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CNN Saturday Morning News
Hurricane Irene Coverage: Irene Zeroes in on N.C. Coast; East Coast Braces For Irene; Irene IReports; Tens of Thousands Without Power in North Carolina
Aired August 27, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we are at the top of the hour. 6:00 Eastern Time here in the U.S. Good morning to you all. Good morning to our viewers watching us all around the world as we simulcast on CNN INTERNATIONAL right now. I'm T.J. Holmes, bringing all of you the very latest on this massive storm, Hurricane Irene, that could affect about 20 percent of the population of the United States.
Here you are getting a look at the path of this storm. The projected path of this storm right now. But some 65 million people are being threatened by this storm. And it's in some of the largest cities of the country that are under threat of this storm. We're talking about New York, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia. All areas not used -- not accustomed, necessarily, to getting ready for hurricanes.
You're seeing the radar here now. Hurricane Irene is now a category one storm. It's still on this north/northeastern path. Now even though it has been downgraded to a category one storm, I have been reiterating this morning, do not let that fool you, the word downgrade or category one. This is still a massive and powerful storm that is on the higher end, if you will, of the category one strength.
Now, it did weaken overnight. It weakened somewhat overnight, but still has sustained winds that are around 90 miles an hour. That's on the higher end, like I mentioned, of a category one storm.
You have hurricane warnings now in effect from the Carolina coast, all the way up to Massachusetts. Also mandatory evacuations have been ordered in places that are not used to getting mandatory evacuations over a hurricane. New York City is one of them. Some of the low-lying areas. About a quarter million people under evacuation orders.
Also, the five airports in the New York metro area are going to be closed to incoming flights in the next matter of hours. Airlines have canceled thousands upon thousands of flights. Also, bus service. Greyhound bus has stopped service in the Northeast for now. And, get this. Can you imagine the subway system in New York City being shut down? Well, that exactly what is going to happen a little later today, in a few hours. The same goes for New Jersey, as well as Philadelphia. Our reporters are covering this storm for us. They've been out for the past several days. You see a few of them there getting tossed around pretty good in North Carolina right now. We will be checking in with all of them for you this morning. And also our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, is here in CNN headquarters, hurricane headquarters, giving you the very latest.
Let me start with our Reynolds Wolf, who has been live with us just for the past hour since we've been on the air here.
Reynolds, and it seems just from the reporting you've been doing and just us listening and watching your picture that things have been getting worse in the past hour.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know I was looking at the radar a short while ago when Jacqui was doing an update. You could see on the top half of the radar, top half of this storm, it looked like there was a little tiny sliver of dry air intrusion that might be -- might be affecting a little bit of the top half (ph) of the storm for us.
What that means here, we happen to be in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Is you might get a little bit of a slight break before we have that core really punching this area, which will be a combination of the heavy wind and, of course, the heavy rainfall.
Rainfall right now being blown by the wind, cascading right over the tip of my cap, right towards the camera. Orlando Rawiz (ph), our photographer, may have to wipe the lens from time to time because these tiny droplets are smashing right up against the lens cap itself.
One thing I want to get to, T.J., please excuse my rough speak, but it's something that needs to be said. All Americans need to consider this up and down the Eastern seaboard. You can be just as dead in a tropical depression as you can in a tropical storm as a category one, a category two, three, four and five. What I'm saying is, just because this is a category one, do not take this lightly.
You have to remember, this is going to be a big rainmaker. There's the potential that parts of the outer banks, certainly the mainland, could get up to a foot of rainfall. We talk about flooding. How that is a tremendous killer of people worldwide. It's a huge danger. You've got to keep in mind the potential for the flash flooding. The wind is going inwards (ph), and we are going to get those power outages. But the flooding is one thing. Certainly the thing I'm most concerned with, with people up and down the Eastern seaboard.
(INAUDIBLE) specifically here at Kill Devil Hills, the wind is pushing the waves. The waves are coming all the way up now to the dunes. I don't think they're going to overtop them. We're not going to have that kind of power. But inland, right along the main thoroughfare, right along the outer banks, I would not be surprised if some parts of the outer banks get fully covered by the water as this storm edges closer. Again, we expect it to intensify. There's the threat of tornadoes. Already there have been reports of two of them. I would expect that we're going to see more of those in the minutes, hours and days to come.
Let's pitch it back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you so much. And thank you for that perspective as well. That needs to really be reiterated this morning. People hear that it's a category one now and hear that it's been downgraded and think, OK, it's not going to be as bad. But that perspective and those words from Reynolds Wolf saying you can be just as dead in a tropical depression, tropical storm or a category one, two or three hurricane.
