the threat would be long island. the threat would be from montauk, for boston, and into rhode island. can you imagine if you get all that water into newport, and funnel it into providence, we're talking about the same type of funneling effect in providence that you would have in new york city, from a landfall just about 60 or 80 miles farther to the east. >> and stephen, you think this would be a day or two of inconvenience. if it's a direct hit in new york, the folks in the city could feel the impacts for some time to come. >> it could be many days. the good news is, they have time to prepare. the basics are, people should have a kit, basically have the things they need to camp out in their home or apartment for three days. the second is to have a plan, to know where they would go, should they have to evacuate, and the kit-to-go bag. they need to stay informed. a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right, could make a big difference. but we have information now, minimum thing for new yorkers, they should go

the threat would be long island. the threat would be from montauk, for boston, and into rhode island. can you imagine if you get all that water into newport, and funnel it into providence, we're talking about the same type of funneling effect in providence that you would have in new york city, from a landfall just about 60 or 80 miles farther to the east. >> and stephen, you think this would be a day or two of inconvenience. if it's a direct hit in new york, the folks in the city could feel the impacts for some time to come. >> it could be many days. the good news is, they have time to prepare. the basics are, people should have a kit, basically have the things they need to camp out in their home or apartment for three days. the second is to have a plan, to know where they would go, should they have to evacuate, and the kit-to-go bag. they need to stay informed. a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right, could make a big difference. but we have information now, minimum thing for new yorkers, they should go

usually out in long island, east of long island. so this is going to be a bit of a new experience for virtually everyone who's alive in the metro new york city area. >> chris, you talked about the structural integrity of high-rise buildings and sky skrarps. so for people who do live in high-rises above the 10th floor, is it okay for them to stay in their apartments? do you suggest they go to the lobby, go to a stairwell? what would you recommend? >> it's definitely okay to stay in your apartment. don't be near the glass. i think everybody needs to help out their neighbors. because basically what you have if you have balcony furniture or anything that you have on a patio, that can be the projectile into your neighbor's building. so everybody really needs to help out each other. i know people could be away on vacation, which is a little bit of a hazard in that they wouldn't be back to secure their furniture. but stay inside. stay away from glass. and don't let the projectile be an issue for you. >> yeah. steven flynn, appreciate you b

>>> you are looking at long beach, long island. watch this, eye lifeguard tower comes unhinged. gets hit right there. come office its mooring and crashes right into the boardwalk. that's long beach, long island. go down to point pleasant, new jersey. the suffer is kicking up. we heard from governor chris christie, everyone is told to stay inside and hurricane irene heading right now for america's biggest city. breaking right now, the monster storm. wow! crushing its way up the east coast overnight. hurricane irene, howling wind, ferocious waves. several of america's bigigge cities hunkered down to face the furry. now the rapidly rising sea water with swamp the streets and subways. >> its path of destructionon fr north carolina to delaware. we have the dramatic rescue, terrifying tornado now will irene's epic rainfall rewrite the record books this morning? sam and our entire abc news team is in the eye of the storm. >>> ourontinuing life coverage of hurricane irene, you see montauk irene. look how huge the waves are. we have john berman out there. thankfully he come up a bit. he

take a look at the rain making its way right up toward long island. sporadic rain and start seeing constant rain that will continue, but we're still 400 to 500 miles away from the center of the storm. these are the models you were talking about, right here. a little bit of changes and it does make a big difference when you have so much population, a storm in one direction or the other can make a difference. a couple model runs ago, everything was going right over new york city. this model was way over here. it corrected itself and they are spreading out a little bit across parts of long island add in areas of new jersey. that has big implications toward new york city. farther to the west, much more water pulling in the hudson river and that is what new york city doesn't want to see, but that is why they ordered all these shutdowns of mt have a and so on. >> shep: i guess you have to ready for a worst case scenario. for mayor bloomberg, a potential real headache. >> reporter: worst case scenario and you have to be prepared if it doesn't happen. people

the threat would be long island. the threat would be for montauk and boston and even into rhode island. can you imagine if you get all that water into like narangaset and newport and then you funnel it into providence, we're talking about the same type of funneling effect in providence that you would have in new york city from a landfall just about 60 or 80 miles farther to the east. >> steven, you think this may be a day or two of convenience. if it is a direct hit in new york, folks in the city could feel the impact for some time to come. >> it could be for many days. the good news is we do have time to prepare. the basics are people should have a kit. they should basically have the things they need that could camp out in their home or apartment for throw days. that's a good plan. the second is to have a plan, to know where they would go should they have to evacuate and that kit should be a go bag. then they need to stay informed. just these variables, a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right could make

