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Hurricane Irene Closing In; Is New York City Ready?; Hurricane Warning for Coastal North Carolina; Hurricane Irene Takes Aim at New York; Irene Heads for North Carolina Coast; Irene An "Extreme" Path; Irene Evacuations Spread

Aired August 26, 2011 - 06:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Irene now heading for the East Coast and slicing through the Bahamas, North Carolina, expected in Washington, New York, New England. More than 50 million people in the potential danger zone.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Board up and get out. I'm Carol Costello. Hurricane Irene expected to deliver its first powerful blow to North Carolina. Warnings to move out of the way while there is still time on this AMERICAN MORNING.

VELSHI: Good morning. It is Friday, August 26th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's all about the hurricane today.

COSTELLO: I know I wish I could say happy Friday, happy Friday for those not living along the northEast Coast.

VELSHI: And for whom it hasn't reached yet.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Let's talk about Hurricane Irene. It is now said to be a massive and powerful Category 2 storm. It's sitting just off the East Coast. Fifty million people could feel its force by this weekend.

New hurricane warnings are now up. They stretch from North Carolina all the way to New Jersey. States of emergency have been declared as far north as New England.

VELSHI: Now Irene totally hammered the Bahamas yesterday with torrential rain, 115-mile-per-hour winds. North Carolina most likely is next.

In Atlantic Beach, a surf shop boarding up, mandatory evacuations now under way along the outer banks and it could be the biggest storm to hit New York in decades. People all the way up the coast are being asked to leave or to get ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I understand that sometimes folks think that people overreact in this situation. Let me assure you that we are not overreacting. We need to be ready for this. And if we give advice we want you to do things like leave the shore in the next 24 hours. I hope the people will comply with that in a voluntary way and not force my hand in having to make it mandatory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. We're all over the story this morning getting minute by minute updates. Rob Marciano is tracking the huge storm for us here in New York. Mary Snow is live for us in Lower Manhattan. John Zarrella and Reynolds Wolf along the Carolina coast.

COSTELLO: We have people all over the place. Let's go to Rob Marciano. Rob, tell us exactly where Irene is right now.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's south of the North Carolina and heading to the north. So basically it's going to run into North Carolina. There's virtually no doubt about that right now, about 400 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras.

Switch to the watch and warnings, the biggest issue this morning has been that there have been new watches and new warnings issued and warnings have now been extended northward and watches have been posted now, for the Long Island coastline, for Connecticut coastline, the Rhode Island coastline and parts of eastern New England coastline.

So hurricane conditions possible in the next 48 hours, but the hurricane warnings have been lifted northward to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, meaning hurricane conditions likely in the next 36 hours so any preparations should be rushed to completion and in some cases there have been evacuation orders met.

All right, let's talk about the satellite picture where this thing is, what kind of shape it's in. It has weakened a little bit. It's down to a Category 2, but that's minuscule compared to what we're talking about here, winds of 110 miles per hour. A Category 3 is 111.

So let's not talk about categories right now, but we will discuss the fact that we've seen a little weakening, a little bit of dry air coming into this. It will eventually get into cooler waters, but that's not until it gets closer to New York City.

So it has warm waters to go over before it gets to North Carolina so there is a possibility of it strengthening back to Category 3 status. Regardless it's a big storm with a large circulation.

Here's the forecast track from a number of our computer models. You can see they're fairly clustered once we get through the Carolinas up through the Delmarva and across Long Island. The National Hurricane Center forecast track echoes this theme in bringing this onshore during the day tomorrow as a Category 2 or 3 storm across Cape Hatteras, Pimlico Sound and then skimming the coastline of the Delmarva, of the Jersey shore and then across Long Island and parts of southern New England.

Not really weakening terribly as it does so and remaining a large storm at that. Rainfall is going to be a huge issue as well because places like Philadelphia, up and down Jersey, the entire tri- state area has seen a tremendous amount of rainfall in the past couple of weeks and you will see more on top of that.

So ground saturated, more rainfall and winds that will be sustained 70, 80, 90 miles per hour, guys, that's going to topple some trees and probably going to be the largest issue for the widest amount of real estate not to mention the storm surge, which we'll be talking throughout the morning.

COSTELLO: Rob Marciano, doesn't sound so good, does it?

VELSHI: No. I think you need to remember when he talks to toppled trees, you're talking power outages and flooding at the same time. You can't get rid of floods when you have power outages. So really just be prepared.

