the storm looked like for our John King who was in Long Beach. This is around in the 8:00 hour, really probably the height of when Irene hit Long Beach. Let's take a look.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was showing you earlier when I just had a stream box up, we have our camera set up right now. I'm going to ask Jerry to pan over this way, that you were asking Rob earlier about those berms. This sand berm here is about five feet high. It's supposed to come up level with the boardwalk. Well, it did extend that way. It extended all the way across. And that was there an hour ago. An hour ago inside here was dry. And you could see the waves have just shattered the sand berm here, others further up the beach this way and others up the beach this way, others up there. And the water now is flowing, and you can see down through the cracks of the boardwalk blowing out the other way. I'll ask Jerry to turn all the way around and come this way.

And you see the water now flowing into the streets of Long Beach. And that far street out there was dry an hour ago. That water is now between ankle and calf deep. You see the police officer at the end of the road. The streets in the low lying areas they go up and down. So, the water right at the tires there. But if you go just to the left, the water gets deeper and deeper. If you come back here toward the water, if you turn this way, you can see the waves coming in. Jackie was just talking about the power of the water. The winds have picked up significantly. The waves are wiping out the sandal long here.

When you get out there, the winds just in the last hour is going to picked up quite a bit. The question is, there's still power in most of this town and we see some modest damage out on the streets. The question is -- it's high tide now, right around now, the storm is still coming. How much more this water will flow into this community. And again, as it hits the barrier islands here and Long Island, if this weather makes it toward your way and the more populated areas, how significant will the flooding be, how significant will the power outages be. And how significant will the property damage be. We're just beginning to get a sense here now as the winds pick up of significant street flooding. The question is, how long will the rain keep coming and how deep will the waters get -- Anderson.

COOPER: You know, John, it's really, you can hear the wind on your phone, on your microphone. It's such a big difference from the way it is here in sort of the center of Manhattan. Any sense of how strong the winds are there?

KING: It's hard to get a sense. But I can tell you, this morning when we first came out they were in the 30s. But now, that was at 5:00 a.m. I would say now that they are twice as hard. Ever since, this morning I had no problem standing in them. Now in the normal wind, you have to brace yourself. When the gusts come you get moved a little bit. You have to get into the crouch which I know you're familiar with. And if you lean toward it, if I turn toward it, it's pretty significant. I just around, you can watch the impact on you when it comes in. That you're asking forward, if you do that, they're definitely now here I would say gusting at least in the 60s and probably significantly higher than that. I wish I could give you a better sense. But it is dramatically in the past hour and significantly from 5:00 a.m. And even in the past hour, not only the winds picked up, but the rain now coming in more or less horizontal. And again, you see the erosion and the damage, the contingency efforts they made along the water here. You can just see the water now flowing into the streets of Long Beach.

COOPER: That was John King in the 8:00 a.m. hour this morning out in Long Beach. We'll check in with him a little bit later on. But the flooding that they had seen there has begun to recede already in Long Beach, not as bad as they had worried it might be and as it could have been. We're anticipating a Press Conference from FEMA in just a matter of minutes out of Washington, D.C. to get a sense of all along the eastern seaboard, what kind of damage this storm has done and what are the needs of people right now as they recover from the storm as they try to regain power for those who have lost their power. We'll going to take a quick break, and we'll try to bring you that press conference on the other end, we'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: (INAUDIBLE) reporting from Georgetown, Pennsylvania. The rain is coming down more than it was before. The wind is probably going faster. I think this is just the starting of it. I definitely feel it on my head, just a tiny bit of rain. I think that this is probably going to be my -- I might think that it's the last of it. But if it's not, I'll report back to you later. And that's about it. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour now on this very interesting Sunday we have seen today. We're talking about this tropical storm now, not a hurricane anymore. Tropical storm Irene made landfall, a third landfall just a couple hours ago in New York City. But still a lot of people up there will tell you, from some of the scenes we've seen with people out on the streets already, they think it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Maybe dodged a bullet. But still causing a number of problems. The storm is a little outside of the city now, 25 miles or so north of New York. But we are seeing already some of those floodwaters start to recede this hour. So that's good news.

But a lot of the damage assessment still going to have to be done. We have seen some flooding. This was expected. Flooding in the low-lying areas of Manhattan. That's why a lot of people were told they need to evacuate. Still not as bad right now. That is great news to hear. The Hudson River is swollen right now, rain swollen. It pushed over its banks and flood waters into Lower Manhattan, also hundreds of thousands of people from North Carolina to parts of New England right now are without power. Do not have any indication of how long that might go on for some of them.