we still have the tornado watch in effect for long island. also into central connecticut, rhode island and portions of massachusetts throughout the morning. we did have a tornado warning in brooklyn. that expired. no damage and no injuries that we have heard of that have been reported. some heavier rainfall still continuing across long island. we saw peter alexander, amy robach in lower manhattan and natalie morales in hoboken. the rain bands are going to continue to impact them with winds gusting on and off again. it's all about the interior northeast right now. getting pummeled with the rain. that is already totalled over seven to ten inches in some cases with the storm system for the northeast. let's move on to the winds, 20 to 45 miles per hour here in new york city. and down to atlantic city, 31-mile-per-hour wind gusts. still gusting to 41 miles per hour in baltimore, we've been focusing on the extreme northeast. but the mid-atlantic, still reeling from the storm system that's kind of getting the left side of the storm. >> yeah. okay. j

island. >> shepard: jonathan hunt live on long island. first of the beach communities in boston they are watching the local weather and the storm is coming ashore there. let's listen to bill reid from the national hurricane center talking to fox 25 in boston. >> it is going to take a while for rivers to respond to this rain because the drainage is going to take a while if you would for a moment, bill could you talk to us about the speed that irene is moving away and what that means for potential storm surge later today? kevin and i have been concerned about the next high tide cycle for buzzard's bay it looked more hike a southwesterly component of the wind. it looks like we may have still somewhat of a concern, perhaps now that irene is moving more quickly the concern is not as great as it looks even a few hours ago. what is your take on that? >> we looked at it carefully. we are going to keep the same expectations in there for what you said. with the center up in here this evening a west or southwest wind that water up those bays. until

usually out in long island, east of long island. so this is going to be a bit of a new experience for virtually everyone who's alive in the metro new york city area. >> chris, you talked about the structural integrity of high-rise buildings and sky skrarps. so for people who do live in high-rises above the 10th floor, is it okay for them to stay in their apartments? do you suggest they go to the lobby, go to a stairwell? what would you recommend? >> it's definitely okay to stay in your apartment. don't be near the glass. i think everybody needs to help out their neighbors. because basically what you have if you have balcony furniture or anything that you have on a patio, that can be the projectile into your neighbor's building. so everybody really needs to help out each other. i know people could be away on vacation, which is a little bit of a hazard in that they wouldn't be back to secure their furniture. but stay inside. stay away from glass. and don't let the projectile be an issue for you. >> yeah. steven flynn, appreciate you b

out in long island and east long island usually. so this will be a new experience for virtually everybody that's alive in the new york city area. >> chris, you talked about the structural integrity of sky scrapers and high rises. people who live above the 10th floor, is it okay for them to stay in their apartments or do they go to a lobby, the stairwell? >> it's definitely okay to stay in your apartment. don't be near the glass. i think everybody needs to help out their neighbors. because basically what you have, if you have balcony furniture or anything that you have on a patio, that could be the projectile into your neighbor's building. so everybody needs to help out each other. i know people could be away on vacation. it's a little bit of a hazard that they wouldn't be back to secure their furniture. stay inside. stay away from glass. don't let the projectile be an issue. >> stephen flynn, appreciate you being on. chris, you as well. thank you for your advice. >>> up next, a few rare times the hurricane has hit the northeast. wha

certainly long island. both on long island sound. and the surf side is going to see some surge with this. and the wind knocking down trees. which will knock out power lines. this is a graphic we're going by as far as a category 1 storm getting into this highly populated area. we expect to see anywhere from a quarter to 500,000 people without power from 3 to 6 days. keep that in mind. we heard from one of the officials saying you can tell new yorkers, but they don't always listen. >> right. >> i can pound the desk here and tell you to buy at least some batteries. they don't go bad. >> batteries, food, medicine. >> jets and giants are supposed to play tomorrow at 7:00 and they have moved it up in anticipation of the storm. big deal last night at yankees stadium. the yanks -- >> unbelievable. >> did you see that? >> yeah. >> not just one grand slam, not two, but three grand slams! rob robinson cano gets thinged started. looked like yankees were out of this. >> oakland! >> carol costello with some perspective there. >> clearly we don't h

i'm expectingly -- i'm expecting landfall in long island, 11:00 a.m. local time. tell continue over vermont and new hampshire, sustained winds still at 65 miles per hour. so the storm system is really holding together. that's the forecast. >> thank you, maria. >> let's check in on the federal government's response to the storm so far and what's ahead. kelly wright is in washington, d.c. with the latest on fema and the other federal agencies and how they are coordinating efforts today and the next couple of days. >> reporter: hey, rick. good morning to you. the and the fema want to be prepared for this one. so the word right now is preparation, getting the coordination. president obama is being kept up to date overnight about irene throughout the night, from fema and his aides and during a meeting with fema, the president said, it's going to be a tough slog for the cities and states living in irene's fath path. he is certainly right about that. he visited fema's command center early on sunday to get a regional update on the plans for federal emergency response to i

