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CNN Saturday Morning News

Hurricane Irene Coverage: Interview With Kate Meier of the Greater Carolina Chapter of the American Red Cross; Discussion With Lt. Gen. Russel Honore on Emergency Operation Procedures

Aired August 27, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We are at the top of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. And we are keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irene. The storm now expected to make landfall in a matter of minutes. It could happen before the bottom of this hour.

Let me tell you about the storm. It is a category one storm. It weakened a bit overnight. Do that let that fool you. It still has 90-mile-an-hour sustained winds. This is still a very dangerous and very large storm.

Storm surge is also a real concern here as it comes ashore. Some projections up to 10 or more feet. It puts some of the larger East Coast cities at risk -- D.C., New York, Boston. You know, those cities not used to be tested for their hurricane preparedness. They will be tested this weekend.

We do have our teams all over the East Coast. Several of our reporters are in North Carolina, which is getting the brunt of the storm. You can tell which ones are in North Carolina just by looking at the screen with what's happening and whipping up around them.

But we also have reporters in New York as well as D.C. -- you will hear from them all.

Also, our Jacqui Jeras is with us this morning. She is telling us what is happening with the storm.

But, let me start, if we can, with our Reynolds Wolf. He is there for us in North Carolina. Reynolds, it has been a harrowing past couple of hours as you have been reporting for us here.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I tell you, T.J., it has gotten worst last couple of minutes. The wind is coming in. Obviously, the rain drops in sheets. It has let up a bit and then we have a quick blast.

You have of the outer banks, which is a body of water, which is nicknamed the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." How appropriate on the day like today and the nickname like that.

The water all the way coming up to the bottom of the dunes. Places we are able to walk to the water edge yesterday, maybe 150 yards or so, all of that disappearing for the time being. The water is still piling in. It was coming in yesterday gently. Towering waves, some of these easily 12 footers. I expect them to get bigger as the time continues.

One big concern we have of this is not just the wind, but also the heavy rain that we can anticipate. The outer banks and parts of the Tar Heel State may have rainfall totals before this is all said and done could be in excess 12 inches.

That means flash flooding. Any spots that have poor drainage will be flooded today. It's going to be bad. There are places where you have flooding that will occur in the next several hours. (INAUDIBLE)

If you live in the Carolinas and in Virginia and all the way up the coast up to New York, you need to be ready today for things to really unwind in terms of the weather conditions. These are not getting better.

Things will get exponentially worse. If it does lose a considerable amount of wind speed, we have the rainmaker. (INAUDIBLE)

T.J., we said time and again, it will affect millions of Americans. You have to be ready. Being ready for people on the outer banks, the people who decided to stay behind, they are basically in the hands of Irene for the time being.

If anyone has an emergency on the outer banks, there is no way they can get off the outer banks until the storm subside. Basically, sitting here and waiting for it to pass and trying to stay hard footing as Irene gets closer.

Let's send it back to you.

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, thank you so much.

We are about four minutes past the hour now.

To our viewers there, I know you had a tough time hearing Reynolds and maybe John Zarrella and some of our earlier hits, tough time here.

To our viewers, thank you for bearing with us. You understand what is going on with the winds and the rain.

And even though it might not be the best audio quality, John, we are not just doing this they can hear what you're seeing, we're trying to give our viewers perspective and give them an understanding to give them understanding of what the people in North Carolina and up the coast are going through and just the strength of this storm.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, I think you can hear me pretty well.

It's been a real funny situation. I have been in a lot of hurricanes over the years. This thing is a sloppy kind of a storm right now. And maybe Jacqui Jeras would agree that is a good word to use for it.

The center of circulation. No real eye, you know? And I kind of think at times we are close to the core of the hurricane.

Then, you know, the winds die down like now, I'm thinking, well, maybe we are in the center of the circulation where it would be really light and then a couple of the winds. And then a little bit later, it starts to picks up again.

So, difficult to assess exactly what's going on around us as far as where, exactly, the storm is. I'll tell you a couple of things, tell the viewers a couple of things: first off, the wind is nowhere near as strong as it was an hour ago here right now.

But about 26,000 or 27,000 people without power here in Carteret County -- Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, Moorhead City just over the bridge. That's north. That's south. The beach is actually to the south here. The storm coming up.