But they were told to be prepared to go days without power. Also this has proven to be a deadly storm unfortunately. At least 11 people dead since Irene made its first landfall which was just over 24 hours ago in North Carolina. We'll have a lot more for you. And for that, at the bottom of the hour, I'll hand this thing back over to Anderson.

COOPER: T.J., thanks very much. Yes, we're in Battery Park. You know, city officials were saying to me just a short time ago, the commissioner of the Department of Emergency Management, you know, Let's wait until at least noon in order to assess where things are in terms of whether or not people should be going outside. There's obviously a lot of people already coming outside, and police are trying to tell them, Go back home, this park is closed. But people definitely coming around, taking pictures, just want to kind of see what, if anything, this storm has done to the areas that they live in.

I want to check in with Soledad O'Brien, who is north and west of where we are right now. We're at the southern tip of Manhattan. She's in the West Village area of Manhattan. And Soledad, a lot of those flood waters you had seen have receded, as well.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And people are doing, Anderson, pretty much the same thing that you're describing in the neighborhood where you are, which is now that things seem to have died down quite a bit, now that the water, the pooling that we saw and the major flooding that we were seeing off the Hudson River, which is right back there, has now receded, people are now coming out, walking around, bringing their kids out to sort of survey whatever damage there has been.

The wind has actually picked up a fair bit in the last 30 minutes or so. And for a while, the sun was actually out, and it started looking like it was going to be a very nice day. But the main thing -- I think the main concern where we are, which is evacuation area A -- the main concerns and all those worries to some degree are for naught, luckily, because the people here did not get massive amounts of flooding that we were worried about.

The one thing we did see was this building that's right next to me -- at one point, water was coming into the first floor windows, and they now, we're told, have about three feet of water in those first floor apartments. They did not have pumps running through the night. And because of that, they're sort of in a bit of a mess.

But it's things like that that they'll be focusing in on today now that the real concern, which I think was the Hudson washing into this low-lying area of lower Manhattan -- that was not as bad as we had feared. And a lot of that, as we've been talking about, Anderson, is the landfill issue. Where I'm standing right now used to be, you know, water. They just filled it in with landfill, some of it taken...

COOPER: Soledad, I got to jump in.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, is giving a press conference. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JANET NAPOLITANO, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: ... Hurricane Irene. Let me begin, however, by expressing condolences to those families who have lost loved ones in the course of this storm. Even though the storm has now been downgraded, it poses no less of a threat to communities in its path. We encourage individuals to listen to their state and local authorities as we move through the response to Irene.

We just concluded briefing President Obama on our ongoing efforts to support the states affected by the storm. And he has instructed us to continue leaning forward on our response. On the call with the president were other members of his cabinet, including the secretary of transportation, Ray LaHood, Secretary of Energy Steve Chu and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, as well as other White House officials.

Our number one message for individuals and families up and down the Eastern Seaboard this morning is that we're not out of the woods yet. Irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. Hazards still persist in communities that have already seen the storm pass. Right now, Hurricane Irene is leaving the New York/New Jersey area. It's going to continue to move up the coast into New England throughout the day. If you are any of those communities, please stay inside and away from the shoreline.

Our local, state and federal partners in North Carolina, Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states remain focused on search and rescue, debris removal from critical roadways and other critical missions this morning. Power outages remain an issue all up and down the coast. We are working with our private sector partners in the electricity sector to make sure that they are getting the power up and running as soon as it can be.

No matter where you are this morning, from North Carolina to Maine, we encourage you to stay off the roads as much as possible so that we can keep them clear for first responders and for vehicles who are working on power restoration. We also encourage everyone to continue listening to the instructions of their state and local officials and to visit Ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe after the storm. Downed power lines, flooding, generator issues and fallen trees are just some of the dangers that exist after a storm. And by taking a few simple steps, you can improve your level of safety and the level of safety for your family.

We still have a ways to go with Irene, but I did want to take a minute and thank everyone who followed the instructions of their local officials yesterday and last night. As I said, unfortunately, we have seen some loss of life, but by and large, with the evacuations and other precautions taken, we have dramatically decreased the risk to life over the course of the storm. And we want to thank the public for helping us achieve that goal.

Now, as I have been saying all week, this storm is in three phases, preparation, response and recovery. We are now into the second phase, for the most part. That is the initial part of the response. Damage assessments are already under way. I spoke to Governor Purdue of North Carolina this morning. As the storm clears the East Coast, we will be conducting damage assessments with our state partners in all of the affected states to determine the area of the storm's impacts and the next steps that need to be done in the response and recovery process.