you don't have to evacuate long island total. that would take you into some traffic issues and getting over some bridges. but you've got to go a little bit further into the inland, get slightly above where i stand right now, which more than likely will be underwater tomorrow. now, what they're doing to protect long beach is they've taken man and machine and built these dunes 15, 20 feet high in some spots to protect the town from the surge that's anticipated come tomorrow. we will probably see not one, but two high tide cycles, which are extenuated by the fact that we're in a new moon. so astronomically high tide, a surge that's going to be at least 3 to 6 feet, and 15 to 20-foot waves on top of that that are going to eat away this man-made berm and likely get into this small town and other small towns across long island. not only will you see surge here, but you'll see surge on the backside of long island, on the sound side, on the bay side, where it's normally calm, you'll see northeast waves there that will pile up the water t

long island will probably be a category one before it gets there. as far as the computer models go, if anything, they shifted just slightly east. that's why the hurricane center did the same. the western most computer mod hall it going over the chesapeake, the righter most over long island and cape cod. as far as the forecast goes, hurricane force winds will be hitting the coast of north carolina tomorrow. about 24 hours from now is when the destruction will begin. >>> stocks stumble, gold rises and the car most likely to be stolen. your business headlines straight ahead. >>> coming up, jim thome is heading home. your fantasy football approach, and a record for the yanks. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're help

usually long island, east long island. this will be a bit avenue experience for virtually everybody who is alive in the metropolitan new york city area. >> you stalked about the structural integrity of sky scrapers. for people who do live in high rise, above the 10th floor, is it okay for them to stay in their apartment? do you suggest they go to a lobby or a stairwell? >> it's okay to stay in your apartment. don't be near the glass. i think everybody needs to help out their neighbors because basically what you have if you have balcony furniture or anything that you have on a patio, that could be the projectile into your neighbor's building. be needs to help each other. i know people could be away on vacation in a hazard that they wouldn't be back to secure their furniture. stay inside. stay away from glass. don't let the projectile be an issue for you. >> thank you for your advice. coming up next we'll look at the rare times a hurricane hit the northeast. what happened back thenning might give you and indication what coul

in long island, several -- i should say about 200,000 people right now are without power in long island. in connecticut, about half a million people are without power. and it is going to take at least until monday to start repairing the downed power lines. that is because the crews out in connecticut think it is too windy and just not safe to put those guys up on the cherry pickers report power lines until the wind dies down, shep. >> shepard: mike tobin live opt rockaways. 4.5 million without power on the east coast at one point or another. the man that represents some of the low lying area out there parts of brooklyn including cone in island, manhattan beach. dominik joins us on the line now. nice to talk to you, councilman. >> nice to talk to you, shep. >> a lot of flooding. >> the wave is are going to it continue to come in and what we are concerned about is that we can get all of this water out of cone in island. we have different parts flooded. one of our firehouses went underwater on neptune avenue. they are trying to pump them out and next we will be heading to ships at bay to m

the forecast takes it over another landfall, over long island. let me break this down for you, step by step. this is for everyone that is in north carolina and virginia. we are calling for a category 2 landfall at this point, still looking at a storm surge. instead of 6 to 10, probably down to 6 to 9. rainfall will be huge no matter what the strength of the storm is. we're also going to be watching the peak of this storm for the outer banks and north carolina, sometime from saturday 4:00 a.m. to about 11:00 p.m. it is going to take so long to get through the tropical storm force winds, you'll probably be in your homes for a good 18 hours. further up the coast, again, still looking at a cat 2, cat 1, this is for people in jersey shoreline, delaware, chesapeake bay and virginia. your impact will be as early as tomorrow morning. to all clear probably by about sunday into the middle of the day, maybe noon, 2:00. you'll have sunday evening to assess your cleanup. but saturday is your day you'll want to be inside and extensive damage, still expected vi

which is on long island sound. and like the north-facing beaches of long island. as the system pulls away, you're going to get the return flow. so that's going to push water up against the north-facing bays. and beaches. so the south may be out of the woods in a couple of hours. but the north is not yet. so this is going to be an all-day event, alex. >> okay. how about the winds there, al? it sounds a little better from your microphone. last time we came to you, we couldn't hear anything. >> it depends, it really depends on where you're standing. right here, i'm protected a little bit about the hotel and the apartment building where our crew is shooting from. but if i walk across this way, and you'll see my colleague, stephanie abrams from the weather channel, the winds are a little stronger over here. so again, there, a little bit of a break, here we're out in the open and the winds are, there goes the hat. the winds are a little stronger. >> al, thank you for speaking with us, i'm glad you and stephanie are there with us together, the dynamic duo. and we'll chec