Let me turn to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, Our John Zarrella has been getting tossed around pretty good there, just as the people of North Carolina have for the past couple of hours.
How are things there, John?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're pretty rough, T.J. I hope you can hear me a little bit better right now. I'm staying under the covering to stay out of the rain. You can see police cars have just pulled up here behind us. They've been out patrolling all night, checking as best they can and surveying the damage here or if there is any.
We talked to the county manager. This is Carter (ph) County. They said that they do not have any reports of damage yet. But, of course, until first light, they're really not going to be able to get out and assess what the situation is. Their power is off in about 75 percent of the county. Or it has been on and off periodically. We lost power here about an hour and a half ago, about 4:30 a.m.
Let me give folks some bearings. Off to my left, that's the north. The south is to my right. The hurricane is coming right up at us. We may see the core of this hurricane, the eye, whatever's left of the eye of the storm, within the next hour or so here as it makes landfall over us or very, very close to over the top of us. Reports of a couple of tornadoes already. No reports of injuries. No reports of any serious damage. But, you know, that goes with the territory.
And, of course, the ground is saturated. One thing I want to emphasize, T.J., the rainfall has been torrential. All night. It started yesterday afternoon. It picked up and picked up and it's been torrential for the last several hours. So we know there's going to be some inland flooding without a doubt.
But before I wrap it, give the viewers a sense of what we're talking -- I'm going to walk out. You may lose my audio now when I start to walk out. You can see the trees up there and how they're blowing. And you can see that the wind, when I stand out in it, is pretty significant. And it's pretty -- it's approached 74-mile-an- hour gusts a couple of hours ago, just up the road from where I am. So, you're probably losing me now, but the viewer gets a sense of just how intense it is. And let's all be thankful that this thing is only a one and no stronger than that -- T.J.
HOLMES: No, we could hear you all right that time around and I do appreciate you stepping out, because even if we can't hear you that well, that helps to tell the story and give our viewer perspective and put them there to give a sense of what North Carolina is going through right now. We appreciate you, as always, John Zarrella, so much there.
Let's turn to Wilmington, North Carolina, see how Brian Todd and the people there are fairing.
Hello to you, once again. And we can talk about this wind and rain and already it's causing problems with power outages as well.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has, T.J. Tens of thousands of people are without power this morning in this area. We're told up to about 27,000, possibly now in the state of North Carolina without power. That number is certain to grow in the hours ahead.
As John mentioned, it has been an unrelenting rain since yesterday afternoon here. It has picked up here in the last few hours. We're told that there's about five inches of rainfall that has fallen at the Wilmington Airport not far from here. But this area around us could get up to 10, possibly even 12 inches of rain.
And, you know, as some -- as Reynolds and other meteorologists have mentioned, this thing may or may not be slowing down. If it slows down in its path, that's not necessarily great news because it just means that the rain is hovering over periods for -- you know, places for longer periods at a time and the inland flooding is certainly going to get worse.
We're at the banks here of the Cape Fear River behind me. First light is going to be coming in just a few minutes and we're going to be able to see the storm surge maybe a little bit better. That's a real concern here as it is in the areas a little bit farther out to the coast.
We've got downed power lines here. Some roads are blocked by trees. The damage has been fairly sporadic here. Not too bad yet. But again, this is just intensifying here as we go. The inland flooding -- it will be the flash flooding here is going to be intense. That's what the emergency management people are telling us, is that's what their main concern is at this point.
You've got about half the state here that's going to be impacted by this storm from 20 counties, 3.5 million people. And they are just -- you know, they've -- they're really concerned about the inland flooding. I think Chad Myers is the one who told me yesterday, there's going to be flash flooding literally all over the Eastern portion of this state. We're already seeing it here now, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Brian Todd for us. We appreciate you, as always.
And I'm going to turn to our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, here at the CNN hurricane headquarters. And he talked about that rain and they're already saturated up and down the East Coast. They don't have a -- the ground can't take much more.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They can't. And it's coming down really heavy too. In fact, we were just checking out some rain totals here in the outer banks area, towards Wilmington, over towards the New Bern area. You've had as much as five to eight inches. That's what's being estimated by Doppler radar. And it's going to continue to come down heavy.
We could double that number in this area before all is said and done, and that's what you can expect all the way up and down the East Coast. So it will be a big story, not just today, not just tomorrow, but we could see river flooding that could last for a while as well.
We also have the threat of tornadoes. There you see the tornado watch, which remains in effect as well.