So we have a ways to go, but I think it is safe to say that the worst of the storm, at least up to and including New York and New Jersey has passed. The storm will proceed up through New England this evening and out of the United States by late tonight, early tomorrow morning.

With that, I'd like to turn this platform over to Bill Read from the National Hurricane Center to give the estimate of the storm. Bill?

BILL READ, DIR., NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER.: Thank you, madam secretary. You actually did a great job of capturing what the forecast for the storm will be. I want to add a few things here. We were very fortunate to be able to get a unique opportunity. We actually had the hurricane hunter aircraft from the Air Force Reserves actually fix the center of the storm as it was coming into New York City earlier this morning.

Now that it's come past the centers here on the Connecticut-New York state line, but we still have the onshore flow with the high surf, tropical storm-force winds and some threat for tidal flooding, especially when the winds become more out of the west and then southwest this afternoon. The west-facing Buzzard's Bay and areas along Rhode Island's coast will be the next issue for the coastal effects.

And as you said, everywhere south of there, conditions will be improving, though we still have tropical storm-force wind gusts and we'll have tropical storm warning continue down to Chincoteague to the south of the center of the storm. It'll pass through New England today and into the eastern Canada and the Maritime provinces overnight tonight, and then it'll be the impact and the follow-up after that.

Next slide, please.

Heavy rain is going to be the ongoing issue. The heaviest rain has exited the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area, but it still continues for eastern New York state up into the Adirondacks and all of northern New England. And it should be exiting most of Connecticut and except for extreme western Massachusetts this afternoon.

Next slide please.

This is the forecast for the rainfall, continuing rainfall from now on. We're still looking at some two to six inches of rain across this area, very highly prone to flash flooding, mountainous and hilly terrain, already saturated grounds. And with that in mind -- next slide, please -- next slide, please -- these are the impacts that we're looking at. We're already getting some record reports in the river systems in the Philadelphia area of responsibility, widespread moderate-to-major flooding in southeast New York, western Connecticut.

And our anticipation is with the rainfall going up into the river systems of New Hampshire and Vermont, that we could see record flooding, flood stages on those rivers. The details for that is best had through our local forecast offices. And by going to Weather.gov and clicking on that are, you'll find out the details for each one of the river systems up there.

That's what I have for now.

NAPOLITANO: Craig?

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA DIRECTOR Well, as the secretary says, we're really moving into response. A lot of this is being done by state and local officials. We're there supporting -- we've been with these governors' teams well before the storm hit. And so as they begin their response operations, we're also starting to look at damage assessments. Already in North Carolina, teams are going out and doing the preliminary assessments.

We'll be working with the governors to determine what additional assistance may be needed on top of the emergency declarations that President Obama has already issued for many of the states along the path of this storm.

But our focus really is now on the next 72 hours. As Bill says, we may not yet have all the impacts from the storm as rivers continue to come up and we look at additional flooding. But we do have substantial power outages. We know we've had flooding, coastal impacts, and as the secretary pointed out, unfortunately, loss of life. But conditions are improving behind the storm, so we are able to get in quickly and begin those assessments and will continue to work with the governors to determine what impacts and what assistance may be required.

QUESTION: What sort of preliminary damage assessments are you guys seeing, particularly in North Carolina (INAUDIBLE)

FUGATE: North Carolina, it's been pretty much flooding, lot of trees down, and the coastal areas are still getting back out to, is several of their highways have had damages from flooding, but also a lot of trees down.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

FUGATE: No dollar figures, not at this point.

QUESTION: When will you have them?

FUGATE: Generally, it takes several days to begin preliminary damage assessments. And you need to understand that when you're looking at total costs, we are not counting insured losses. What we're looking at would be damages that would be the responsibility of government that is uninsured. So when you start hearing numbers about storm damages and you hear numbers from us, we're really looking at what is the cost to the government and also what is the uninsured losses to individuals.

That will not tell you what the insurance losses were. That's a separate additional number that has to be put (ph) to that. And then as the secretary was getting reports from Governor Perdue, agricultural impacts won't be in our totals. That will be in USDA, and we do know there's been substantial agricultural impacts in Carolina, as well.

QUESTION: What is the latest number that you have on loss of life?

FUGATE: Well, right now, that number -- we do not have official numbers. What we see is what you're seeing and what we have reports from the states, and I believe the secretary got briefed from Governor Perdue that they had one additional fatality, but...

NAPOLITANO: (INAUDIBLE) bring them, according to Governor Perdue, up to six in North Carolina.

FUGATE: So we do know that there have been fatalities, and states are working to get from their local offices what the official number will be. But unfortunately, New Jersey had somebody that was swept away earlier today. And that may also now become a fatality.

