deborah feyerick is there. what are you finding out, deb? >> reporter: carol? >> i'm here. take it away, deb. >> reporter: carol, yeah, thanks, carol. we're having a little problem. the weather out here is -- sort of gusts of rain to the sun goming out. we want to pan down, you see a fire truck, a vehicle there. you mentioned 80 homes. we're told gotham watch is on fire and the problem is, first of all, these homes are -- they're old homes, most of them are wooden structures. they're side by side. just a little sidewalk between the two homes -- water onto those fires. so they're really stuck. there's just nothing that they can do. we spoke to somebody who is kind of like the mayor here of breezy point. he told us probably about -- evacuated. we took a walk down along the bay, carol. i have to tell you, it looks like this storm took a massive sledgehammer and just started whacking at the individual homes. windows completely blown out. some of the homes are simply knocked off of their foundations. others are sinking. water is rushing back out into the bay. it is just -- it is

deborah feyerick, appreciate the reporting. i want to turn to the mayor of asbury park, new jersey, joining us on the phone, mr. mayor, good to have you on. has anybody been injured from asbury? >> we have no news of injury or death, which is the good news here. we have severe conditions here on the ground. devastation down to the boardwalk area through trees and power lines down. >> when i was there last night, the water came up so quickly on that boardwalk, and then just seemed to spread very fast for several blocks. how extensive is that damage along the coast? >> it is very extensive. there are famous -- like howard johnson's restaurant, the first floor is gone. there are pieces of the boardwalk which are being located blocks away from the boardwalk. throughout the towns we're seeing trees, 100, 150 years old, just ripped up by the roots. many of those throughout our town. and, of course, power lines down everywhere. >> and, a, what is the situation with power right now? i assume there isn't power. we didn't have power at a

deborah feyerick is following all the developments for us. police believe that the nanny killed the children before stabbing herself. what -- this is just unthinkable, unheard of. everybody is nervous about something like this. >> oh, yeah. >> what do you know? >> this has sent shock waves through new york city. parents across the city, holding their kids even more tightly. some cases they're looking over their shoulder and asking could their nanny snap? this is really what this is abo about, a young mom, 38 years old, comes home, with her middle child, 3 years old. they've gone for swimming lessons. she walks into her home. the home is dark. she's surprised. it's 5:30 in the evening, the kids are usually getting ready for dinner, having their baths. no sign of anything. she goes downstairs and says did my children leave with the nanny? doorman says no. she goes back up in the bathroom, she finds blood everywhere. the two children, 2-year-old little boy leo, 6-year-old little girl, lucia, stabbed to death, the nanny on the floor. she apparent

deborah feyerick, cnn, minneapolis, minnesota. >>> half past the hour now. time for a check of your headlines. live pictures here from central florida. mitt romney at a rally near orlando. you see him on the stage. his campaign coffers grew more than $12 million in the 48 hours after this past week's debate. let's listen to the candidate now. >> title one money for disabled and poor kids. i want to make sure those dollars don't just go to states and to school districts. i want them to go to the kids, if you will, so the parents are able to choose the school their child goes to. we have to put the children and the parents and the teachers first and the teachers union behind. number four, number four, i have already mentioned it. you're not going to get entrepreneurs to risk their life savings to start a business or companies to come to florida or other states and expand and hire more people if they think we're on the road to greece. let me tell you, if this president keeps spending $1 trillion or more than we take in, than we take in every year, you will see

>> well, i'm deborah feyerick. cnn presents "secrets of the belfast project." it begins right now. >> reporter: northern ireland, here for decades, violence simmered, exploded, ripped families apart. a brutal battle between those who wanted northern ireland to remain part of britain and those who wanted to unite it with the rest of ireland. so painful, they called it the troubles. it's been almost 15 years since an accord brought peace to northern ire lanld. now, a hidden trove of audio tapes threatens to unravel the uneasy quo. >> i knew she was being executed. i knew that. i didn't know she was going to be buried. >> reporter: calls into question the very balance between peace and justice. >> at the very beginning of the troubles, we were put out of our home. >> reporter: helen had nine brothers and sisters and a family on the front lines of the troubles. >> we lifted east belfast. it was nearly prodestant. they threatened to kill my father. >> reporter: a mixed marriage. her father was a catholic and her mother a prodestant. northern ireland is part of brita