Right now, thousands of people are leaving beach communities in North Carolina. They're bracing for a direct hit from Irene. John Zarrella is live in Morehead City, North Carolina. John, what's the situation there. Yesterday, when we talked to you things were calm looking. How is the looking now?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It still looks pretty calm here, Ali. But you mentioned about people evacuating the beach front communities. This is certainly one of those. You can see over my right shoulder this building right along the water in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina is boarded up.

When we arrived here yesterday afternoon, we saw several other businesses beginning or finishing up putting up the plywood shutters over their windows. But, you know, when we took a tour of the island and overall, there weren't a whole lot of places that had been boarded up.

But there has been a mandatory evacuation order issued here. It is eerily quiet on this island, which is a huge vacation spot, Atlantic Beach. Moorehead City is literally just over the bridge from here and it is one big, high bridge to get here into Atlantic Beach.

So it is very, very likely that as this storm moves in, you know, access over that bridge is going to be cut off. So that's why today they have said they want everybody off this island who does not need to be on this island.

I can't really see the wave action out there right now, Ali. It's not too much. It looks like a normal day here along the Emerald Isle, Emerald coast here in North Carolina right now. A little bit of drizzle starting to pick up now and then, but that's about it.

But quite clearly, right here where we are in the Moorehead City, Atlantic Beach area, we're very likely to be the first ones along the North Carolina coast to feel the effects from the hurricane.

And we could very well be in that eye wall or at least on the left side of that eye wall as it moves up towards the outer banks, which are just up the road from here. Ali --

VELSHI: All right, John, I know you and your team are very experienced at staying safe, so I won't tell you about that. You'll be watching it closely and we'll be checking with you. John Zarrella.

COSTELLO: We've talked about what if. Well, now we could find out what will happen if a hurricane made a direct hit on New York City. It could happen Sunday afternoon.

As you can see on this Google map, the worst case scenario has the storm surge pushing into places like Wall Street and the World Trade Center site and that's what the city is getting ready for right now.

It's already talking about a total mass transit shutdown. Mayor Bloomberg has announced the evacuation of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, they would be hospital patients and those in nursing homes and people confined to their homes who live in low-lying areas of the five boroughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Let me remind you that this kind of forecast is very imprecise and we're talking about something that is a long time away in meteorological terms. So what we have to do is assume the worst, prepare for that and hope for the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mary Snow is joining us from lower Manhattan. So, Mayor Bloomberg came out strong, he said listen to what I'm saying, New Yorkers, you have to be prepared. Do you think New Yorkers will listen?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is doubtful, Carol. You know, hurricanes here are so rare and that's one of the reasons why these what if scenarios have been looked at because New York hasn't experienced a direct hit by an earthquake in more than 100 years.

So there have been some modules, especially because hurricane experts say it wouldn't take a major hurricane to cause significant flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): If anyone is worried about a hurricane hitting New York, it's coastal geology professor Nicholas Coch and to understand why he took us to Southampton, New York.

NICHOLAS K. COCH, QUEENS COLLEGE PROFESSOR: This is actually where the 1938 hurricane broke through and made this bay a branch of the ocean. SNOW: Coch says most New Yorkers forget that it was here that a powerful Category 3 hurricane made landfall in 1938. It was called the Long Island Express and it caused widespread damage even in New York City, some 70 miles away.

(on camera): Even if New York City is spared a direct hit.

COCH: It's going to have massive flooding, yes.

SNOW (voice-over): For years, Coch has been sounding the alarm about how vulnerable New York City is because of its topography. He said storm surges could trigger massive flooding in low-lying areas, particularly lower Manhattan.

Consider the simulation done by NOAA showing what a Category 2 hurricane could do to a tunnel linking Brooklyn and Manhattan. Donald Cresitello with the Army Corps of Engineers mapped out some worst case scenarios.

A Category 1 hurricane, for example, could flood the subway station at the southern tip of Manhattan with three-and-a-half feet of water. A Category 2 storm, he says, could put JFK Airport under 5-1/2 feet of water.

DONALD E. CRESITELLO, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER: If a storm were to occur, could be catastrophic given the population density in the northeast.

SNOW: High winds are also a big concern. City officials have evacuation plans at the ready. Despite all the preparations, Coch says it's not the hurricane he's most worried about.

(on camera): What's your biggest concern?

COCH: The New Yorker.

SNOW: Why?

COCH: Because they don't listen. You can always tell a New Yorker, but you can't tell them very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: You have to admit, Nicholas Coch has a point there. So with all these hurricane plans you can add stubbornness to one of the factors that city officials will have to take into account. They're trying to evacuate people.