QUESTION: How concerned are you that people are going to return to their homes to inspect damage and cause further problems?

FUGATE: Well, as to thinks people want to do, we just ask them to heed the local officials when they can come in. We know Ocean City, Maryland, has already announced that people can start coming back and that they'll be opening back up this afternoon. So I think in some areas, people will be able to get back faster than others. But heed local officials, particularly with power outages, trees down. They want to make sure things are safe before people return.

QUESTION: Are you aware of any communities you have not been able to reach because of storm damage?

FUGATE: In North Carolina, they're working to get teams out. They've been doing a lot of swiftwater rescue and getting ferry service back up. But they also have a very robust plan to get into the areas. So we don't have reports yet of not being able to get in areas. That doesn't mean that that's not the case. But the people have resources to go in and do that kind of work right now.

QUESTION: You're going to have a lot of people go out today into the sunny afternoon and say, Why the heck did we have to evacuate? I'm just curious what you guys would say to that. Additionally, you know, you guys have announced that you're diverting some money from previous disasters, most notably those Southern tornadoes, Joplin, Missouri, other disasters dating back a few more years, to help pay for this immediate situation. I'm curious how soon you hope Congress will work with the White House to get you the money you need.

FUGATE: Evacuations. You know, a lot of communities, they start their evacuations when the probability of impacts are probably in the 20 percent to 25 percentile. That means about 75 percent of the time, Ed, you can go home and there's no damage. And that's good. OK, I just think people need to understand, we hope that people can go back home and there's no damages. And yes, there's a lot of times people say, Well, why did I have to evacuate? It's those...

COOPER: We want to break out of this press conference. Our affiliate, WCBS, is interviewing Governor Andrew Cuomo. Let's listen in on that.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK (via telephone): ... were taken out of harm's way. The equipment was removed from areas that were prone to flooding. That should expedite the system coming back on line.

But before we make a prediction, we need to do a full assessment. We haven't been able to do that because the situation is still too dangerous and the conditions are still too dangerous. We can't put people on bridges. We can't put people in tunnels. So once we get a full assessment, then we'll give the people of New York an idea of when the system will come on line. That's not just New York City, that's also metro north. That's also the Long Island Rail Road. We have water in tunnels. We have debris on tracks. So we need to do our homework there first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you said we can't put people in bridges and tunnels, you were referring to MTA bridges and tunnels. What about the highway bridges and tunnels around the region?

CUOMO: Well, surface transit (INAUDIBLE) transit may be restored faster than some of the rails. That might be true. But another crew (INAUDIBLE) the situation, and then we'll give you reliable information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been able to get any updates regarding the region's airports at all? We're hearing before Irene and during Irene that they weren't going to be able to open at the earliest until Monday. Does that still seem to be the case?

CUOMO: That is still the estimate that we're working from. But again, when the storm tapers down a bit -- not yet, but when the storm tapers down a bit, we'll be able to put personnel out and come up with a full assessment of the damage and then how long it's going to take to remediate that damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, where did you and the family ride this out last night? And what was it like?

CUOMO: I was in New York City yesterday afternoon. I was in Long Island last night, and came up through Albany last night because in the midst of all of this, believe it or not, there was a small earthquake -- if that's not an oxymoron -- outside of Albany in a town called Altamont, where the state operates a very large dam. And there was some concern that the earthquake, which was a 2.9, could have damaged the dam. And if that was a problem, that could have been a serious problem. So I came upstate to -- came up to Albany to survey the dam this morning. And now I'm on my way back to New York City. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let me see. One week, two earthquakes, one hurricane. What else is coming your way?

CUOMO: Good thing we're tough as New Yorkers, huh?

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: It really has been an eventful few days. But you know what? Hats off to New Yorkers. You know, sometimes, when we have our darkest hours, New Yorkers shine their brightest, and I think this is one of those times. New Yorkers have acted responsibly. They've stayed indoors. The amount -- the sense of community and New Yorkers helping New Yorkers (INAUDIBLE) all across the state, and I'm proud to be a New Yorker. I'm honored to serve as governor. It's not over yet. Let's stay smart. Let's stay indoors. But I think the worst may have passed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, one more thing before we go. We were admiring your photography. And if you have more shots, we'd love to see them. That's some beautiful work, and it does paint quite a picture, especially when you were up in Margaretville, showing off all that mud and so forth north of the Catskills and all that water rushing outside your window.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that taken on your cell phone, Governor?

CUOMO: Yes, it was. You know, Maurice (ph), some would say I'm just a frustrated journalist anyway.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A photojournalist. If you want, I think you can get a career there pretty easily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, there's a lot of freelancing work, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right!