deborah feyerick is there. deb, very quickly, if you can tell us how this happened in the first place and what are people doing today? >> i understand -- >> reporter: we're having a bit of trouble hearing you. hope you can hear us. we are joined by t.j. gillmartin. you came to check on your brother's house. tell us what you're seeing. >> total destruction. 100%, 110% destruction, everything. >> reporter: what does it look like when walking? >> nothing. there's one cluster of homes, every house along the side that's still up is damaged. everyone off the foundations. windows, houses sitting this way. >> reporter: when you heard that the damage was going to be severe here, did you have any expectation of what was going to come? >> no. as i was walking back there, nice house, good house, could be fine. got to his block and one cluster of three blocks destroyed. every -- i mean nothing, nothing left. even the sidewalk is ripped up. >> reporter: the firefighters trying to fight the fires. you're a first responder gro

our deborah feyerick is live in breezy point, queens, right now with the latest. deborah? >> reporter: you know, anderson, somebody who lives here summed it up best. they said fighting a fire in a hurricane is a lesson in futility. all the homes here, completely obliterated. you can see some foundations, but pretty much nothing else. you can see cars that were incinerated. this we believe is a jeep. this we believe is a honda. it is hard to make out anything in the massive debris. there were 200 firefighters who were who trying to put out this six alarm blaze. it followed the exact path of the wind last night, southeast. taking out all the homes almost in a pie-shaped direction. one official earlier, anderson, said there were probably as many as 100 homes which may have been devastated. this is such a tight community. as i was walking through, folks would actually come to see if anything was salvageable. one man checking out his sister's home saying not only his sister's home was burned to the ground but his father-in-law's home. three sisters, homes side by side by side.

deborah feyerick is here with the interview. on what grounds is he trying to stay in the united states? >> well, anderson, now that he's defected, he simply can't go back. he's betrayed president ahmadinejad, he can no longer be trusted by the regime, certainly not by the ayatollahs who are running the country. they imprisoned a top presidential aide last week. the iran photographer's lawyers suggest that the reason he defected thursday is because he was asked to use his skills as a cameraman to do things for iran against the united states. take a listen to what paul dwyer had to say. >> i think when you have a lot of people on the ground who are fleeing and seeking asylum, that's not such an indication that the government is in trouble. but when the senior figures for the government start to defect, then that's a sign that there is some sort of institutional crumbling going on. there were things he was expected to do that he was not comfortable with doing. that he was quite opposed to. that the iranian government then perceives

deborah feyerick is there. she has been there for the last two days. what are you seeing? i can't imagine what the people are seeing when they come back, so many homes destroyed there. >> reporter: you know, it really is astonishing. just to give you perspective of how deep it is, if you can pan all the way to the other end, you're looking at a swath of homes that is just incredibly immense. that fire described as something of such intensity that in fact firefighters say they never saw anything like it. what we'll witness over the next couple of hours, anderson, this is remarkable. a lot of people who live here in breezy point, they have been coming back, searching through the debris, for most of them, they have lost virtually everything. a few people, though, have found one or two things, souvenirs, mementos, one person, for example, taking the house number from where they live, another woman actually finding little rosary from her communion some 70 years ago, small things that they're devastated and yet at the very same time, they also realize that what they lost can be

deborah feyerick is here. it defies any kind of summing up. this is so hard to understand. >> this is hard to understand. any parent who leaves their children with somebody else, a baby-sitter, caretaker, nanny, it is a could he loss sol leap of faith. it is hard to reconcile these happy smiling children. she took her middle daughter to swim lessons. when she returned home. she was quiet. she checked in the bathroom. it was a horrifying scene. her 6-year-old daughter lulu. they were bleeding. the nanny on tour. a kitchen knife nearby. the police say the nanny had slashed her throat. detectives cannot even question her until after she is off sedation and her condition is no longer critical. neighbors calling 911 after hearing the mother's desperate cries for help. the father cnbc executive returning from san francisco had to be met at the airport by police so they could break the news as to what happened. cnbc did release a statement. the sadness that we all feel for kevin, and their family is without measure. the parents are clearly devoted to