COSTELLO: You know what that means when it starts to really rain here and people finally get scared they'll try to go into the subway to get out of the city and the subway system may be shut down.

SNOW: Yes. You know, I cannot remember in recent memory when there's been talk of an entire shutdown in mass transit, but the MTA chairman says if there are winds higher than 39 miles per hour, they may actually shut the entire system down.

That it would take about eight hours. Some of the subways also are above ground. That's a pretty extraordinary move that the city would take if it comes to that.

COSTELLO: Mayor Bloomberg says it's prepared. We'll see. I hope so. Mary Snow, reporting live from lower Manhattan this morning.

VELSHI: We're all going to snug up in Manhattan this weekend if we're here for it.

All right, we have a lot more on Hurricane Irene ahead. It's 6:30 Eastern, we're going to speak with the director of the National Hurricane Center, Bill Read.

At 6:40, Stephen Flynn. He's the author of "The Edge of Disaster Rebuilding A Resilient Nation." He's the president of the Center for National Policy and he's done work on whether or not New York is ready for this kind of disaster.

COSTELLO: And coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, two North Carolina's outer banks expected to take the first hit from Hurricane Irene. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf shows us all the supplies everyone will need. You will need them to ride out the storm. We'll tell you about it.

VELSHI: Don't wait until Saturday to get them. A lot of people are going to stores already and they're sold out. A lot of the stores are trying to restock on the important stuff. Do that now.

Plus, on the other side of the world, rebels knocking down doors looking for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The latest on their search for the missing dictator. It's 12 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 14 minutes past the hour.

The Outer Banks in North Carolina expected to take the first blow on Saturday. Tens of thousands of tourists and residents have already been told to get the hell out of dodge.

CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is live in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. People are heeding the warnings, right?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Many people did. They had an evacuation yesterday for all visitors. They have roughly about 150,000 people on average per day that are visiting the Outer Banks.

But I have to tell you, if you happen to be here and you had your nose in a book over the last week or so and you look outside by this morning, take a look off to my right, we've got CNN photojournalist Mark (INAUDIBLE). With this, Mark can show you the mix of clear skies and a few scattered clouds as we veer to the north.

As we pan over a bit more to right behind to the east, still very picturesque, very, very serene. But then we pivot a bit more to the south, the situation gets a little bit more foreboding. And it's to the south, that's the direction where Irene is going to come calling.

Again, it is a massive storm as it comes closer over the seconds, minutes and hours we do anticipate conditions to quickly deteriorate. And because of that reason we have, of course, this evacuation. You already mentioned the people leaving yesterday, a lot of the visitors, but we also have the local residents, people who call this place home year-round, basically 35,000 people, they'll start leaving today at 8:00 A.M.

Again, mandatory evacuation really doesn't mean that every person has to leave. They strongly advise that you go.

We spoke with one gentleman yesterday who's actually a visitor by the name of Richard Potts. He said why take your chances?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD POTTS, TOURIST: I think that everyone's being evacuated, there's reason to be concerned. I would rather evacuate than wait around to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: Well, if you - if you do decide to stay on the Outer Banks or any place along the Eastern Seaboard where you might be dealing with this - this system, Irene, there's a couple of things you need to have.

Let's go right to this full screen and show you what you need to have to stay safe, your hurricane preparedness kit. First and foremost and this is extremely important, you need bottled water. You need bottled water. You need nonperishable food.

Now, when we're talking about bottled water, you need basically a gallon per person drinking water per day. Water is one of the first things that goes out, your tap water. So, of course, you have to have that - that supply. Another thing, obviously, first aid kit, medicine, all your ibuprofen, anything you need, any kind of painkillers. That's what you've got to have.

Also, it helps to have a flashlight. Power outage is all but is certain in this region. And with a flashlight, it's no-brainer that you need extra batteries. On top of that, radio. For many people the only form of communication you're going to have is going to be radio and with that you got it, you need the batteries.

And then one thing that a lot of people don't really consider in this day of, you know, just swiping cards all over the place, you're going to need cash. Because those ATMs, as soon as they cut the power, ATMs are going to be out. So it's going to be a cash only existence. No question.

Let's send it back to you.

COSTELLO: Good advice. Reynolds Wolf, many thanks. We'll get back to you.