And let's zoom in and let's talk about timing a little bit more specifically. We're going to put a distance sort of here and kind of estimate the center of circulation. We're kind of estimating somewhere in here.
Take a look to the coast. You know, 12, 13, 14 miles. And with this thing moving at 14 miles per hour, looking at right about an hour from now from landfall. And that's where we're going to see that greatest surge of that water, make its way on shore. We're already seen storm surge in the range of around seven to eight feet up into the coastal areas and that's going to be a big story right on the coast.
All right, time it out. Who is this going to affect and what time is it going to affect you? We're going to take you city by city, bring you up the coast. There we mentioned Atlantic Beach, around 7:00. As we head up the coast, we're expecting to see Virginia Beach around 7:00 tonight. Now, remember, you're going to get tropical storm force conditions well ahead of that time. That's when we're expecting the peak of this storm to be affecting you.
Ocean City, Maryland, overnight tonight. Maybe 2:00 a.m. And that's when you're going to see the worst of it in places like Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, as well. Into Philadelphia overnight, early tomorrow. Long Island tomorrow morning. Maybe even into the noonish hours, and then heading up towards Boston mid- to late-afternoon and finally out of here sometime on Monday -- T.J.
HOLMES: Monday.
JERAS: Monday.
HOLMES: So we need to hold on this weekend. We've got a couple of days to deal with this thing. Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much. And we're going to be checking in with Jacqui plenty throughout this morning again. As she mentioned there, about an hour away from this thing making landfall.
As you know, the airports, we've got several closed already in the Northeast. Several more are going to close to all incoming traffic coming up at about noon today. But you need to check with your airline if you are trying to fly today. A number of flight cancellations. You see them here. United/Continental, already 2,300 flights canceled, 1,300 for Delta, about 1,000 for JetBlue. AirTran has a few hundred there.
But, again, we're talking about almost 5,000 flights that have been canceled already and probably some more in anticipation of this storm. So check you're your airline. Some are allowing you to change your flight without any penalties, but you need to check with your individual airlines.
And coming up here folks, we are going to check in some more with these preparations that are being made. People are stocking up right now, watching this storm. Again, we're talking about cities that aren't used to being tested when it comes to hurricanes.
We're back in 60 seconds. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're a quarter past the hour here now. Welcome back to our viewers watching us here in the U.S. and around the world on CNN INTERNATIONAL, giving you coverage of this massive storm that is churning up the East Coast of the United States, affecting about 20 percent of the population of the U.S. Some 65 million people.
The radar you're seeing here shows you Hurricane Irene is close to making landfall. About an hour away, possibly, from making landfall in North Carolina with sustained winds reported at 90 miles an hour. It is now a category one storm. It has been downgraded, but, again, do not let that fool you. This is a very dangerous storm because it's on the higher end of a category one and also because it is massive.
Now, because it is such a massive storm and because of where it's going, it has so many people concerned, because we're talking about very populous areas of this country. Some of the most populated cities of this country are being effected and not used -- not used to being prepared for hurricanes. New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New Jersey., places like that are keeping a close eye on this storm, trying to prepare the best they can.
We have several meteorologists out for us today, including our Rob Marciano. He is live on Long Island. Good morning to him, and we'll check in with you in just a second there, Rob. But let me start with Athena Jones, who is live for us in Washington, D.C.
And, Athena, D.C. not used to have to deal with hurricanes. But it was also a very big weekend for D.C. in a lot of ways and all of that is going to have to be put on the back burner.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We're here on the National Mall. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray declared a state of emergency. He declared it yesterday for this city. We don't expect to see the rain really start to come in until later this morning and to pick up in terms of wind and rain in the afternoon.
But people here have already been preparing for it. Yesterday, the National Park Service workers were scrambling to plug holes in the Washington Monument here behind me. Those are holes that were caused by Tuesday's earthquake. They were also working to secure the turrets on the Smithsonian Castle to make sure there isn't further damage after Tuesday's earthquake. So it's been already a pretty big week in terms of natural events here in the city, T.J.
This oncoming storm has already forced the postponement of the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. That was set for tomorrow, Sunday, on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington. And there was a really big deal. There were all kinds of events centered around this all week and thousands of people were expected to come. But they decided that they had to put safety first. That's been postponed until at least September or October.
And so city officials have been advising residents to be prepared for power outages for several days. To have canned goods on hand. Lots of water. Battery-operated flashlights and phones that don't need to be plugged into the wall. And so they're letting people know that they can come and get sand bags.