I just went over to the beach. One of our photographers is over there right now. The water and waves are right up to the shore line. They have come up probably about 100 yards, the water, because we are just after high tide here. So, the water is way up right against the dunes.

The end of the pier that extends off this hotel is gone. That came down, from what I'm told, about 3:00 this morning. We know part of the pier is gone.

I walked out just to the edge. You can see out there the pilings. The rest of it has collapsed. So, part of that is gone. If that's the worst of the damage here, then we feel very fortunate.

So, again, viewers who have been with us a couple of hours, you know, I was out here before, I was having a hard time standing up, hard time talking. It was very, very noisy and loud. That is not the case anymore.

Now, the Bogue Sound is that way, to the north. Atlantic is that way. So, there was concern where the storm came in and you could get storm surge from the Atlantic and as the storm goes by, storm surge coming this way from the Bogue Sound.

It doesn't look like that is the case, Reynolds. And with the light coming up, folks can really see how fortunate we have been here that this storm did not stay at a category two or a category three. That it has steadily weakened down to a category one.

That's really, really good news -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. John Zarrella, thank you. And I have you know, Jacqui Jeras does say she agrees with your assessment, that this is a sloppy storm.

Let me bring in Jacqui Jeras now about this sloppy storm.

And, Jacqui, we keep talking about when it's actually going to make landfall. Tell our viewers, describe exactly what that means and what that will look like. It's s not like it's just one mass event, if you will.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. Basically, you know, landfall is when the center of the storm has crossed and made its way on land. And the significance is for that is that some of the worst of the storm is making its way onshore. And that's when you see the greatest storm surge. That's when you see your greatest winds. And your winds will change direction from where you are. They have been coming at you from the east. Well, now, they're going to come at you from the west as you get on the back side of the system.

Now, you know, landfall is important, but it's not the biggest story, necessarily, with the storm. We are already seeing extensive damage reports in North Carolina, as well as in Virginia, in particular, hundreds of thousands of people essentially without power now at this hour. Lots of trees -- trees are down everywhere. And that's going to be a big concern. Hopefully, you've done your job in the last couple of weeks and months in terms of getting big trees down, or any big limbs that have been hanging and that you have taken care of that kind of thing.

Sloppy? Yes, I'll take sloppy. Take a look at this. The organization of the storm is not great at this time. And it's actually very difficult certainly on radar to pinpoint exactly where the center is.

So, there you can -- this is Cape Lookout right here. Atlantic Beach next to it. So, that is where John Zarrella is and where the storm is beginning to move in and bear down.

And so, he is going to be seeing some calmer conditions in the next couple of hours. But we've got a good 30 minutes or so to go at least in terms of some of the stronger winds that are still pushing into this area.

Let's talk also about the structure of the storm in terms of sloppiness as you speak. And look at how this thing used to be really symmetrical, right? It was a perfect circle. It looked very well organized. You can see an eye.

We can't see an eye anymore. It's very shrouded. The back half of the storm, you know, the southwest side of the storm, it's kind of fallen apart.

So, we are hopeful that we're going to see continued weakening with this thing. But the official forecast, take a look at that track, still keeps it as a category one from the National Hurricane Center as it takes its ride through the mid-Atlantic and into the Northeastern states. That's what you need to be prepared for.

So, you plan for the worst. You hope this is going to be tropical storm when it comes your way. Either way you slice it, we still have a lot of threats, flooding and those winds as well.

Timing-wise, we should run through this. We got a second to give you a city-by-city? Let's show you that wind forecast. We were expecting, you know, 7:00 to 8:00-ish. When I gave you this time, give yourself a window. This is when we were expecting the peak of the storm.

And hours ahead of the storm, you already see terrible conditions. So, for example, that's what we're getting in -- Virginia Beach has already been terrible for like the last six to 12 hours. But we are expecting this to peak in this area later on this evening.

Ocean City, Maryland, the worst conditions are going to be coming in overnight. That includes you in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. when you'll see the height of this storm.

Then as we head into New York, we're going to see tropical storm- force winds probably by this evening. But the peak of the storm is not going to happen for you until tomorrow morning, maybe tomorrow midday. And that as we head into Boston, we are talking about mid- afternoon-ish when we are expecting the peak of the storm before finally it accelerates.