you're in the cnn newsroom, i'm deborah feyerick in for don lenin. let's get you up to speed on the day's headlines. the presidential candidates are headed west. president obama is in nevada tonight, holding a rally at desert pines high school. let's take a moment, listen in. >> i'm going to use the money we're no longer spending on war to do some nation building here at home. rebuilding our roads, and our bridges, and putting americans back to work. that's part of what makes america strong. that's what we're going to do. so that's the choice we face in this election. what the election comes down to, and you are going to hear over the next two months, i know you must be tired of hearing hands, but you're going to hear more over the next two -- or the next six weeks, and over and over again you're going to hear my opponents talk about how bigger tax cuts, fewer regulations, that's the way to go. and since government can't do everything it should do almost nothing. they're making -- if you can't afford health care, then hope you don't get sick. if you

deborah feyerick is there for us. it's an awful situation. it's been razed almost to the ground. i have seen pictures earlier. they were saying 80 homes but i believe it's nearer 100, is that right? >> reporter: yeah, it really is. we spoke to the fire department official earlier this afternoon. he actually, his father has a home here and he did the math and said you know, you've got about seven blocks, 30 homes per block, and his math, he said conservatively it's probably more than 100. they are really trying to figure out how many homes were devastated. you got to think about this, they expected the flood, they expected the high water, they expected the power surge. they never expected this fire. we just want to show you something. take a look inside. think about the intensity of the heat to that blaze to do that to that car. everything is just obliterated. we see a couple foundations, we see a couple of metal objects but for the most part, clothing, furniture, all that, no evidence whatsoever. >> we still don't know if the cause was a power line that had been downed or transfo

deborah feyerick for me, deborah, thank you. >>> and guess what, you may have money coming to you. let me say that again. you may have money coming to you. one credit card company will be refunding $85 million to its customers. we'll tell you who qualifies next. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. >>> surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... >>> tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. >>> i'll always have it. so this is it? >>> we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah! can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. >>> anyone who flies has a horror story or two to tell. but i bet your horror story is nothing like this woman's. >> it was a chaotic experience. the seats flipped backwards. it was actually a complete nightmare. and so people were essentially

i want to stay in man and go to deborah feyerick. ashleigh is talking about people hunker down, but the thing in new york, not everyone is heeding those warnings to stay put. >> reporter: you know, and there's a very good reason for that, and i'll tell you why. there are times where it just feels like a small drizzle is affecting you. but then at other times a huge gust of wind will come and it's overwhelming, overpowering. we have a crane we're looking at, and everybody is nervous. every time one of those strong gusts of wind come our way, everybody is kind of looking up. what you have to be careful about are the tree branches, things flying off of the roofs. the hudson river, it's still very powerful. we see a couple of boats that are in the water. they're sort of making their way up. but they look like they're being anchored down. that's how slowly their progress is. i spoke to somebody out on long island. situation there, very, very different. that's what we're seeing with this storm. right now, very calm. in other pars, no. plac

deborah feyerick joins us with the business news bulletin. >>> hey, everyone. a top lebanese intelligence official known to oppose the syrian regime was targeted and killed today in a car bombing in beirut. at least two others were killed in the attack. that's according to local news reports. hours later, there were reports of unrest in other areas of lebanon. >>> the pakistani school girl the taliban shot in the head last week is no longer in a coma and is now able to stand and even write. 14-year-old malala yousafzai was targeted for defying a ban on education for girls. she is recovering in england. her doctors say the teen activist isn't out of the woods yet but that she's doing very well. >>> it was the worst day on wall street since june. the dow fell 205 points amid weak earnings reports from companies including mcdonald's and general electric. >>> and a sad day at the texas state fair. a fire destroyed its long-time icon, big tex, the fiberglass cowboy with the 75 gallon hat was a symbol of the fair for 60 years. you see that blaze there? took less than