VELSHI: All right. New York is caught in the hurricane's crosshairs. Officials warn the city could take a direct hit, sparking fears of flooding and major damage. Some voluntary evacuations on Long Island are already under way.

Susan Candiotti is right there. See where it is, Smith Point, New York. She's there now. What's it looking like out there, Susan? How are people preparing?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a - it's a nice morning so far. We're expected to have pretty decent weather today, which is the perfect kind of weather you would want to get ready for this hurricane, because no doubt about it, it's going to be hitting this area exactly where is the only thing they don't know.

But remember, Ali, this area was hit by a big storm back in 1938 called the Long Island Express, a killer storm that claimed 200 lives from New York all the way up through New England. Of course, wind gusts back then were up to - it was a Category 3 storm with wind gusts up to 125 miles per hour. Clearly now, there is far more development out here on Long Island and, therefore, there is far likely to be much more damage.

As you said we're on the south side of Long Island, more than halfway to the eastern end of things, and on a barrier island right now. So this area more likely than not, the beach that we're on will be under a mandatory evacuation later today. Other areas where people are being told to prepare for an evacuation, but they wouldn't get that news until much later.

In the meantime people are scooping up all kinds of supplies. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Water. We had batteries, so I didn't have to buy those. They're all out right now, by the way. And canned goods just in case, you know, we lose power and/or the stove. You know, if we can't use the fringe and we can't use the stove, we need to eat something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Of course, out here, and in Metropolitan New York area, they're expecting a ton of rain, of course a high storm surge, downed power lines and naturally power outages that could last for days.

The important thing is good weather today, best time to prepare - Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Good advice, as we've been saying. Do it now, don't wait until tomorrow when you realize, hey, guess what, there's a hurricane coming our way.

Susan, it looks good to see you there. You look dry. You look happy. It wouldn't last.

CANDIOTTI: The last time I'll look like that, that's right.

VELSHI: Yes. I'll be joining you out there pretty soon anyway. See you.

COSTELLO: Our other developing story this morning is, of course, Libya. CNN's team at the Tripoli Airport is reporting Gadhafi loyalists are shelling the Administrative Buildings there.

In the meantime, opposition forces are going door to door, still looking for the missing leader. And take a look at this. This is an RV that's said to have belonged to Moammar Gadhafi. Rebels tell CNN the fugitive dictator had been hiding inside this RV for the past few days.

VELSHI: Wow. I couldn't know what to think about that.

COSTELLO: Weird.

VELSHI: Yes, it's weird. It's just weird.

All right. Coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING, another stimulus? Well, all eyes today are on Fed Chief Ben Bernanke looking for hints. He's got a major speech coming up a little later today. We'll tell you what the options are and how it could affect you. We're "Minding Your Business" next.

Twenty-one minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Today's the big day, Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke has a speech, at an annual meeting at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Wall Street has been waiting all week for this hoping the Fed chief might announce some new measures to help out the struggling economy, maybe even hint at another round of Fed stimulus.

U.S. markets closed sharply lower yesterday. Nervousness about Europe's debt problems and an uninspiring jobs report snapped the three day winning streak on Wall Street. The Dow, the S&P 500 both dropped about 1.5 percent. The NASDAQ lost more, dropping about two percent by the end of the closing - by the end of trading day.

In about two hours, a new report on the health of the economy, the second estimate for this past quarter's gross domestic product will be released and measures how fast the economy is growing. Economists are forecasting the GDP in the second quarter was weaker than first thought, growing at a rate of just one percent.

Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading pretty flat. NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures are both trading lower just a bit, Dow futures unchanged at the moment. Investors really hoping for some good news from that Bernanke speech this morning.

Over in Europe, stock markets are down sharply. France, Italy and Spain extended a ban on short selling of financial securities, financial shares trying to minimize volatility in markets there. Short selling, as you know, is when investors bet that the price of a stock will go down. Credit worries in Europe continue to drive investors' sentiments down this week worldwide. Rumors - just rumors about a potential downgrade of Europe's largest economy Germany helped push U.S. markets lower yesterday as well.

Stocks to watch today, State Farm, Nationwide, AllState and Travelers, those are some of the most exposed insurers with Hurricane Irene fast approaching the East Coast. Shares in AllState and Travelers dropped three percent yesterday. Many of the country's largest insurance companies have already sustained serious losses this year because of damaging weather this spring, those tornadoes.

AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Good morning. It is - we're just crossing the half hour right now. Time for this morning's top stories.