It should pick up a little bit of steam. So, keep in mind, the timing could be off a little bit. You need to be prepared now. Everybody up and down the coast should have that safety kit we were talking about earlier there, T.J. You really need to rush to complete any plan that you in terms of getting ready for the storm.

HOLMES: All right. Jacqui, thank you for that.

And we will be checking in with Jacqui and other correspondents plenty throughout the morning on this storm.

Well, New Yorkers have dealt with a lot over the years and can deal with just anything. Well, they are not used, though, to have to deal with hurricanes.

Can you see what's in that picture there, folks? Can you make it out? That's actually Lady Liberty there. The storm is on the way and some 400,000 people have been told they need to get out. We are checking in with New York after the break.

It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Fourteen minutes past the hour now.

And it's been a while since New York City had to prepare for possible hurricanes. Well, it could be getting a direct hit from Hurricane Irene sometime tomorrow. The city is getting prepared.

And here is why -- because according to the international business times, there are five reasons the city should be worried. First of all, a storm surge could flood low-lying areas of the city. Among those areas, LaGuardia, JFK airports. Also, hurricane-force winds could break windows on hundreds of skyscrapers. Also, heavy rains or seawater could flood the subway system. Also, flooding in Lower Manhattan could paralyze the financial district and evacuating 370,000 New Yorkers, you know, is not going to be easy. You see the storm on the radar now, expecting landfall here maybe within the next half hour or so. It should come ashore as a category one storm in North Carolina before it makes its way up the coast and possibly to New York.

And the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, says his city is ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: The best thing for us is the storm heads due east and heads out to sea and nobody has any damage, nobody has any inconvenience, and nobody's life is put at jeopardy. But that's not likely to happen. There will be, unfortunately, a serious storm coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Poppy Harlow is in Manhattan for us this morning.

Poppy, good morning to you once again.

How are New Yorkers taking this news, if you will? You know, a lot of people move to New York after they finish school somewhere around the country. They move there for jobs. They never had to deal with a hurricane before.

Other people, if you're not that old, you can't remember the last hurricane in New York.

So, how are people just taking this right now?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I think they are taking it seriously, T.J.

As you mentioned all the areas that are getting evacuated, and the Office of Emergency Management is telling us that 370,000 New Yorkers now that are under mandatory evacuation. I was one of them. I had to pack up my bags and live at 4:00 this morning.

I live right at South Street Seaport, right below Wall Street. So, really right at sea level. And there's a lot of folks just like that.

We've got two of them with us right now, Carmelo Hernandez and Omar Gonzales. Omar is 12. They are evacuating here with their dog Princess and his 14-year-old brother inside the shelter there. These New York City public schools have been turned into emergency shelters.

How are you guys doing? And tell me about the process of evacuating your apartment early this morning?

OMAR GONZALES, NEW YORK EVACUEE: I feel bad and sad because this never happened to us. So, we have to evacuate real fast and stuff so we don't get hurt or anything. HARLOW: How are you feeling? Are you nervous? Do you feel like you are prepared?

T.J., they live on the tenth floor of the high-rise downtown. So ,they needed to get out New York City Housing came and knocked on their door and told them they had to evacuate.

As a mother of three boys, how are you feeling?

CARMELA HERNANDEZ, NEW YORK EVACUEE: I'm scared because I have never done that.

HARLOW: You have never done this before?

HERNANDEZ: Yes.

HARLOW: What is it like -- tell me -- inside the shelter. I was in there a little earlier, about 5:00 a.m. People were sleeping.

What is it like for you in there? You have food. You have water. What do you need?

GONZALES: We have everything. Yes. Not everything, like half of it. Like food and snacks and nutrition bars and stuff.

HARLOW: How long do you think you're going to be here?

GONZALES: Probably until at least Sunday.

HARLOW: Yes, so at least Sunday.

What were you going to say?

HERNANDEZ: I think in Sunday.

HARLOW: At least Sunday?

HERNANDEZ: Yes, because housing, they told us, in Sunday, you're coming back.

HARLOW: OK. Thank you guys, so much. They are going to the store. They are going to get some dog food. They said their dog.

Thank you. Stay safe. We'll see you throughout the day.