deborah feyerick joins us with the business news bulletin. >>> hey, everyone. a top lebanese intelligence official known to oppose the syrian regime was targeted and killed today in a car bombing in beirut. at least two others were killed in the attack. that's according to local news reports. hours later, there were reports of unrest in other areas of lebanon. >>> lance armstrong received a standing ovation when he spoke at the 15th anniversary of his livestrong organization. he stepped down as chair of the organization this week. the seven-time tour de france winner who never failed a drug test denied the doping allegations. >>> worst day on wall street since june. dow fell 205 points, amid earnings reports from mcdonald's and general election. >>> a fire destroyed a long-time icon at the texas state fair, big text. the cowboy was a symbol of the fair for 69 years. we'll be right back. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here

deborah feyerick is there and joins with us the latest. >> reporter: hey there, carol. we want to show you a little of what's going on. as you mentioned about 80 to 100 homes in this area of queens completely devastated. these are the found dags here. everything was built up and everything built up essentially burned down. it is completely incinerated. that's nothing left. we have some steel, some twisted metal, burnt plastic. but for the most part, once the fires began, they burned so strongly that it just took out this entire section. it's an area of 2,000 homes altogether and what you are looking at is the fire damage. but keep in mind that there's an equal number of homes that actually sustained a lot of water damage. as we sort of walk through some of the wreckage here. you have to keep in mind that there are nails and a lot of sharp objects. this what i'm walking on right now appears to have been a walkway. that is completely gone. spoke to a fire official a little while ago and he tells me that, in fact, they are sending out urban search and rescue teams that loo

deborah feyerick, thank you so much. >>> economic indicators do you out before the election and it's a positive one for the obama administration as the gdp goes up more than expected. maribel able is live at the new york stock exchange to explain what this means. >> reporter: we learned the u.s. economy grew, and it grew the a 2% pace july through september, better than the 1.7% economists surveyed and were expecting. you can look at the chart for some perspective here. coming as a nice surprise to wall street. better than the second quarter. biggest reason growth picked up, americans are spending more. that has to encourage investors who have been worried about a slowdown in europe all week long and the affect that's having on american companies. housing sector also a bright spot as was the federal spending. plenty bogging down the u.s. economy. businesses aren't spending much money and exporting less. confirming what we heard from the likes of caterpillar and dupont. >> how are the markets reacting? >> stock futures are pointing lower but improved significantly after the report. 30

i'm deborah feyerick at cnn world >>> a mad dash to the end of the race. president barack obama and governor mitt romney get ready for a face-off at this week's first debate. >>> plus a couple of big surprises from arnold schwarzenegger who talks candidly about his childhood and the housekeeper. >>> and an epic fail by the united states. after being up for a significant lead, the guys in the ryder cup lose big, berman. >> it was a disaster. complete meltdown. well, still, good morning. and welcome to october, everyone. this is "early start." i'm john berman in washington this morning. >> and i'm sir riesirita simon. >>> president barack obama and mitt romney square off wednesday night in denver. both trying to lower expectations practically gushing over one another, but new jersey governor chris christie is going against the grain and setting the bar high for the republican nominee. >>er time mitt romney has been confronted in this campaign with one of these moments, he has come through in a debate and performed extraordinarily well laying out his vision v

cnn's deborah feyerick is on the scene for us. deb, it looks like total devastation in that area where you are. tell our viewers what happened and what's going on now. >> reporter: you know, wolf, it looks like somebody dropped a bomb. this entire area here, completely incinerated. everyday objects are barely, you know, unrecognizable. this is a post. we think it may have been some sort of a swinging door, although it looks like it also could have been a lamp. the thing is, this car over here, for example, also caught fire. everybody was prepared for the floodwater. as a matter of fact, a number of the cars here got flooded. but what they weren't prepared for was the fire. and once that one fire, once that one home caught fire, what ended up happening, you saw almost like a peach shape, the wind going in a particular direction, and all the rest of these homes simply ignited, and because they're so close together, they just burned one after the next after the next, and you've got just a couple of feet in between the different homes