And the top story is Hurricane Irene. Hurricane warnings now posted for the North Carolina Coast. Thousands evacuating the shoreline as Irene, which is now a Category 2 storm, moves closer to the United States.

COSTELLO: Yes. Category 2, but still pretty darn strong.

VELSHI: It's strong, yes.

COSTELLO: The East Coast bracing after Irene did this to the Bahamas. Torrential rain and trees bending in 115 mile per hour winds, severely damaging homes on the islands and knocking some clear off their foundations.

VELSHI: Utility companies from North Carolina to New England are bracing for the storm.

Here in New York City, Con Edison, the utility company, is warning customers extensive power outages are likely. Amtrak and a number of U.S. airlines are also canceling routes and flights. American airlines canceled 126 flights yesterday. More are expected to be canceled today.

COSTELLO: So, call ahead, huh?

VELSHI: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes, definitely.

My next guest is also following the storm quite closely. He has more information on Irene's path and strength. Bill Reed, the director of the National Hurricane Center. And Bill joins us now live from Miami.

Thanks for being here. I know it's a busy day for you.

BILL READ, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Oh, yes, we're two hours into it and it will probably be 14 hours and someone else will be taking over.

COSTELLO: How seriously should we take this storm?

READ: Very seriously with the density of the population and the size of the storm, there's going to be impacts all up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I mean, we have hurricane warnings now from Sandy Hook all the way through North Carolina. And you can see why.

We have a very large storm, tropical storm force winds will be onshore in the southern coast of North Carolina later this afternoon, with the center still way to the south of them. That impact will start spreading northward tonight and tomorrow into the mid-Atlantic and then tomorrow night and Sunday New York and New England. Wet ground, very heavy rain, strong winds are going to have power outages and flooding at a minimum and along the coast, you have storm surge concerns.

COSTELLO: So, Bill, I know what Rob Marciano told me. He said, OK, it's a category two, but there's still -- you should still worry about that. When I hear category two from a category three or four, I kind of want to say --

READ: Well, I'm not a big fan of indices for that reason. We're five miles an hour less than we were six hours ago. We're 110 miles an hour. If you have five to six hours of winds of 50 to 60 miles an hour, you're going to bring down a lot of trees.

Yes, it's not the slab leveling winds of 150-mile-an-hour major hurricane going through the Caribbean, but you are going to have tidal effects, you going to have the heavy rain, are going to have the wind damage.

COSTELLO: And the other thing that I have heard, you know, about this storm possibly hitting New York City is that New York City is due for one, it's been 80 or 90 years I've heard a number of years being thrown around, is that really true? Are places due for such storms?

READ: I don't really use that word. Relatively rare events everywhere, even down here in the Tropics, Barbados, for example, has not had a direct hit from a hurricane center since the 1950s. Deep in the tropics. So, that's not a very good way to look at it. They're infrequent and when they do occur in areas that are densely covered with human activity, you have major impact from them.

COSTELLO: Bill Read, thank you so much for joining us from the National Hurricane Center -- a busy guy for the next couple of days at least. Thank you so much.

VELSHI: And you see over Bill's shoulder that track, Rob has been tracking it for us here.

Rob Marciano, what do you think?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: He brings up a really good point. You think about places like Florida, you think about North Carolina -- North Carolina hasn't seen a major hurricane hit since 1999. So, it's been over a decade there as well. North Carolina sticks out in the ocean, just kind of thumbing its nose at Mother Nature there.

The other thing you brought out, how big the population that's going to be affected here. Over 50 million people I think is going to be affected by this storm and that's going to begin to start this afternoon -- as you mentioned, tropical storm force winds are expected across the North Carolina coastline by later on today.

Movement is northerly at about 13 miles per hour. We've seen a smidge of weakening this morning -- a little bit of dry air, a little bit of wind shear, but it is heading over warm water. So, it could strengthen back to category three strength regardless.

If the winds are over 90 or 100 miles an hour, we're going to have significant surge, especially with the new moon and the high tides that are going to occur over the next 24 to 48 hours and because it is going to be so close to the shoreline.

Rainfall is going to be huge as well. We're going to see anywhere from five to 10 inches of rainfall and we've already had in some spots a record-setting last couple of weeks. Philadelphia up through Jersey -- ground saturated, trees haven't seen these winds, we are going to see significant tree damage and trees down.

So, power outages in the highly densely populated area, it's going to be huge.

As far as what you can expect for a category one or two storm, you can see outages in the hundreds of thousands, maybe more than that and out for a long time -- three to six days potentially, 10 to 15 days in some spots. You have to prepare for that and have supplies and batteries on hand to be without power for that amount of time.