T.J., New York City Housing tells them they may go back on Sunday. If the storm is on track, it will be hard to get to Lower Manhattan. All of the public transportation is going to be cut off.

It's important that people that need to evacuate get out of their homes. The weather might be OK now. At noon, there's not going to be any no public transportation for people to get around to get these shelters, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Poppy Harlow there for us in Manhattan, thank you so much. I want to stay up in New York, turn to Long Island. That's where I Rob Marciano is. And, Rob, I talked to you last hour. And you said it's a little disconcerting to see just how few people were headed out as you are headed in to cover this story.

So, how much of a window do they? The people who are still there right now, how much time do they have to get out of there?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They got today. They got all day today. The winds and rains will start to encroach I think tonight. So, the daylight hours today will be the time for people to head to higher ground.

That would be the evacuation technique here on Long Island because if you asked everybody in the coastal areas to head for the mainland, I mean, you would talk about a serious traffic problem on the bridges. Some people are doing that if they have friends and relatives inland.

But for the most part, people in the evacuation zone, and for Nassau and Suffolk County here on Long Island, that includes over 300,000 people that have been asked to evacuate, 5:00 p.m. makes it mandatory. Meaning, after that, you're going to not get much help from officials. And there have been over 20 shelters that have been set up along the Long Island to house some of those people.

But we've seen of that. We saw some businesses boarding up here on Long Beach even during, you know, a decent winter storm will flood. So, you get a hurricane up through these spots, and, yes, people are certainly curious, if not concerned. And they have taken precautions as the storm begins to approach.

Over my left shoulder, this is the beach. And it's a pretty flat beach. And it's different from the ones that you see a little bit further down island towards the Hamptons where you got these big, beautiful protective sand dunes.

These are the naturals here. These have been made by man in an effort to protect the town. Because underneath these boardwalk, there are a few access ways to get to and from the beach and that would make this area susceptible for the surge, which will probably right where I'm standing by this time tomorrow morning, which will mean that the inland areas will flood here.

And on the back side of this, don't forget Long Island Sound, because we're going to get winds that are east and northeast for the good chunk of the day tomorrow, and that's going to push the water on the sound, which is typically calm on the north side of Long Island, on the western end of Long Island Sound, towards where LaGuardia.

And by the way, we are in the flight path to JFK. So, I can hear the planes coming. You can't see -- the visibility is low, the clouds are low, a lot of fog. But later on today, when they shutdown the airports, a pretty historic move here, you're not going to be hearing those planes as they make their way towards the airport. It's been over two decades, T.J., since any hurricane, really of decent size has made landfall here on Long Island. So, it's been a while. And, folks, if not anything else, are curious as to what's going to happen.

Back to you.

HOLMES: Curious? That's one way to put it. Rob Marciano for us there on Long Island. We'll check in with you again, buddy.

Well, it's 20 minutes past the hour now. A number of states of emergencies declared up and down the East Coast, including in North Carolina which is right now getting the brunt of the storm. It's expected to make landfall in North Carolina at any moment, the state of emergency there. The Red Cross is ready and, already, some of their shelters have started to fill up.

We're checking in with the Red Cross once again after the break. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-three minutes past the hour now on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING as we continue to keep an eye on this Hurricane Irene, which is now a category one storm, packing 90-mile-an-hour winds now, expected to make landfall at any moment.

The president warning people right now, you need to take precautions and you need to take this storm seriously, telling people if they live in the projected path of the storm, you need to get out of there.

Listen to the president. This is what he said yesterday from Martha's Vineyard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All indications point to this being a historic hurricane. Although we can't predict with perfect certainty the impact of Irene over the next few days, the federal government has spent the better part of last week working closely with officials in communities that could be affected by this storm to see to it that we are prepared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. Twenty-three minutes past the hour.

Let me check in once again with our Brian Todd in Wilmington in North Carolina. Again, North Carolina starting to feel the brunt of the storm, expected to make landfall at any moment.

How are things once again in Wilmington?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., we are getting the most severe storm surge that we have gotten so far. We are told (INAUDIBLE) Hurricane Irene is starting to move away from this area, but that's not what we're experiencing here, just a fall of rain that we just gotten, of course, and wind here.