Yesterday, the city distributed 7,000 sand bags to residents who want to put it around their homes and protect it from the water coming in. They ran out at about 5:00 p.m. and so they're expected to start up again today about -- around midday, distributing more sand bags. About five will be allowed per household. So lots of preparations here as we look for this storm, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Athena, thank you, in Washington, D.C.
Let me turn to our meteorologist, Rob Marciano. He is there for us in Long Island.
Rob, hello to you. First things first, just a perspective about New Yorkers. New Yorkers have been through a lot. Certainly feel like they could -- they could take just about anything. So how are they taking this news that a hurricane, which a lot of them don't have experience with, how are they taking the news that it's on their way?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, when we drove out here yesterday afternoon, you expected to see a little bit more in the way of flow going the opposite direction. And that wasn't the case. And if it was one quote that resonated, I think, yesterday throughout our coverage from an emergency management official when asked what he was most worried about, and he said "the New Yorker," because you could talk to them, but they don't always listen. That may hold true today.
This town of Long Beach here, just east of New York City, is still pretty full. And the waves behind me, they've been building for the past couple of hours for sure and they're going to continue to build. This storm still over 400 miles away from us. Barely a breath of wind here. A few surfers have been heading out there to catch -- take advantage of these waves. This is definitely a surfing spot if you are one of those who (INAUDIBLE) Jones Fort (ph) and live in the big city. So this would be a day to do it. But conditions will deteriorate as we go on through the nighttime.
Nassau and Suffolk Counties, those are the two counties that -- the two big ones that make up Long Island. And between the two of them, over 300,000 people have been asked to evacuate. A mandatory evacuation as of 5:00 this afternoon. Of course they're not going to come and force you out of here, but it basically means that they're not going to help you during the height of the storm. And the reason being is that, at least from where we stand right here, the nearest hospital is 40 miles away, roughly. So, there you go. That's the main reason that they've asked people to evacuate.
Hurricane amnesia here in New York City? Yes, you better believe it. It's been since 1985, really, since we've had a storm like this. Hurricane Gloria and then Hurricane Bob in 1991, which made landfall as per forecast, a little bit farther to the east from here. So it's been a while since they've seen a hurricane.
So, I think folks have been preparing for the most part. But are they evacuating in mass numbers? That not necessarily the case. The timing of this storm coming in here later tonight, we'll start to get the effects of it, I believe, probably sometime around midnight. But the core of the storm, the second landfall, once this thing makes it through North Carolina, it won't make landfall here until noon tomorrow. So this will be a long-duration event. And that means that this coastline will get hit pretty hard with not only the winds, but the waves. And, of course, New York City proper will be getting those sustained winds. And the higher skyscrapers and high-rises will be feeling the brunt of that.
I just want to show you one more thing that I forgot to point out when we panned up. These mounds of sand are not natural protective dunes. You go further out onto the island, out towards the Hamptons, you've got these beautiful grassy dunes. Nature's way of protection -- protecting the shoreline. Not so much here. Man has done some things to this coastline that makes it a little bit more susceptible. So they have started piling up the sand, T.J., in an effort to hold back that water because, by this time tomorrow, it will probably be right at my footsteps -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Rob, we'll check in with you again. Appreciate you, as always.
And also on a big story like this, a weather event, or whenever a big breaking news story, often times you, our viewers, our iReporters, help us tell the story. And you are already sending us in some video. This from one of our iReporters. This is in Myrtle Beach. Ninety mile an hour winds there ripped the roof off of a building you're seeing here. We're going to get more reporting from you, our viewers, in our CNN iReports. We'll have that for you in just a moment. Stay with us.
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HOLMES: We're about 25 minutes past the hour.
We're also maybe under an hour from seeing landfall of Hurricane Irene, now a category one storm with maximum sustained winds of about 90 miles an hour. But it is getting closer and closer to North Carolina and we are expecting landfall here at any moment. We've been checking in with our reporters who are up and down the coast of North Carolina.
And if you have been watching, they've been getting blown all around as this thing continues to intensifying, even in the past couple of hours. Now also as a part of a big story like this, a big breaking news story and a big weather story, you, our viewers, literally around the world help us tell this story with your iReports. Josh Levs checking in with more of that for us.
Good morning, again, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning again to you. Good morning, everyone.
We have been getting videos and photos from you already today. We're going to start off with a video that came in last night. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There went the roof of something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Wow, look at that. We're going to stay on that and I'll tell you about it. This is part of a roof blowing off a building in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We got this from Travis Campbell (ph). He and his family are on vacation in Myrtle Beach. They were at a resort hotel and he was on the balcony looking out onto the ocean and it turned out -- wow, look at that -- it turned out that those were -- it was part of a roof near the pool at the hotel there.