it is in new york city and portions of long island. we expect it in long island and new york city 4-8 feet. that is significant. there is two scenarios. one if it at as west of the new york city. that is worst case for new york harbor and all of that water will pile up and battery city. that was evacuated because of this reason and potential storm surge there . what i think will happen. i think it will drift over central portions of long island and we'll look at a storm surge of 4-8 feet. and that will help things out in new york city. but again, looking at impact with storm surge and a lot of heavy rain and threat of tornados, there is a tornado watch that is issued out until tomorrow morning in new york city and much of morsion - portions of new jersey. i hope you are safe and hunkered down. there being be a tornado right now on the ground and big rain maker 6 ov 12 inches and locally 20 inches. >> shepard: 6-12 and some spots as much as 20. >>> and then add the storm surge. >> it is a lot of water. >> complete updates throughout the

usually long island, east long island. this will be a bit avenue experience for virtually everybody who is alive in the metropolitan new york city area. >> you stalked about the structural integrity of sky scrapers. for people who do live in high rise, above the 10th floor, is it okay for them to stay in their apartment? do you suggest they go to a lobby or a stairwell? >> it's okay to stay in your apartment. don't be near the glass. i think everybody needs to help out their neighbors because basically what you have if you have balcony furniture or anything that you have on a patio, that could be the projectile into your neighbor's building. be needs to help each other. i know people could be away on vacation in a hazard that they wouldn't be back to secure their furniture. stay inside. stay away from glass. don't let the projectile be an issue for you. >> thank you for your advice. coming up next we'll look at the rare times a hurricane hit the northeast. what happened back thenning might give you and indication what coul

you talk about long island. it's been a long time since we've seen a hurricane come through. bob made landfall east of here, gloria back in '85, right around here. 1938, take a look at some of these pictures. that was a major landfall. the long island express, it was called, and it did all sorts of damages, cut inlets that weren't supposed to be there. over 50,000 homes damaged, between 600 and 800 people were killed with that one. we don't expect that to be the case here, but widespread flooding, wind damage in some of the higher buildings, and a lot of tree damage. and that's going to knock out power for more than just hours, t.j.. it will be days and some folks here on the island will likely be stranded because of some of that inland flooding, which they tried to battle back with some of the man-made berms that they built, but right now, we're watching the seas begin to encroach. by this time tomorrow, they should be well beyond where i stand right now. >> all right. rob, thank you, once again this morning. and those are cnn's reporters you're just hearing from, but we hav

island, we are looking at greater storm surge in long island. hars -- you have every governor in all 12 states reporting some sort of it looks like a twister or could be a twister and we will not know until daybreak. thank you. >> harris, mayor bloomburg spoke a minute and updating residents on the city's hurricane response. residents, if you want to leave, guess what, too late. time for evacuation is over. everyone should go inside and be prepared to stay inside until weather conditions improve which will not leakly be until sunday afternoon. we'll get through the next 24 hours, i assure you. the new york mass transit system subways and buses and trains are all shut down at noon eastern time. many bridges could also close soon as the wind speeds began to pick up. >> hurricane irene's whipping winds spawning a twister in maryland. that is the secondary part of the story all of the twisters being reported and in a wooded area in the lower shore. there are no reports of injuries or damage in maryland. huge storm surge battering city. talked about

let's go back to long island now where mike is. mike, we just heard from jeff that it looks like long island will get a direct hit from hurricane irene. what are the preparations? >>> the preparations are considerable but not as though people here feel or are acting as if they're in the middle of a bulls eye. i went to a general store, there's plenty of water, batteries, there's not a run on plywood. you talk to people it's a sea going town. they know what happened with hurricane gloria in 1985 and hurricane bob which didn't have a direct hit on the island in 1991. the big problem as adam was saying is the swell. the rise of the tide. if they get a four or six or eight-foot swell the flooding can be immense and the all of the boats will lift their moorings and be driven against each other. we have seen those pictures in the past. about 60% of the fleet here have left. the other 40 are hoping. one guy said we're going to wait it out, cross our fingers and make sure our insurance is paid off in full. >> the calm before the storm look