The Cape Fear River is behind me. But you see the white caps here and squalls behind me. We got a precautionary tale for people who are about to get this some of the stuff, the emergency management director of (INAUDIBLE), I spoke to a short time ago. His message to people is, just when you think this might be moving away from you, it does not mean it's safe at all. Even though as we said more severe bands are starting to move away from this area, there are still a lot of dangers.

They just called off, at least temporarily the search for a man who was in the Cape Fear River temporarily. Not clear if he jumped or he fell. But the conditions right now are not good enough to resume that search and they're going to try to resume that later. This was a little bit north of here in the Cape Fear River.

So, people are really being urged that you have to stay away from places like this. You got to stay inside and hunker down. If you haven't gotten out already, don't get the false assurance that conditions are going to be favorable to go outside or drive in your car.

We have another issue -- flash flooding in this area is a major concern. It is happening all over this county, this area of Wilmington and east of here. And that's a major concern. This river may not spill over its banks where we are, but they are concerned up north where it narrows, it may spill over its banks when the storm surge hits -- T.J.

HOLMES: Brian Todd for us in Wilmington, we'll check in with you again. Thank you.

And now, I want to check in with CNN Pentagon producer, Larry Shaughnessy. He is aboard the USS Wasp. This one of the number of jobs ordered out to see to try to ride out this storm aboard the ship.

And, Larry, I understand you're about 75 miles north of Bermuda, aboard that ship right now -- again, like I said, to ride out. How is that ride out there?

LARRY SHAUGHNESSY, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Relatively smooth, T.J. There's actually some sunshine out there today. The ship was rocking a little more yesterday than it is this morning. But that was the intent of the Navy, to put these ships away from the effects of the storm.

But there is a second mission that they may be called upon to do and that would be to go in close to the shore where the worst damage is done and begin to assist the authorities with response and recovery. That will only happen if the federal government and the Department of Defense orders the Navy to send in these ships.

But the Navy is not waiting. They're going to spend most of today making sure that they get ready if they are called upon to do that. They brought on 500 Marines, about a dozen helicopters, two large landing aircraft that can carry entire trucks. And those trucks are right now parked on those landing aircrafts, and the aircrafts are docked in the hold underneath the flight deck of this large amphibious ship that I'm on.

We understand the trucks have the material needed by the military should they be called upon to give civilians assistance.

HOLMES: And, Larry, one more thing, how quickly could that ship get to where it needs to be?

SHAUGHNESSY: How quickly we get out here?

HOLMES: No. How quickly some of those areas that might need assistance like you said after the storm actually hit? How quickly could the USS Wasp get that personnel and also get that equipment to those locations?

SHAUGHNESSY: I'm pretty sure that this ship and the other five members of the amphibious task force that it's the flagship for could make it back to a place off the Carolina coast where they could start doing flight operations or sending aircraft in almost as fast as the storm could move out of the way.

HOLMES: All right. That's our Pentagon producer Larry Shaughnessy who is aboard the USS Wasp, one of the numbers of the ships sent out to seas to ride out the storms. He said a fairly smooth ride right now. And that was the point. But still, it could be ready to jump into action to help out.

Larry, good to talk to you.

Now, we're at 28 minutes past the hour. We have been focusing a lot on North Carolina this morning because it is the first state to get slammed by Hurricane Irene, a category one storm, a powerful storm, expected to make landfall at any moment.

The Red Cross always jumps into action before disasters and certainly after disasters. And, you know, right now, during a disaster.

Kate Meier is with the greater Carolina Chapter of the American Red Cross. She's joining me now from Kill Devil Hills from North Carolina

Ma'am, you already have a number of people in your shelters. Just how many are we talking about?

KATE MEIER, AMERICAN RED CROSS (via telephone): That's right, T.J. We've already seen thousands of people come to our shelters in North Carolina. We've got about 50 shelters in North Carolina. These are populated with people who had either evacuated or tourists possibly who have left, or people who are concerned that they are inland. There's a lot of rainfall and they might be in a flood zone. So, they need to get some place safe. We got shelters up and down the East Coast already in operation because as these mandatory evacuations we're seeing all along the coast.