All right. Let's talk about the track again. It's shifted a little to the east, but we're still looking at a double landfall here and looking at a landfall that's going to come as a major storm across the Carolina coastline, Pamlico Sound see surges on both sides of that, scoots up towards the Chesapeake through the Delaware. We're going to see surges in through that as well.

What about the surge in New York City? So low to the ground, we've been talking about it, you know, it's going to be so specific to where you are exactly. Especially if this thing passes off to the east. That means places like LaGuardia and JFK will get an easterly surge. A lot of water will pile up on the west side of Long Island, down the Harlem and East River and back down towards New York harbor. So, that's going to be the tricky forecast.

Hey, Providence, Boston, New England, you're going to see it as well as a strong storm and will be accelerating as it gets closer -- further north.

VELSHI: When you say accelerating, you mean literally the speed of the storm, the movement?

MARCIANO: The movement. The further north it gets it gets into the jet stream and really starts to pick up steam.

VELSHI: There are two things when you hear about speed, right? There's the speed of the winds which is what we always think about, the categories, and there's how fast it moves which affects whether it weakens or strengthens.

MARCIANO: It does and it makes the right side of the storm that much more powerful. Bu the good is it gets over a little bit more of a hurry. So, you can look at it two ways there.

COSTELLO: Yes. I would like to look at things in the brightest way possible. That's the brightest way possible.

I'm just freaked out I'm going to lose cell phone service. That happened after the earthquake, why not after a hurricane.

MARCIANO: Might be the least of your worries, carol. Come on now.

COSTELLO: I know.

MARCIANO: Either way it's going to be a historic event. Hopefully, it won't be -- hopefully more of an inconvenience than anything else. But at this point, it looks pretty nasty.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Rob.

In Washington, D.C., the dedication of a Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is now postponed, you knew is would be postponed. It's postponed because of Hurricane Irene. The statute of the late civil rights leader was supposed to be revealed on Sunday. Even President Obama planned to be there. He was going to come back from Martha's Vineyard. But event organizers are not taking chances with the impending storm. They pushed back the ceremony until a day -- until a later date, some time in September or October when we know we'll pass it along.

VELSHI: All right. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect from North Carolina all the way to New England. Millions of people are potentially in the storm's path which is expected to bring as we've been telling you widespread damage, power outages, flooding, one of the more serious things that's going to happen. Cities and states along a 700-mile stretch of the Atlantic seaboard are making preparations.

Let's take a look at what's happening in the South. First of all, both North and South Carolina have declared states of emergency, mandatory evacuations are in place in low-lying areas, including Hyde County, North Carolina, the outer banks and parts of Norfolk, Virginia.

In the mid-Atlantic section -- show you what's going on over there, I'll get rid of that -- in the mid-Atlantic section which rob was making mention of, states of emergency have been declared in Maryland and in Delaware. Now mandatory evacuations in some low-lying areas, including Ocean City, Maryland, are taking place. Remember, mandatory doesn't mean they can force you to leave, but they highly advise you leave.

The mayors of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore announced that sandbags are available for residents in those cities.

And let's take a look at what's going on in the Northeast right now. Again, big worries about this, particularly in transportation areas. Officials have declared states of emergencies in New York, in New Jersey, and in Connecticut.

Tolls -- this one is going to be good. You can drive around the highway for free, tolls suspended on parts of the Garden State Parkway. The point there, though, is to help with mandatory evacuations in Atlantic City and those surrounding barrier islands. They want people to just move out of the areas.

New York City is considering mandatory evacuations of Coney Island, Battery Park, and parts of Staten Island.

And here's the danger. You use tunnels to get into New York, those could get flooded subways and trains could be should down. Emergency management agencies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine are all urging citizens to be prepared, including putting together the emergency kits that will last for up to three days, food, nonperishable food, clean water, and batteries and flashlights, things like that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Lots and lots of batteries. Thanks Ali.

Right now, at least 30 people are trapped after a grenade attack in a casino. It happened right over the U.S. border in Monterrey, Mexico. Fifty-three people were killed in that bombing. The emergency crews have stopped rescue efforts for now because they're afraid the building might collapse. Witnesses say they saw two men drive past the casino and one of them hurled three grenades into the building.

A Los Angeles County judge has denied a request to sequester the jury in the Michael Jackson trial. Attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray made the request saying media coverage could hurt their client. The judge disagreed. Dr. Murray faces charges of manslaughter in the pop star's 2009 death.