we have john king on long island. jason carroll in atlantic city, new jersey. >> of course we've got up in philly, don lemons for us, d.c., athena jones and wolf blitzer will be joining us for coverage this morning. he's on the outer banks. >> i want to bring in our own john king. he's in long beach on long island in new york. and john, what are you facing there? what are you seeing so far? >> suzanne, you heard mayor bloomberg talking about the worries, the storm surge. we're in tropical storm winds, probably somewhere in the 30s. you're starting to feel the winds picking up, some of the gusts you mentioned, the storm down a little bit south of here near atlantic city. the big fear here in these low-lying communities, this community has been evacuated, a mandatory evacuation. you can see the sign behind me for the route out. there's water in the streets. you think not so bad. if you look out on to the water, the waters are very high, high tide about 2 1/2, 3 hours from now. the storm is making its way here, 2, 2 1/2

to the south shore of long island. hope that it will provide some kind of protect to the south shore of long island when hurricane irene arrives. you wouldn't believe the number of people who are here as the sun is setting, but yes, if they are old enough these people might remember the great hurricane of 1938 nicknamed the long island express. it was a category three storm that claimed the lives of 200 people from here all the way up to new england. compare that to hurricane donna which was a category two storm. no lives reported lost and forecasters say because people heeded the warnings given to them. the question is are they paying attention this time? people who lived here are going to be underhand tori evacuation orders. some of them are in place. we are hearing from people who are getting ready doing everything they are supposed to do. gathering water and food and cash just in case. the thing everyone knows for sure according to forecasters, there is going to be flooding in low-lying areas and there will be a hi

newark and la guardia and jfk and out on long island, that is an island that stretches west to east hundred miles due east of the new york city. they are getting ready if the worst comes. far eastern end of long island, laura is with us now. what is the situation where you are now? >> hi, bill, the message on do you know road, main artery that cuts through west hampton beach is get out. police and fire telling people to get out of the here and leave immediately. there are mandatory evacuations going on since early this morning, we are seeing people going around door to door, fire and police are doing door knocks and telling people to get valuables, not everything. pets and themselves and hit the road. this is a monster task with a lot of ground to cover. hundreds of homes sit in the path of irene. they always get a couple of cowboys along the way and people who will not leave. they are to fill out a form to help authorities identify residents if need be after the storm. that is how serious it is. they will ask them to write names and social security in felt pin and tell them how serious it

we were talking to the nassa uconn executive being the western part of long island. he said they are just beginning assessments and he believes that the damage costs will run to easily millions and millions of county in nassau county alone. so they begin the process of trying to see how much damage is done. these residents begin the process of coming back looking into their homes and seeing how much damage is done. it's hard to believe that a lot of people haven't suffered a great deal of damage. there are a bunch of people looking to see has gone on. they seem to be smiling in general. a lot of them have taken a long walk and in the last 45 minutes and they have been caught by the outer band. message from officials, if you don't need to leave your home, please don't. stay inside. wait until this thing is completely gone. >> shep: jonathan, this is exactly as predicted. you watch the last loop of the radar. you don't see it on this particular picture. this is why officials said please stay home. god knows let's hope nobody gets hurt after all the flooding. somebody t

island and long island sound. the wave action is very intense with this south wind. going northward. you can see that, that's bling right there. we'll be watching those winds. you can see the flags in the background to your left. if they are still gusting low and pretty hard that means the center is not quite there yet. we'll see those flags and all the wind go light as the center crosses within the next hour. so we'll bring that shot up, keep watching it to see if we get it where it freezes and the calm of the storm is right over the top of brooklyn. now, here's what we're dealing with the big picture. the threat isn't new york city for life and property. the threat is further north. highest wind have been up into connecticut and rhode island. that's where the worst of the storm surge is right now. heading over there towards providence. that's where the worst is. highest wind gust in connecticut now heading up into areas of rhode island and massachusetts. the orange is the tropical storm force wind field. this is

island at this point. >> i know everyone is keeping a close eye on things on new york city, long island in particular. real quick, it is the storm surge on long island that could be the most battering? >> there's a particular model called the slosh model. it basically give you the best estimate of what a storm surge would be across long island maybe into the harbors as well. some of those prediction show with a category one storm it could be from four to six feet. that's just kind of our best guess because you know how intricate the coastline is. it's so hard to pinpoint that. that's why those evacuations have gone out and they're closing the subways. >> sub waist, trains, erg here for new york city as of about noon today. many thanks for that. let's move to kristen this morning in kill devil hills, north carolina. good morning to you. what's it like there? how bad is it? >> reporter: good morning, alex. things are giping to pick up. we've seen some pretty high gusty winds. right now it's not all that bad, but the win and rain has been picking up all morning and lovbly expected to get -