HOLMES: And, Ma'am, is this typical? Does this storm feel any different, I guess, when you compare it to other storms and warnings that have come in past year, than even hurricanes that have come? But does it seem like a higher number of people are using your shelters this time around? Or is this pretty typical when storms come?

MEIER: We are lucky that a lot of people want to get to safety more often than not. We will see thousands of people in our shelters when hurricanes are coming. The thing that is different about this storm is it is all the way up the East Coast.

We are talking about a massive response effort from the American Red Cross. Thousands of volunteers are already in action. Hundreds of shelters are opening up. We got tons of vehicles already deploying to places where we're going to start doing mobile feeding, handing out bottled water, clean up supplies. (INAUDIBLE) storm gently through.

HOLMES: And, Ma'am, something that I got a response from our viewers just a short time ago when I talked to you earlier, was the app, the cell phone app you were telling me about that people could download this app and find shelter, Red Cross shelters.

Describe that for me again. Where they can get it and exactly what it is used for.

MEIER: We have a free application for iPhones and iPads, iPods. It's a shelter app. You can download it from iTunes. You can also get to it from any other mobile phone from RedCross.org. And it's going to show you where all of the shelters are that we have open.

So, if you are in a location and you feel you need to get to a shelter, pull up an app and get to safety as soon as possible.

HOLMES: OK. That is very useful information this morning. We will certainly channel that out to our viewers.

Kate Meier, we appreciate you once again giving up us the update. We hope we can continue to call on you as the storm makes landfall and makes its way through North Carolina.

Now, we are at the bottom of the hour here now. And I was not supposed to be here in studio with you this weekend for this weekend's newscast. I was supposed to be in Washington D.C. We were taking our show on the road. We're going to do it live from the National Mall, because this weekend was the big dedication of the MLK Memorial on the National Mall.

Well, that's just one of a number of things that had to be canceled this weekend because of Hurricane Irene. We will check in with D.C. and see how things are going when we come back.

Stay with me. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We're 35 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

And it is a morning where we are giving you continuing coverage of Hurricane Irene which is set to make landfall here at any moment now. This coverage continues for you and we can add New Jersey now to the list of states that are eligible for federal aid as President Obama has signed an emergency order for the Garden State. New Jersey, along with Connecticut, Virginia, New York and Massachusetts all have these disaster declarations.

The hurricane still in the South Atlantic Seaboard right now. It is smacking North Carolina as we speak, sustained winds gust of 90 miles an hour. It's a category one storm. It was a category two yesterday.

Don't let that fool you. That it seems to have downgraded. I should not use the word downgraded this morning because that throws people off. This is still a serious storm, a big storm as well.

Storm bands are hundreds of miles wide right now. The radar suggesting it may be losing organization. Sloppy is the word that our Jacqui Jeras was using a little earlier.

And John Zarrella --- you want to contribute it to John?

JERAS: Yes, he is the one that said sloppy. Not me.

HOLMES: But you --

JERAS: I said I could take sloppy.

HOLMES: You went along with sloppy.

JERAS: Yes.

HOLMES: What's the better word then?

JERAS: It was not a very organized storm.

HOLMES: OK.

JERAS: OK. That's a better term to talk about. We had a lot of wind shear as we call it on the southwest side of the storm. We had a lot of dry air which has been moving into it. All of these factors have been weakening the system overall.

I like that you said, T.J., that we don't want to downplay this and we don't want to say it's downgraded to a category one because this is a monster. Look at how big this thing is. We have cloud shield over into Tennessee. So, that's hundreds of miles. And we are going to see big impact.

I mean, we are in the height of this thing. In fact, we're going to have an update from the National Hurricane Center on the intensity of this storm within the next probably 15 minutes. All right? So make sure you stay tuned for that one.

Now, for landfall, this is -- basically, we are having that happen. We are in the process of that right now.

Here's Cape Lookout. This is little peak and you can see the center of circulation which is right in this area here. So, we are in the process of making landfall. I'm going to wait for the hurricane center to tell you that it happened so I'm not going to repeat it for there, because it's very difficult to see all this right now on the radar.

But look at this. The biggest concern is what I'm seeing in this area right here with the band as it pushes on in. We're going to see some winds, maybe 80 to 110 mile per hour. In fact, we just had a 110-mile-an-hour wind gust on this island here. There is a lot of intensity with the storm and lot of ferocity with this storm.