Now, as we look at this, I want to let all of our iReporters know and everyone know that you should not be going through any dangers at all to take any pictures or video. But when you're in a position to safely take pictures and video, we'd love to see them and share them with our viewers.
Let's move on to another one now. This is over at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, from William Gaston (ph). Just watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a very fast-moving current. Probably 15 minutes has passed since I was last on this roadway and it is already covered. The roadways on Pawleys are not safe anymore. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And as you're watching this I'll tell you, these are floodwaters surrounding his family's vacation home on Pawleys Island in South Carolina. He's estimated water levels were near about three feet at the time it was recorded. It has since receded, actually, in the area where he is.
And I've got one more to show you here. This one came to us today. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here for Hurricane Irene. And we're now getting tropical storm-force gust winds over 40 miles an hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Into that boat dock in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. This comes from Jeremy Michael (ph). He's a student at UNC Ashville. He took these images with a waterproof camera. And he says someone had a rather large boat that was tied down there and appeared to be riding out the storm in the boat. He said, quote, "I was amazed at how strong the wind felt and realized tomorrow we could be feeling even more."
Now, again, I want you to know, we talked to everyone before we showed these on the air and we made sure no one's been going to any danger. The most important thing you can do is follow what authorities are telling you to do.
I want to show you something you can take part in if you're in a position to safely join the story here. It's called Open Story at cnn.com. You'll see it on the main page. And what happens here is, we're showing you along this map of the United States all the many, many, many places that we're getting iReport photos and video from. And then you just hit a button over here and it allows you to see the videos that are coming in.
I've posted everything I just showed you up on my pages. That's at cnn.com/josh. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter at joshlevscnn. Go ahead and share your photos, your videos, your story, when you got them in a way that you can share them safely.
And, T.J., we'll be following them through the day and bring them more to you right here.
HOLMES: All right, Josh, thank you.
LEVS: You bet.
HOLMES: And to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world watching us right now, we're getting close to the bottom of the hour and we are getting closer and closer of landfall of this monstrous storm. Hurricane Irene, yes, has been downgraded to a category one. It still has some sustained winds of 90 miles an hour and it is just a massive storm that has the potential to threaten about 20 percent of the U.S. population.
We are all over this storm for you. Our reporters are out in North Carolina and up and down the coast. We're right back.
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HOLMES: We are at the bottom of the hour here now. We are just minutes away from maybe landfall of Hurricane Irene. Our Reynolds Wolf is in North Carolina where the storm is expected to come ashore here in the next few minutes.
Reynolds, does it feel like it is about to come ashore?
WOLF: It sure does. We are getting an intermittent pattern where you have heavy rain that blasts through. The wind is much stronger than it was in the last update. That is getting close to 55- mile-an-hour sustained at times, you'll have the occasional gust, almost knock you over. The wind comes in, it comes in in sheets. Just ridiculous.
For people who happen to be tuning in, Orlando Ruiz is our photographer. He may have to wipe the lens occasionally. Just bear with us.
If you look behind me, you can see the ocean which is virtually white. You have some monstrous waves out there. Right now it is just a total mess. You get out in the water and you are a dead man. That is plain and simple. This is the way the situation is going to be. Water is getting higher, getting much closer to shore. Coming very close to the dunes. More water, more rainfall expected for the Outer Banks and inland. Possibly up to a foot in some locations.
Something new, T.J., that we are starting to hear. Off to my left toward the center of the stretch of the island, we are starting to hear this high-pitched sound. Which is the wind that is combing right through some of the power lines. I would not be surprised if we have power outages here in Kitty Hawk soon. I hear there are about 20,000 homes without power further to our south. Some (INAUDIBLE) definitely due to the trees damage, trees snap, they hit the power lines and ka-boom. They will go out.
We expect more of the intermittent pattern. The storm is still the center, still quite a distance from here, but it is getting closer. I expect we will have more of the conditions, more rain and potential flooding as it chugs up the coast.
T.J., right back to you.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you. Let's turn to Jacqui Jeras in CNN Hurricane Headquarters.
Jacqui, I suppose now we are just minutes away, possibly, from the storm making landfall.
JERAS: Yes, it doesn't happen like that, though, T.J. It will be a gradual process we think. Maybe in the next half hour-ish from now and through that hour we will be watching the center of circulation come onshore. You can see from the live shots, they will continue to be. In fact, you really cannot even pick out an eye on this hurricane. It is kind of tough to pinpoint the center of circulation.