you mentioned long island. i want to go to the report laura angle filed. here's the latest from long beach. >> geraldo the governor certainly got an eye full as he was zig bagging through the long beach area today. driving down street that have trees all over. power was out in some places. some of the rain crowds for a current can be virtually rivers. some people could not get through. a lot of the area local businesses have boarded up and sandbags in front of their businesses literally have waves lapping at their front doorsteps. i want to show you what's happening on the beach. the waves are crashing when wefrm here at 8:00 a.m. when the tied was high water was up to the board would you being pounding across these poured into the panels into the parking lot. some of the cars had water all of the way up to the wheel wells. man pee people coming back today to find their car in different places. the fatality also sustained major flooding lots of trees down there as well. all of this means it will be a busy day for crews trying to get the branchs limbs and b

moves east it will make people certainly in new york and long island breathe easier. but it leaves boston, rhode island, massachusetts that could bear the brunt. we're tracking it closely. our models contributed to something called the hurricane evacuation models that have helped inform state and local leaders and federal agencies as they made recommendations and then course those state leaders made decisions. >> poppy harlow, my colleague was saying earlier she's in lower manhattan, people are suggesting it cube surge of water between six and 12 feet high in parts of manhattan. including ground zero. is that a likely prospect, do you think from everything you're now looking at? >> in a worse case scenario, 12 feet is possible. right now given the track the storm is oranges given the wind speeds we're measuring, the speed of the storm itself, what we see in our projections are sadly there's a timing issue. timing is everything. there's a high tide, a moon tide if you will that will be occurring in new york at the time that the hurricane is about to make landfall. so,

then making a beeline, it looks like right for long island and cape cod as we go through the weekend. the latest we have, storm now turning a bit to the northeast at 14. a path that will take it, as jay gray mentioned, over the outer banks of north carolina. likely as a category 2 hurricane. winds close to 100 miles an hour. as it approaches long island, moves off to the east of philadelphia, this is where the storm surge or the waltter pili up and the perpendicular coastline along long island, cape cod, we could see a surge coinciding with high tide. this is a worst case scenario. if the two things come together, the inlets or bays could see a storm surge or rise in sea level close to ten feet in some spots. you're looking at almost 15 inches of rain in the inland and hilly terrain in the coastal northeast and winds going from a category 2 eventually to a category 1 hurricane crossing over long island it looks like early sunday afternoon. just an incredibly large system, too, almost 500 miles wide. hurricane-force winds extending almost 80 miles away from the storm's center. back to

reporting at massapequa park, long island, abc news. >> biggest power outage in long island in 20 years. >> that's right. of course, affecting transit systems as well. boston's transit system is supposed to be back on at normal at 8:00 a.m. we'll see how that works out. >> as we said, the first time new york city shut down the subway system for a natural disaster ever but expected to be running at 6:00 a.m. like we said, pack your patience because long lines and crowd trains today. a rocky day. >> and still not clear how back to normal tomorrow's transit situation will be. we have a lot of wait-and-see going on. >> probably for the good part of the week, too. we'll see. >> absolutely. >>> keeping with irene, as irene blew into new england, the soaking rain paralyzed much of vermont, flash flooding shut down dozens of roads and washed out bridges across the state. at least one person was swept away and killed. and even more flooding is expected over the next few days. more evacuations are likely in the capital city of montpelier. it the river was expected to crest at 2 20 feet. in greenf

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a few years an long island flooding. here at the boardwalk along the battery we're hearing of flooding. from this point that's about it. back to you. >> weather channel's jim cantore telling it like it is. thank you, jim for that. let's head over to darby, pennsylvania. melissa, good morning to you. it actually was a good morning because i believe your camera operator provided us a beautiful shot of a rainbow that was right over that building there behind you. >> reporter: that's right, alex. it lasted just a minute. it's raining again. it's been raining pretty consistently all morning long. we're not out of woods. you can see this parking lot and this intersection in darby borough completely under water. one of the good things that's happened over the last hour or so, the water at least in this immediate area has gone down quite a bit. right behind the shopping center here and underneath this intersection out in front of me, darby creek, it's famous for flooding. this has been hit very hard, you know, several times, esp

certainly the south shore of long island. the north shore as it makes its way around at 11:00 and the fairfield county area of connecticut into westchester county. >> a storm like this has a history of doing two things. the southeast wind comes in first and you get this type of surge at long beach. as the storm exits and goes into new england, you get a northwest wind. >> you're looking at a picture from long beach. what you saw was a lifeguard tower that's come loose and unhinged from its foundation and slammed into the board walk on long beach. to our control room, if we have that tape of it happening just a few minutes ago when we were on television live and we saw it happen. when we get that, roll it, we'll take that. we have bill evans and lee along with bill witter and liz cho. watching the high tide start to happen on the south shore of long island. here comes the video. >> here comes the tape. >> the tower coming loss and slamming into the board walk. >> that was the lifeguard shack. >> a.j. burkett was on the scene w