Let's take a look at the forecast track. There you can see it's going to pick up a little bit of forward speed as it heads through the mid-Atlantic throughout the day today and then into the Northeast tomorrow, out of here by Monday.

We are already seeing quite a bit of damage into areas like Virginia and into the Norfolk area.

Keep in mind that this is a big storm, even though you are not getting the peak of this, say, until late tonight in Washington, D.C., that rain is just right around the corner, New York, a peak for this for you. So, in midday tomorrow -- and rainfall is going to be one of the biggest problems. There is so much moisture with this thing, we are talking six to 12 inches expected.

And a lot of flash flooding. We've already seen up to eight inches on the outer banks -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Jacqui, thank you, as always. We'll talk to you again here shortly.

At 38 minutes past the hour, though, we want to head up to Washington, D.C. where I was supposed to be this weekend with Athena Jones. She is there in D.C.

We're supposed to be there -- the show was supposed to be on the road for the big MLK dedication on the National Mall. That is on hold right now.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. It's been postponed. You know, safety first.

There was a whole series of events around that. Thousands of people were expected to come for this dedication that was set for tomorrow, Sunday -- the 48th anniversary of the march on Washington and the famous Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech. So, that's been put on hold. And, you know, the D.C. mayor, Vincent Gray, has declared a state of emergency for the city. He was one of several mayors and governors who had a conference call with President Obama yesterday morning to talk about this storm.

I should mention the president has cut short his vacation on Martha's Vineyard. He returned with his family late last night. And so, people have been talking about and preparing for the storm for a couple of days.

Yesterday, engineers were scrambling to plug holes in the Washington Monument you see behind me, that was damaged during Tuesday's earthquake. So, they were stuffing flexible insulation in those holes. Other workers were also working on the turrets on the Smithsonian Castle, which was also damaged in the earthquake hoping to prevent further damage from any wind or rain that we might see from the storm.

So, people have been -- city officials have been telling residents to be ready.

Let's listen to what Vincent Gray, the mayor, had to say about what we could expect to see here in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR VINCENT GRAY (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: Roughly a period of 24 hours during which we would experience the conditions of a hurricane. There could be some flooding. We don't know the extent of that at this stage. Our Department of Public works for the last 24 hours has been making sand bags available to people who would like to have them to address their concerns about the possibility of flooding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so he mentioned sand bags. Mayor Gray has mentioned sandbags. The city handed out 7,000 sand bags to families yesterday. They ran out at 5:00 p.m. and so they had to stop delivering.

That's supposed to start up again today at around noon at a stadium nearby. They'll be handing out another 2,700 today. But they are limiting five per household. So, people are going to have to do what they can with those five sandbags and find some other ways to protect their homes and businesses.

But overall, people want the residents to be ready. We've gotten warnings from the power company. I got a flyer under my door last night saying you could be without power for several hours. It could take 24 hours before they're able to assist who's out of power and when to get it back.

And so, people are being asked to be prepared for this storm, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Athena Jones for us in D.C., thank you this morning. We are 41 minutes past the hour. And, you know, its' the natural instinct when something happens. You want to pick up the phone and you want to call on your loved ones to check on them during a storm.

Well, that is what some authorities say you should not to do. You know what they want you to do? They want you to get on Twitter and Facebook to stay in touch. We'll explain that.

Taking a look at how social media is changing how we deal and communicate in disasters.

Stay with us.

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HOLMES: Well, a quarter up the top of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. And if you want to check on your loved ones in the path of the storm, don't call them.

Let me bring in Josh Levs now.

Authorities don't want them to call. What do they want you to do?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't want you to do that first. They're pushing social media instead and other forms of communication. In fact, they said there were reminders this week after the earthquake that people had trouble making phone calls.

The director of FEMA said that shows you should first try other technology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: We did have some success with people text messaging or using social media. But remember, cell phones themselves, when heaving congestion, you may not be able to get through. And stay off the phones if it's not an emergency because other people may be trying to call 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So, use social media if you are on it. If you're in the storm's path, make sure your loved ones follow you, whether it's Facebook or Twitter, to get the word out. Also, you can use iReport, even YouTube. There's video that says, "Hi, loved ones. I'm fine."