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this whole governor thing doesn't work out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Governor, thanks so much. Governor Cuomo surveying the damage for us and making some more assessments as we go forward.

COOPER: You heard Governor Cuomo speaking to out affiliate WCBS saying the worst may have passed. It certainly seems for folks in Manhattan, at least, the worst seems to have passed. And certainly, a lot of people feel that who are walking around right now in Battery Park.

This is an area that was supposed to be sort of one the worst hit areas, if there was to be flooding in the island of Manhattan. And though there was some flooding here, most of that water has already receded here. And as you can see, a lot of people already just kind of walking around, taking pictures, even though police had been trying to discourage them from doing that.

We're going to continue our coverage. We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa! Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here! Grab the (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: One of the scenes we saw earlier in the coverage of this storm. Let's check in with Rob Marciano, who's out in Long Beach. Rob, have they been able to assess what kind of damage Long Beach has seen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ever been in a hurricane before?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) from the officials I talk to and from what I've been able to see in the past -- just in these blocks around here, is that there hasn't been a ton. There's been some street flooding. There's been flooding at local businesses, including this hotel, including some of the buildings that we can see around here.

But really, the biggest damage has been this building, which is the headquarters of the lifeguard unit here in Long Beach. But it shouldn't be there. It should be about, I don't know, maybe 200 feet to the left. But it was actually ripped off its foundation during the thunderstorm and pinned against that wall (ph). And that's where it's going to stay until they figure out what to do to protect the berm that was there, to save that thing.

(INAUDIBLE) quickly (ph) and then inundated three or four blocks of the town with water. A lot of that water has since receded, but a lot it has still puddled. So there's a lot of roads that are very -- are still unpassable. And despite power outages, there's power here on the boardwalk. But yet there's 250,000 (ph) people (INAUDIBLE) people throughout Long Island that are without power from the storm.

So people kind of walking around this area, and you know, in disbelief, like, Wow, that was it? That was a hurricane? We're out here, you know, six hours later just checking some things out. So they're definitely impressed by what the wave action did to this beach, a tremendous amount of beach erosion, damage to this boardwalk, and obviously, that lifeguard house. But other than that, from what we've heard from locals (ph) and the officials that we've talked to, both statewide and here in Nassau County, there hasn't been a ton.

So they'll take that, for sure. How about on your end? I haven't been able to watch any of the footage. How's lower Manhattan been shaping up?

COOPER: You know, I think a lot of people are surprised at just -- feeling that they dodged a bullet, that, as the governor said, that the worst has passed, and the worst was not as bad as it could have been. Even earlier this morning, there was concern about, you know, the tidal surge, about what -- how high the water would get, how much there would be flooding.

And we did see, you know, some flooding here in Battery Park. Ali Velshi saw some minor flooding around Pier 17, South Street Seaport, and Soledad saw some in the West Village, but very small stuff. And it has all pretty much receded, Rob, at this point, around Battery Park, a little bit of puddling here.

But as you can see, there's a lot of folks who are just now coming out to kind of stretch their legs, to see whatever they can see. The wind has been picking up here just in the last five or so minutes.

And we've been talking with Chad over this hour about when -- if you were at your home, when is it OK to kind of get out? A city official we talked to earlier saying wait until at least past the noon hour. We'll get a sense whether these winds are going to pick up even more because this is sort of the back side of the storm, if you will, and the question is, How much of the wind is going to hit in New York City? We're going to be checking on that, especially at the top at the 12:00 o'clock hour.

We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And we are back. Let's check in with Chad Myers in the CNN Weather Center. Chad, how -- where is the storm -- where is it now, how does it look?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The worst part of the storm is moving into Boston, also moving into Portland, Maine, and all the way up toward Bangor. That is where the right side of what is still the eye, or the center, of this tropical storm is.

The worst possible weather is happening from central Vermont back into New York and into Pennsylvania, where flash flooding is occurring right now, significant flash flooding with high-water rescues going on, even roads being washed out, we know, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

But anywhere from Burlington back to Schenectady and to Binghamton and Scranton, that's where these rivers are completely out of their banks. There are even rivers around Trenton and Philadelphia at record levels, levels that the rivers have never been before. And I know that's hard and flash flooding is a very difficult thing to cover because by the time you drive to look at the flash flood, the water's already down. But if you are in the flash flooding, you need to get to higher ground. Do not take this lightly. I know the storm didn't make the wind, especially for New York City, that everybody expected, but the rain is still tremendous up here upstate. We are going to see winds for you -- your answer right there, Anderson, about 40 miles per hour for the rest of the day. That's all.