Former baseball great Lenny Dykstra charged with two counts of indecent exposure toward women he met on Craigslist. Police say he placed ads for housekeeping or personal assistant services and when those women arrived at his home, they allege Dykstra exposed himself. Dykstra will appear in court in September.

VELSHI: Second time this morning all I can say is, weird.

All right. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING: How is this city, New York City, preparing for Hurricane Irene? How devastating could it be if Irene makes a direct hit on New York City? Very interesting. We'll tell you about it on the other side.

COSTELLO: Yes. This is the Statue of Liberty. It's a bus. It's the Statue of Liberty. We can still see it.

We'll be back.

It's 40 minutes past the hour.

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VELSHI: Fifty million people are in an area that could get hit by this hurricane. New York City, which has a lot of those people, is prepping for a direct hit by Hurricane Irene. Don't know whether it will happen or not, but they are preparing for it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg deciding today whether or not to evacuate low-lying areas of the city. Here's what has him concerned. The orange area, take a look -- there you go -- the orange area that could flood from any hurricane that comes near the city. The yellow area, a category two hurricane could affect that, a good chunk of Lower Manhattan and the boroughs that could be flooded by Irene.

So, is the city ready?

Stephen Flynn is an emergency preparedness expert. He's author of "The Edge of Disaster, Rebuilding a Resilient Nation."

Thank you for being with us.

Let me ask you this, when talking about flooding in parts of Manhattan are we talking about a few inches of water? Are we talking about needing row boats to get around? What are we talking about?

STEPHEN FLYNN, EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS EXPERT: It's a little bit of all of the above. But the basic issue is that Manhattan is an island. And so, as that storm comes in, if it pushes water up the river the harbor, up to the Harlem and East River, it's going to inundate portions of Manhattan. A lot of Manhattan was filled. Basically, they made more of an island over the years and so it's really exposed.

And the basic issue is, first, New York City has world-class emergency planners. I mean, they're the best in the game. But the city is out of practice when it comes to hurricanes. As we learned on Tuesday with the earthquake, if you're out of practice, your skills tend to get a little rusty.

Everybody ran out of buildings on Tuesday after the earthquake. That's exact opposite of what they're supposed to do. So, time is always your ally before a disaster. It's always your enemy after a disaster. So, using the time now to get prepared is key. You know, the mayor is clearly on top of that, but, this is an all hands evolution. When you got that many people packed in a little space --

VELSHI: Yes.

FLYNN: As dependent as they are on the transportation, everybody has to get informed and get better prepared.

VELSHI: Right, and that's the big issue here, because even if it does end up being a couple inches of water at your feet, we have a whole bunch of tunnels underneath New York where subways run, the tunnels that get us to New Jersey or to Long Island. Those could be flooded.

FLYNN: Absolutely. The basic issue. Of course, water in the streets going to go down and a little gravity there, and it's going to fill up the subway stations, and New York works because of the transportation networks it has. Another real issue that I'm concerned about, though, is Long Island. You know, Long Island, if it were a state unto itself would be the 13th biggest state.

It has 7.5 million people and really crammed together, about 5,400 per square mile. And it's an island. The only way to get off to it and get on to it is through the two boroughs and Queens and the Bronx. And so, what we know is we're going to have a lot of outages. You know, this isn't a mammoth storm likely to be a mammoth storm in terms of lots of death and destruction, but what it is going to do is be disruptive, and people really have to be in position to camp out in their house.

VELSHI: Yes. So, that's basically -- the stuff we're talking about, the getting the water, getting a generator if you need one, if you're in a house on Long Island or in New Jersey. Let me just ask you about the buildings. People worry about the buildings in New York. We're talking about a Category 2 or even a Category 3 hurricane. Are we worried that windows are going to blow out and debris are going to fall on people as they're walking in New York?

FLYNN: You really have to get up into that high 2, 3 range before, perhaps, some of the older buildings might be facing that. But, generally, the basic rule is if you live in a high rise, you need to get inside away from a window. And the taping issue less -- don't get involved with that, obviously, in a big building. You would want at the height of the storm to be secure is go to a place where you can't see a window.

And if you take care of that, likely you're going to ride out, particularly for this storm we're not going probably to see that damage, but the other basics in high rises if you have a patio or terrace out there, kindly get that furniture inside, because that would be really dangerous for people below, and it could be used as a missile, and essentially, serve as a missile and hit your windows and so forth.