One threat we are dealing with at this hour is the threat of tornadoes as these outer bands spiral in and come in off the shore. They do cause little spin up, little tornados that can cause quite a bit of damage. We do have one warning right now.
Look at that. It just as quickly it expired. It expired a little bit early. A lot of time they're weak. They pop up and they are moving so fast, 50 miles per hour, that they expire very quickly as well. But they can take your roof off your house. They can down some trees.
So take these warnings very seriously. That was for Suffolk, Virginia, as well as Gates County, North Carolina. So it looks like that warning now has just expired. So a little bit of good news for you folks there.
Let's talk about the timing and landfall and where this thing is. You can see it looks like it is trying to tightening up a little bit more in the center of circulation. It is moving around 14 miles per hour. You know, we are talking about the next half hour or hour that we will deal with the greatest surge coming in. We have already been seeing, especially up in this bay area here, we have been getting storm surge reports of around seven or eight feet. That water is rising. High tide is right now, too, about 6:30. So, that is on top of that normal high tide they are dealing with.
Rainfall will be a big story, guys. Look at this as it goes up the coast, T.J. For the majority of the people in the situation, that is an ongoing situation; six to 12 inches of rain. Certainly a possibility, we have already seen 5 to 8 on the coast of the Carolinas.
HOLMES: How long will they deal with this on the coast of the Carolinas, once it does make landfall. I guess it is a technical thing for all of us to say it officially makes landfall? How long will they be dealing with the storm as it makes its way north?
JERAS: It could pick up a little bit of forward speed. The timing is a little bit tricky. By this evening, they will start to see those rain bands really begin to slack off.
HOLMES: Jacqui, thank you. We will check in with her throughout this morning.
We are at 36 minutes past the hour.
Folks in New York have just about seen it all. They feel like they can deal with everything. It is hard for them to remember when the city was hit by a hurricane. When they had anyone last telling them to be prepared for a hurricane? Do they know how to prepare for a hurricane? Right now, they are getting ready and long lines are forming as people try to ride out the storm and try to get what they need.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the line for generators at the Lowe's Department Store in Bay Shore. This line began forming at 4:00 a.m. It goes all the way down this aisle. And then, take a look at this, it begins forming down this aisle. It goes all the way down and then makes another turn to the right, more than 100 people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our Poppy Harlow is in New York for us this morning.
Poppy, good morning to you. Like we have been mentioning, Rob mentioned a short time ago, one emergency officials said, the biggest concern about Irene in New York, is New Yorkers.
How are New Yorkers, who are a tough bunch of folks, who have seen a lot and been through a lot? This is one more thing they think they'll ride out?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: They have been through a lot, but people are heeding this warning. It is historic, T.J. The City of Manhattan and New York City, in general, has never in the history of the city been evacuated before. They are listening to very strong words from Mayor Mike Bloomberg. I want you to listen to the warning he issued last night to all of New York City. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: We hope New Yorkers living in the areas find places to stay with relatives or friends who live in safer higher areas. If they can't, we are ready to accommodate anybody that needs shelter. There will be, unfortunately, a serious storm coming in and it's better to take precautions and get out of the way of the storm. Mother Nature is much stronger than all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: It is true. The storm is stronger than all of us. Even tough New Yorkers, T.J. And 370,000 people, that is the latest count of folks that have been told they are under mandatory evacuations across New York City, in the low-lying areas.
A lot of them are coming to places like this. This is a public school in New York, it has been turned into a shelter. I went inside, you got about 12 people are in there right now. We are expecting more. Because remember yesterday it was sunny. People did not feel the storm coming. It is just sunrise here in New York. It is very cloudy. It looks rather ominous.
This is what you find, you find 500 beds. You have blankets from the City of New York. Packets, they have water. They are waiting for food. That is about it. They can hold 3,500 people, but they only have 500 beds. Again, 370,000 people in New York; 91 shelters they can go to. The city is prepared.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg is saying they have 900 soldiers coming in. They have Army National Guard, the Air National Guard. They are bringing in emergency vehicles. But today, at noon, in just a few hours, all of the public transportation in the city is going to shutdown. Again, that is historic.
HOLMES: All right. Poppy Harlow, thank you, from New York. We will check in with you again.
We are 40 minutes past the hour. The Northeast, really the whole East Coast, right now, bracing for Hurricane Irene. A Category 1 storm which is a matter of minutes away from officially making landfall. It is going to be a tough weekend for people up and down the East Coast. We will show you what some are saying is a historic storm. Stay with me.
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HOLMES: It is 42 minutes past the hour.