There's also a Web site I want you to know about from the Red Cross. It's called safe and well. Let's zoom in on it for a second for a second. They have set this up. And it's actually has a special section now for Hurricane Irene.

You go to this Web site and you click that you are at the hurricane right now and you're able to either list yourself or go searching for someone who is already listed. Now, everything I just shown you and a lot of other links are posted for you up here. Show my page because I got it there for you. It's at Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. Also, CNN.com/Josh. We got the resources I'm showing you here and a lot more.

So, first of all, you know, those are the things to try. If there's absolutely no other way to reach your loved ones, there are cell phone networks working, get more capacity going.

But, T.J., authorities saying do not make that your first move.

HOLMES: All right. Josh, thank you this morning.

And about a quarter to the top of the hour. Still, you remember Hurricane Katrina and you remember Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He helped that city keep it together. Well, he's going to join us to see how the East Coast right now needs to keep it together as they prepare for Hurricane Irene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Ten minutes to the top of the hour.

Jacqui, make it official.

JERAS: Yes, we've got landfall. Absolutely. Cape Lookout, happened maybe about 10, 20 minutes ago already and there you can see on radar, it's kind of taken a little jog to the Northeast. So, it's actually looks like it's back offshore, about five miles north- northeast of Cape Lookout.

It's weakened a little bit too bit, our 8:00 advisory is in and our winds are down a smidge to 85 miles per hour.

So, it's still a category 1. It's a stronger category 1 storm, and it is going to continue to just lash the outer banks and eastern parts of North Carolina over the next five, six hours or so before you start to see this it let up just a bit.

Lots of storm surge being reported all throughout the outer banks in the range of six to eight feet. And we are getting many reports of damage, some mobile homes, as well as trees being uprooted and thousands and thousands of people are without power this hour. So Irene has officially made landfall, our first land-falling hurricane in the U.S. since Hurricane Ike back in 2008 -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Jacqui, thank you for that.

And we're about eight minutes to the top of the hour. We're going to take a quick break here and when we come back, we're going to be talking to General Honore. He's here with me in studio. Of course, he knows a thing or two about handling the response to a disaster. He's with me right after the break.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right. Just heard from Jacqui Jeras a moment ago that, yes, hurricane Irene has officially made landfall. This happens just a matter of minutes ago, made landfall in North Carolina.

But it has come ashore now in North Carolina. This storm coming ashore as a category 1 storm with sustained winds of at least 85 miles an hour.

We want to turn now to the gentleman sitting to my left. You certainly recognize the name and face. He was in charge of the military response to Hurricane Katrina, General Russel Honore.

Sir, good to have you here with us.

And as you watch it this storm, it's made its way to North Carolina, going to make its way up the coast, what jumps out at you as your first concern here about the storm in.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Number one, all of government has done a good job, including the media of keep people informed.

My concern is the actions or lack of actions by the most vulnerable population, the elderly, the disabled and the poor. And as this storm just made landfall, it's about to go through Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton Road area, there are a lot of poor people that live in some very questionable homes that can't take this 90 mile an hour wind.

With them, disabled and elderly people and poor people, and that tidal surge, a lot of that area in the Hampton north area will flood.

HOLMES: Sir, we always talk about people, they need to listen to the warnings and get out. But, quite frankly, we have people that don't have the means to get out.

HONORE: Don't have the means. Local shelters are open. But we've got a long way in America to insure that the execution of the plan focus on the most vulnerable population, the elderly, the disabled and the poor.

HOLMES: All right. This last -- and you're going to be with us throughout the day. But this last 40 seconds I have for this, military ready and will the military be needed?

HONORE: Never seen it any better, NorthCom, National Guard, general in North Carolina, prepared for land, air and sea, Navy is ready to come in, Air Force is ready to back up the National Guard. We're ready.

HOLMES: All right. General Russel Honore, who will be here with us on this coverage, always helps us out during these disasters. It's unfortunate the only time I get to see you sometimes when there are some disasters coming. But still, always good to have you.

Thank you, General Honore -- here with us throughout the day as we continue our coverage of Hurricane Irene, now made landfall officially according to the National Hurricane Center, happened just minutes ago.

We will continue our extensive coverage of this monster storm as it makes its way up the East Coast of the U.S.

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