VELSHI: And as John Zarrella says, people always think about candles, but if you get your windows blown out, your candle falls over, you could be dealing with another problem. So, flash lights are better than candles.

FLYNN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Stephen, good to see you. Thank you so much. Stephen Flynn --

FLYNN: One other thing which is medicines. Very important. Anybody with a chronic illness, make sure you get plenty of medicine, may be hard to get to the hospital.

VELSHI: Very good advice. Thank you for that. Stephen Flynn is the author of the "Edge of Disaster, Rebuilding A Resilient Nation". Carol, great advice.

COSTELLO: I wrote it all down.

VELSHI: Yes.

COSTELLO: I did, Ali.

Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, it's one thing to steal a snake. It's another thing to steal one by stuffing it down your pants. We'll tell you how that turned out.

And Prince Harry is coming to California. It's not a vacation. We'll have details on that. It's 48 minutes past the hour.

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COSTELLO: Forty-nine minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Hurricane Irene taking aim for the North Carolina coast and maybe New York City and New England after that. Warnings now posted from North Carolina all the way to New Jersey. Forecasters say it is an extreme threat to almost everyone along the East Coast. More than 50 million people potentially in its path.

Irene evacuations now spreading to the north. Thousands of people have already been told to leave North Carolina's outer banks, also parts of Maryland and New Jersey. New York City ordering hospital and nursing homes in low-lying areas to evacuate.

And this just in to CNN, an explosion has rocked the United Nations building in Nigeria. This happened in the city of Abuja. Police tell CNN they have a bomb squad deployed to the scene. The cause of that explosion not yet known.

Also, new shelling reported at the Tripoli airport by Gadhafi loyalists. This is The United Nations calling on Libyan rebels to avoid revenge killings. Reports have emerged of executions in the battle for Tripoli. The U.N. Security Council has also approved a U.S. request to unfreeze $1.5 billion in Libyan assets. That money will be used for humanitarian needs.

Japan's prime minister announcing his resignation this morning. His departure, not a big surprise. He faced a lot of pressure to step down after the March earthquake and tsunami.

A wildfire spreading in California near Yosemite National Park. So far, it has burned 1,000 acres of forest. Officials say an exploding propane tank sparked the flames. Some evacuations are already under way.

An Arizona man is under arrest for stealing five Albina Boa Constrictors from a pet store by stuffing them down his pants, really, Boa Constrictors, five of them? Come on! It was all caught on tape, surveillance tape. The rare snakes cost about $800 apiece. They're tiny ones, I get it now.

Prince Harry is coming to the United States this fall. The prince will be training with the U.S. air force helicopter pilots in Arizona and California. Prince Harry is a pilot with the British military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And that's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back after this.

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VELSHI: The U.S. navy is sending three submarines and an aircraft carrier out to sea to ride out Hurricane Irene along with 27 ships docked at a base in Norfolk, Virginia. The navy says the ships often weather storms much better out at sea. Particularly, if it gets rough, they don't really want them banging against docks, and you know --

COSTELLO: Kind of freaky. They go farther out into the ocean to escape it.

VELSHI: By the way, take a look at Hurricane Irene from 220 miles above earth. The International Space Station captured the stunning image. You can get a size, the idea of the sheer size and power. You know, Rob makes this point that, you know, some people think of -- it worry about the Category 2, Category 3 thing. First of all, this thing is big. It's going to hit a lot of people.

COSTELLO: It's bigger than the state of Texas. It's 1,000 miles across.

VELSHI: Yes, that's a big deal.

COSTELLO: That's a big storm, and it sure looks scary, a big scary storm from way up there, but Craig Ferguson found something to joke about. Here are your late night funnies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CRAIG FERGUSON, HOST, LATE, LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON: No, no, they're batting down the hatches in New York. The experts are saying this could be the biggest disaster in New York since Spiderman the Musical.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: Thoughts, of course, are with everyone on the East Coast preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, and Washington, D.C., thousands have been left with no power. They're called Democrats.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I should laugh at my own jokes like that because they're funnier that way.

VELSHI: That's right, but you just burst out laughing.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: All right. We're going to have --

COSTELLO: Oh, no.

VELSHI: Caught up on the whole thing. We're going to have the latest on Irene, the track, live in the next hour, making a line for North Carolina. New warnings posted just this morning.

COSTELLO: Yes. New York also bracing for the impact as are many other cities along the East Coast of the United States. We'll be right back.

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