also, here is long island and we arenticipating the tides right across here and this is an area that we are focused on and this is an orange shaded area, but it is telling us that the water is going to continue to pile up across this area, and lesser so into the sound and this is where the perth amboy area is and manhattan, and this is where noods could be six feet above where they are and we are seeing higher than normal and astronomical tides across this region, so this is in peril here, but the pressing situation here continues to be focused on now critically on the st. mary's st. park area that we showed you right as you begin to enter the chesapeake bay area, and as i said 7 inches of rain, but because the system is just repeatedly putting rainfall across the coastal sections of north carolina and in some cases as much as 14 inches, but in this particular region, the ground has been saturated. so plenty of power outages to tell you about and i took a look at one area the vanwick parkway in new york. if you have ever been there going on to jfk, they are saying that they have shut

and among them were the residents of long beach, new york, on the south shore of long island. despite the danger, some chose to ride out the storm at home. byron pitts is among those who rode out the storm purpose tell us what's happening in the long beach this morning, byron. >> reporter: scott, we just got an update, thousands of homes and businesses have lost the electricity on long island. that appears to be the worst of it. on long beach there was a mandatory evacuation order but many people decided to stay behind. they waited until the 11th hour, but by early this morning, the lasitter family in long beach. seen enough. >> we're expecting this place to be pretty washed out when we get back. >> reporter: long beach got its first taste of irene at 6:00 this morning. this time yesterday, 100 yards of pristine beach separated the board walk from the ocean. not now. with the ground long saturated by a month of record rainful, trees fell easily, pov lines and street signs bearing the signs of high winds. in these conditions, ordinary objects can cause damage and create danger.

maybe a category 1 toward long island and new york come saturday. you see winds sustained at 100 miles per hour. for now, temporarily talkinga a category 2 hurricane. a large storm, tropical storm-force winds almost extending out 300 to 4 hundred miles outward from the center. hurricane-force winds about 80 miles from the center. the storm will cross over land into north carolina. that is where we'll see those winds of 100 miles per hour. notice the path tracking right up along parallel to the eastern seaboard, east of philadelphia, new york city heading on into sunday. and that's when it's going to transition from a category 1 hurricane over to a tropical storm as it passes through new england. the impacts, though, still expected to be tremendous, up to 15 inches of rain inland. storm surge may be the biggest concern. this is coming in also with a high tide, coming in for saturday evening. some areas could see a temporary rise in sea level. close to ten feet. that is the big concern, especially around long island and cape cod. as you see the system

first up, joining us from long beach, long island, laura ingle. so, vivid impression? what was it? >> you know, we talked a lot about the storm surge that was going to happen here and i think really, the force of the wind and the surge of the ocean is what impressed me the most. we were standing right here on this boardwalk that has a lot of maintenance work going on right now, a lot of repair work. that's the sound you hear. but the waves were not crashing on the beach. they were crashing up against the wood planks of this boardwalk. water was racing under our feet when we were doing our live reporting at the height of this storm. and, you know, it's one thing to deal with the wind to try to stand there where you feel like to you're a kite being blown around trying to keep your feet planted but then when you look at the ocean and those waves, it was all white caps as far as the eye could see, coming toward us. you knew that things were serious. and that is an exact reason why there were so many evacuations going on. a lot of people saying they didn't want to evacuate. but with tha

we thought irene had passed long island. look where we are right now. earlier today sustained winds of 65 miles an hour. right now still some pretty significant gusts. there had been giant dunes here. they werethe angry roaring seas. pan the camera and see how strong that surf is even at this hour. earlier today that storm surge picked up the beach patrol headquarters, literally rearranging the furniture as it were, throwing it against the boardwalk here. the surge also forced its way through one of the walls here beneath the boardwalk going into a parking lot here. that used to be a parking lot. a good spot for beachgoers. instead right now it is a murky, muddy mess. the same story down from us farther east in freeport. a lot of people dealing with heavy flooding tonight, brian. a short time ago i spoke to the governor of this state, andrew cuomo. i asked him what he thought about the mandatory evacuations. he said he was satisfied and said new yorkers are tough and they're smart and they're smart enough to know to get out of the way of mother nature.