Hurricane Irene, which is just under an hour from making landfall in North Carolina, in the U.S., is shaping up to be a monster storm. Even thought it was downgraded to a Category 1, it is still a massive storm when you look at it on the radar. Since it first popped up on the radar, people living in the storm's path have been warned they need to get out of there.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAN BONILLA, LONG ISLAND RESIDENT: I'm going to batten down the hatches on back on Long Island. It will be a big one coming. So getting ready for it.
BLOOMBERG: The essential thing is you begin making plans to evacuate right now.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: You have to get out. The weather is good today. It's sunny. It is time to move.
EDUARDO MUNVE, ATLANTIC CITY RESIDENT: We don't know where to go. They say it will be the same in New York. We don't know where to go.
GOV. BEV PERDUE, (D) NORTH CAROLINA: To those of you out there who heeded the warnings and evacuated, thank you very much. To those of you who chose to ride out the storm, I would urge you to use common sense and stay inside.
KIMBERLY ROEHRIG, KITTY HAWK, N.C. RESIDENT: I'm panicking first of all because I just moved here. I'm not used to this kind of weather. I'm a little nervous, but as long as we have shelter.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I cannot stress this highly enough. If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. Don't wait. Don't delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst.
YVONNE LOUIS, NEW YORK CITY RESIDENT: I don't know. I think it comes and goes, the fear. I'm just concerned because I live in a high-rise. I want to know, am I supposed to evacuate, out of the ninth floor, I mean, I don't know. I have to look into that.
I'm not going to freak out over it. It is what it is. I'm not going to freak out. What are we going to do? We'll make it work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There you go. It is what it is. Don't freak out. But still, be warned. Prepare yourself. Get out if they tell you to get out. Make sure you are ready for the storm. The storm that is expected to make landfall in a matter of minutes, certainly within the hour. It is just off the coast of North Carolina. That is where our reporters are. We will check in with them right after the break. We are at about a quarter to the top of the hour as we give you extensive coverage of Hurricane Irene.
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HOLMES: We are about a quarter of the top of the hour. Welcome back to our coverage of Hurricane Irene. North Carolina may be minutes away from getting the brunt of the storm. It is expected to make landfall here any moment in North Carolina.
Kill Devil Hills is one city that is directly in this hurricane's path. They do have a mandatory evacuation order there. You know, and I know, it never fails, during a hurricane you will have some people who decide to stay behind and try to ride it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be at the brunt of it to start off, but it will move off of us. We are in the good Lord's hands. We will leave it at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. It's in the Lord's hands. Hurricane Irene is expected to make landfall soon. John Zarrella is there for us in North Carolina. Brian Todd is there for us as well. We will check in with him.
Let's start with you, John. You are in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. You have been -- I don't know if it is fair to say, seeking shelter, which is essentially walking just a few feet to your right to get out of the wind so you can do your reporting here.
Go ahead, and let me know how things have been happening over the last couple of hours since you have been reporting. ZARRELLA: You know, it is interesting, T.J., the wind picks up. It gets really strong for a minute. Then it's dying out. Then I think we are close to the core of the hurricane. Then it lessens up a bit.
In fact, the rainfall has lessened quite a bit as the winds have picked up a bit. About 75 percent of Carteret County, where we are here in Atlantic Beach and Moorhead City, just over the bridge, 75 percent of the county without power or has lost power during the course of the overnight hours, and into the morning.
At first light, you get a better look at what we are talking about here. The tree there has been blowing in this direction the entire night, these trees. That's the north. That's the east. That counterclockwise circulation as the storm comes up at us is still blowing in the same direction all night. I think we are pretty close to the center of circulation here. Exactly whether we will be in any sort of calm, or an eye, once we get into the eyewall, I don't know at this point.
I'll take a walk out and give the viewers a sense, again, of what it's like. The last half hour was actually a lot windier, although here comes a gust picking up once again. You can see with the light out now, the clouds are really swirling around, T.J., in that counterclockwise circulation. Trees have been blowing. Quite frankly, and fortunately, if this was much worse, all of these tree limbs would be blown off. We might have power lines down. We might have street lights down. I can't see any of that right now.
Again, you get near that core of the storm for a very brief period and it can be very, very violent. A lot of the damage can be done in a very short period of time right around the core of the storm. Fortunately, we have not seen that yet. Hopefully we won't, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. John, thanks to you once again.
Let me head down to Wilmington, North Carolina. Our Brian Todd is there.
Brian, are you seeing the same thing he was just reporting? It is kind of hit and miss. It will kick up for a while with the wind and rain and then die down a bit. Are you seeing the same thing?
TODD: Absolutely, T.J. That is the nature of what you experience in the situation. You get a huge microburst of wind, that will almost knock you off your feet. It just happened to me a couple of minutes ago. Then it will calm down. And as John mentioned, the circular nature of the wind and rain, that is just what it does.
We are on the banks of the Claire (ph) River, now at first light you can really get a sense of the white caps and the squalls here. Now officials tell us they are concerned about the storm surge causing flooding and this river spilling its banks. Not necessarily where we are, because the river is wide enough to preclude that from happening. Up north where the river narrows, that is where they are concerned about this river spilling over its banks. Storm surges causing some flooding.
The latest report, I just got minutes ago, from the Emergency Management people in Hanover County. There is one of the squalls we talked about, just kicking up again.
The emergency management director here said about 14,800 customers are without power right now, in Hanover County. That number could rise and fall as we go through the heart of the storm. They are concerned about flash flooding. There has been flash flooding in Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach, not far from here.
Downed power lines, the emergency operations center here lost power. It has been on generator power since just past midnight. They lost the capability for automated 911 calls. Those lines have been failing them all morning. They not losing the calls. The calls are switching over to the administrative line. They can still take them.
Some of the automation, some of the functionality for the 911 system here has gone down temporarily, T.J. That is what the some of the emergency operators are up against here. Right now, the only people you see out are the first responders, just kind of patrolling around.
HOLMES: Brian Todd hanging tight for us in Wilmington. Thank you, as always.
As we get closer to the top of the hour, mandatory evacuations orders in place where people aren't used to being told to get out for a hurricane. We are talking about New York. About 400,000 people in low-lying areas told they need to get out of there. We are live from their right after the break. Stay with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING, extensive coverage of Hurricane Irene.
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HOLMES: All right. We are getting close to the top of the hour. We are getting closer and closer to landfall of Hurricane Irene.
Now what you are seeing here? Can you make out Lady Liberty in the distance there. The Statue of Liberty in New York. New York has about 24 hours or less before Hurricane Irene makes on its projected path will make it up in that direction. But as you all know, New York City is not a place that is used to being tested for its hurricane preparedness.
Well, it appears it will be tested, the city will be tested, this weekend and other points up along the East Coast of the United States. Very populated cities, we are talking about Boston, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore. Places that are not used to getting hurricanes will be tested this weekend.
As I bring in Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist here who is in the hurricane headquarters with me.
Jacqui, we know the airports in the New York area and all incoming traffic will be stopped starting at noon. Tons of flight cancellations. You can imagine a New York without a subway system? We will see that starting at noon.
JERAS: It is going to happen, though. That is the thing. We are worried about the storm surge and it could get flooded in some of those areas flooding the subway, flooding Battery Park and parts of Manhattan will get flooded as well, up the Hudson River, up the East River. All of those areas we are concerned about.
We can hope for New York City that this will weaken a bit before it gets there. That's the optimistic outlook. You need to be prepared for the worst at this time. The peak of the storm, for New York, by the way, coming in tomorrow morning about 10:00 or maybe towards the noon hour. It just kind of depends on the timing. It is expected to pick up forward speed as it heads in this direction.
Let's talk about exactly where the center is and what we are dealing with in the next couple of hours. It is a broad circulation. It is trying to tighten itself up more, some of the worst conditions on the Cape Outlook, right now, and throughout parts of the Outer Banks. This is the last hurrah, that last push of the winds coming in with this latest cluster of thunderstorms.
You will continue to see that water stay very high. We will see the rise. We are getting some reports of some incredible wind gusts; 94 miles an hour in the Jacksonville and Buford, North Carolina, 77 mile an hour gusts, and 53miles per hour in Goldsboro.
We also just recently got a report that there has been a fatality now with the storm, in Virginia Beach. A surfer was out there yesterday afternoon, which is of course, absolutely what we don't want you to do.
Here is that forecast track. We will be moving it through the Outer Banks today. We will scrape on up through the Mid-Atlantic and then head into the Northeast tomorrow. We will be done with this thing some time on Monday. Still a big flood threat, still a big wind threat. Lots of power outages and a lot of damage still yet to come with Irene, T.J.
HOLMES: Jacqui, thank you, as always. As we get close to the top of the hour, here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING, giving you the very latest on Hurricane Irene.
We will reset here at the top of the hour, give you the very latest on where the storm is heading, where it is heading. All of our reporters are in North Carolina and up and down the East Coast. Right now, North Carolina, as Jacqui was just telling you, is the place that is under the gun. Expecting landfall in the next half hour.
Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We will reset for you here in just a moment.
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