unusual to get a hurricane in the long island area. if it holds together, it could be a story here. 3 now and could be a 4. >> it will make a landfall at 2 and weakening to a one in longg -- long island. this could keep the hurricane going and fuel the hurricane if you will. >> those was us with family members out there, they should take those warnings seriously. >> thank you, very much. >> and still ahead. out of this world pictures captured on the international space station. >> new at 6:00, how apple prepares for life without steve jobs. and concern that best the test vehicle crashed in pacific three minutes in the mission. the pentagon said it ended up collecting valuable data. this is the falcon being launched from the air force base. it was traveling at remarkable 3 -- 13,000 miles per hour when it crashed. it is to fly from the base to any city in the world within minutes. >> crew part of the six month space flight. they posted photos from orbit. they snapped this image at night. illuminated by tar lightt and moon light. the hd3

then it's heading straight for new york city and long island. that's where you expect it to really whack the island where i live, joe? is it zeroing down on my house here? is there a grudge here against me? >> no. i have no grudge against you. as a matter of fact, bill, i never get invited to parties out in the hamptons, so maybe that's why this is going out there. but the -- look, it's a serious situation. i think this will the most destructive storm from the outer banks of north carolina up it into new england since gloria in 1985. could rival the great storms of the 1950s. even back to the 1940s. >> bill: let's hope not. >> a nasty situation. >> bill: long island continues to go northeast into cape cod and boston and that would be on sunday night? >> sunday afternoon and sunday night i expect it to accelerator. i also expect, look, it's a pick your poison, if it hugs the coast and go straight north to jersey. southeast winds side of it water is warm strays strong. tremendous amount of rain in the northeast. ground is saturated and trees loade

long beach, long island. >> the news that new york's airports are reopening is music to the ears of stranded bay area travelers. another 41 flights at s.f.o. were canceled today as irene's ripple effect continued to be felt. so far no flights at s.f.o. have been canceled for tomorrow. all those grounded flights could be good news for drivers. analysts say the diminished demand for gas and couped up storm victims could bring prices down. it is not clear how much prices could drop. we have posted the latest on the storm along with pictures and videos. damage left behind at cbssf.com. checking other bay area headlines, a san francisco battalion chief is recovering after her rescue vehicle was broadsided while responding to a call. the chief was on bryant street about to get on the bay bridge when the truck was hit by a pickup truck causing the truck to overturn. the two drivers went to the hospital. both expected to recover. >>> two people were injured when their small plane skidded off a runway at napa county airport and collided with a car on highway 29. investigation say the single engine be

that long island sound there could be a big event. >> thanks. thanksla for watching nbc bay aa news at 5:00. hurricane irene pounding the east coast with wind, rain, 20-foot waves and coastal flooding. already there are storm-related deaths and damage, power outages and millions more in the storm's path, including here in the nation's largest city. path, including here in the nation's largest city. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> a special dpeechk to good evening to our viewers on the coast. while it takes a lot to impress people on the west coast in terms of a natural disaster, we're in the middle of one in the east. the destructive run of hurricane irene is well under way this evening. it's churning up the east coast and as it poss, the effects of this hurricane are felt for anything from 18 to 24 hours. because it's so big and lumbering and slow. the storm is over 500 miles wide at the core. winds at 85 miles an hour. waves up and over the 20-foot mark. the storm is a category 1. that number is mos

on long island south shore. people are out here at the beach. but things are starting to get serious. as of this hour, there are mandatory beach-side community evacuations being ordered for anyone living on this barrier island. starting tomorrow morning, about 8:00, officials tell me they're going to call for a mandatory evacuation for people living on the mainland side of this barrier island. so joining me now to talk about that, two people who live on the mainland. kevin and christine church. have you decided whether you will go along with the mandatory evacuation? are you going to get out? >> i want to get out. i don't want to take chances. >> kevin, you're on the fence. >> i don't want to leave the house. >> this storm is a serious one. haven't taken a hit here in many, many years. this one -- are you taking this more seriously than the ones in the past? >> we're prepared, i guess. we'll see what happens. >> how are you going to convince him? >> oh, boy. i don't know. i will though. i'll convince him. >> she

the latest forecast has it many coming onshore the outer banks and then on top of long island. this has shifted a little further to the west. we had a trend to the east, now it's trending to the west. it looks like new york city, philadelphia, jersey shoreline, maryland and delaware coastline, you're not going to miss this storm. this is an historic storm everyone will remember when it's all said and done, and then the storm will rocket and disappear as we go throughout the day monday. by then it should be dissipating. our computer models is where we get our guidance, where the hurricane center gets their guidance of where the storm is going to go. we had a couple off the coast yesterday. no longer. they've shifted west, and that's why the shuhurricane center shid their forecast. we even have one that inc. webr up the chesapeake bay. the favorite track is right along the jersey and maryland coastline and up into southern new england. that would bring the storm surge over the top of southern new england in a significant way come early sunday morning into sunday afternoon. and as